[Vincent Rosati]

If you are working in a 800×600 Web default AI project..
When you place a raster image into Illustrator the placed image will be it’s Document Size, the pixel dimensions don’t matter in themselves. It’s pixel dimensions and PPI.

Illustrator / Preferences / Units / General.. If you want to see inches.

My thinking is that you simply want the placed image to be 974×1200.
Just click the image and adjust the size in the Window / Transform palette.
The will not appear as crisp as it does in Photoshop, but it will print and export fine, as long as you’re not making the raster image larger than it’s original size.

Vince

*Please remember to Rate our replies or check Solution if solved. If you get a good idea from the post, consider clicking the Kudos option.

[Vincent Rosati]

Knowing the pixel dimensions of an image does not tell you it’s size, you also need the PPI.
To your original question, it is opening at the ‘original’ size.
Your 974×1200 @300ppi image is 3.25″ x 4″.

The pixel dimensions that Illustrator is reporting are relative to the settings in that AI project file. It’s not reporting the rendered pixel dimensions of the raster image, unless you Object/Rasterize after the object is properly positioned.

The blurriness you’re seeing is partially due to Illustrator not actively rendering artwork on the screen the way Photoshop does. Photoshop renders constantly. Illustrator can’t because it can easily use too much memory.
All that matters is how it prints or exports.

Vince

*Please remember to Rate our replies or check Solution if solved. If you get a good idea from the post, consider clicking the Kudos option.

[Vincent Rosati]

If you have two raster images..
A – 1px X 1px, 1ppi. The document size is 1 inch and will display as 1 inch in Illustrator.
B – 1000px X 1000px, 1000ppi. This will also display as 1 inch in AI.

An inch is always an inch, but the actual size of a pixel can vary.

Vince

*Please remember to Rate our replies or check Solution if solved. If you get a good idea from the post, consider clicking the Kudos option.

[Vincent Rosati]

..Maybe the ‘Dimensions’ drop-down menu.

Vince

*Please remember to Rate our replies or check Solution if solved. If you get a good idea from the post, consider clicking the Kudos option.

[Vincent Rosati]

Here’s what I have in CS4..

It provides the ‘Document Size’. I’m not sure how to expose that value in your version. Perhaps it’s available in the Height/Width dropdowns.

Vince

*Please remember to Rate our replies or check Solution if solved. If you get a good idea from the post, consider clicking the Kudos option.

[Vincent Rosati]

Illustrator is using the Document Size of the image, not the Pixel Dimensions, I think.
Examine the image in Photoshop’s Image Size window.

Vince

*Please remember to Rate our replies or check Solution if solved. If you get a good idea from the post, consider clicking the Kudos option.

[Vincent Rosati]

Select both objects and Object > Blend > Make.
Then with them still selected, Object > Blend > Blend Options, and select ‘Specified Steps’ with a value of 1.
The optionally Object > Expand with all options.

Vince

*Please remember to Rate our replies or check Solution if solved. If you get a good idea from the post, consider clicking the Kudos option.

[Vincent Rosati]

You could select the objects with the Direct Select tool, then inspect them with the Appearance palette. Something might be obvious there.

..but I’m not sure that’s what your issue is.

Do you mean the black lines, or maybe the banding inside the gradient.

If it’s the banding in the gradient, it’s likely that the gradient is expanded. That’s not necessarlily a problem. You should do a test print to see if there actually is an issue, if this is what you’re talking about.

Vince

*Please remember to Rate our replies or check Solution if solved. If you get a good idea from the post, consider clicking the Kudos option.

[Vincent Rosati]

Oh. No, as you noticed, it doesn’t work with embedded items, it would have to be a placed/external/linked file. I misunderstood. I thought you were talking about linked files.

Using Symbols
Another setup might be to make a Symbol out of the rabbit, and another symbol out of the gold fish.
Drag a rabbit into the Symbols palette. Drag a gold fish into the Symbols palette.
Replace the each of the existing rabbits with the new rabbit symbol.
Now, you can programmatically replace these symbols with a different symbol.
Select all of the symbols in the artboard you want to replace (the rabbits), then click the symbol in the Symbols palette that you want to replace with (the fish), then click the drop-down menu in the Symbols palette and Replace Symbol.

There are a few different ways you can set up an AI project, so that it meets certain workflow requirements.
We’ve looked at 2 options, so far – Linked files vs Symbol objects. Any option you take would basically be a variation of these two options.

Vince

*Please remember to Rate our replies or check Solution if solved. If you get a good idea from the post, consider clicking the Kudos option.

[Vincent Rosati]

You could potentially use the Live Trace feature. Select the image, click the Live Trace dropdown menu and choose Tracing Options. Adjust settings. Trace. Then Object > Expand.
You can now access all of the parts with the selection tools.

Depending on the pattern, you might just want to open the image with Illustrator and redraw it as a vector.

If you ever need to upload an image, you should use JPG or PNG, but you can also upload files of any type. Just make sure to attach them to the message, it doesn’t happen automatically.

Vince

*Please remember to Rate our replies or check Solution if solved. If you get a good idea from the post, consider clicking the Kudos option.