I want to go back to that gradient issue and "mistakes" in the book or problems with AS doing "random things".
AS doesn't randomly add gradients. If you click on a shape and remove the gradient fill correctly... it's gone. There is no "glitch" that causes it to come back.
Never ASSUME that an issue might not be YOUR responsibility. Don't blame the tools or the teacher (the book) until you've ruled everything else out. Don't blame the tools unless you can show us evidence of it, step by step to recreate the problem or a file that has the problem. 99% of problems I've seen here are due to "user error". That DOES NOT mean you are a "bad person" or "stupid". I made really bone headed mistakes learning every program I use and I consider myself to have a few brain cells to rub together.
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Funny absolutely true story:
Many years ago when computer illustration was just starting, I was working for an ad agency that decided to upgrade to computer technology for desktop publishing. We had all kinds of funny things happen along the way, learning all this new stuff.
One of my favorites was a story about an Adobe Illustrator document embedded in a Quark document that wouldn't print.
One of our production artists sent a file to our printer or service bureau. The AI eps file in the Quark document was very simple. Nothing complex. A simple drawing on a white background. The printer said this file would rip for hours and nothing would ever print. Getting suspicious he looked at the EPS file and noticed it was HUGE. Finally the printer had to open up the EPS file in Adobe Illustrator and take a very close look at it...
The person who created it didn't know how to use AI that well (we were ALL learning new tools back then). Instead of deleting mistakes in the Adobe Illustrator file, this person was drawing a big white box over top of the viewable area. There were bunches and bunches and bunches... layer after layer after layer after layer of white boxes over shapes that were mistakes.
During all of these problems the artist who created the file was adamant that the problem was either the printer's fault, or the software that created the file. To be fair this could be considered an honest mistake. Someone not familiar with something could make a simple mistake that can cause weird problems.
At the end of the day I calmly explained that you selected items and clicked the delete button in Adobe Illustrator. Not like Photoshop where you filled the document with white.
-vern