GUIDE
Quit Adobe Illustrator, open the downloaded .dmg and drag the tool onto Adobe Extensions, then click Authenticate. That adds it to every version of Illustrator on your Mac (2023 and newer). On Windows, run the Setup.exe. Then open Illustrator again.
Free trial: the first time you open a tool, press Start the free trial — everything works for 5 days, no card and no key (an internet connection is needed to start it). The panel shows the days left and a Buy now button; when the trial ends it asks you to buy a license, and your work stays. One trial per computer for each tool.
Your license: open Window › Extensions › Ilo Raw (or Ilo Color Tools, Ilo Retouch or Ilo Animation) and choose I have a license key (during the trial: Key next to Buy now). Paste the key from your purchase email — Ilo Raw keys start with RAW-, Color Tools keys with ILO-, Ilo Retouch keys with RET-, Ilo Animation keys with ANI- — and click Activate. Each key works on two computers; to move it, choose Deactivate on this computer from the ••• menu.
Select a placed or embedded photo on your artboard — the editor shows it immediately. Adjust in Edit, press Done, and the developed image replaces the original in exactly the same place. Select it again any time to continue where you left off. To develop a camera file, click Open photo… and choose a RAW, JPG, PNG, TIFF or PSD.
Shortcuts: Y before/after · J clipping · W white-balance picker · ⌘ +/−/0/1 zoom · ⌘Z undo · double-click any slider to reset it.
Open Cut out in the right-hand bar and turn on Remove background. With Photoshop installed, Ilo Raw uses Photoshop’s Remove Background for the best edges (Photoshop may start quietly in the background the first time). Quick AI works without Photoshop. Press Done to place the cut-out, or Export PNG… to save a transparent file.
Open Masks and add Linear, Radial, Brush, Luminance, Color, Subject or Sky. For Shape, select the photo together with any path in Illustrator first — that path becomes the mask. Drag the handles on the preview, and give each mask its own exposure, color and detail settings.
Select artwork instead of (or together with) a photo. Every slider updates fills, strokes, gradients and text live on the artboard. The original colors are remembered, so Reset always brings them back.
Open Window › Extensions › Ilo Color Tools, select artwork, pick a tool from the side bar and drag. Changes preview live; press Apply to keep them or Reset to go back.
In Color Tools, choose Print Match. The first time, it measures how your document’s CMYK profile really prints (a few seconds, then remembered). Select artwork — or nothing, for the whole document — set the Ink limit and click Analyze to see each colour before and after with its ΔE. Convert document switches the file to CMYK with the matched inks; Keep RGB leaves the file in RGB but replaces colours with print-safe ones.
In Color Tools, choose Riso Match. Pick 1, 2 or 3 inks and the paper, then click Find the best Riso inks: the panel picks the inks and shows every colour's mix and how close it gets (ΔE). To use inks you already own, choose them in the ink slots — the others re-fit around them. Make Riso plates builds an “Ilo Riso” layer with one Multiply group per ink in spot colours named “Riso <ink>”; print or export each plate separately. Remove Riso plates brings your artwork back.
In Color Tools, choose Vector Grain, select the objects and click Use selected artwork. The panel shows a live preview: set Amount, Grain size and Contrast, put the grain in the shadows, the highlights or both, and pick the colour. Add grain places a clipped group named “Ilo Grain” above each object — one compound path of dots you can recolour or delete like any artwork.
Select a placed or embedded photo and open Window › Extensions › Ilo Retouch. Press Auto retouch: faces are found, acne and blemishes cleaned up, skin smoothed and evened, red eyes fixed. Fine-tune with the sliders — keep Keep texture above 30 for a natural look. Clean up sets how strongly small spots everywhere are removed, and Reduce shine tames oily highlights. Use the Heal brush (J) to heal more spots; Option-click a mark to remove it. Y toggles before/after, M shows or hides the marks. Press Done to place the result; the original is kept, so you can reopen and continue later.
The full Ilo Animation guide →
Open Window › Extensions › Ilo Animation with a document open: every object on your visible layers comes in by itself and gets its own row, and changes you make in Illustrator show up by themselves (Layers lets you choose, Sync reads the document again). Press Magic to animate the whole design in one click, and again for another take. Click an animation in the library to add it — clicking another of the same kind swaps it — or drag it onto a track at the exact time. Drag blocks to move them, drag their edge to stretch. To animate one letter or shape on its own, click it on the stage and choose Animate separately. Unfold a track to keyframe position, scale, rotation and opacity. Text sets new text in any of your Illustrator fonts, Background adds a colour or gradient, Canvas sets the size, and the Shapes tab of the library holds 40,431 shapes that go into your document with a click. Export saves Lottie JSON, animated SVG, GIF or video.
Puffy & Chrome: type your words and click a look: it goes straight into Illustrator and appears in the Animate tab as its own row. With styled type selected, another look restyles it. Adjust colours, depth, gloss, outline and the shadow; Apply to selection styles text or shapes you selected, and Release gives you the editable text back.
I don’t see the extension. Quit Illustrator completely and open it again; the menu is Window › Extensions.
“Target layer cannot be modified”. Unlock the active layer — or update, newer versions choose an unlocked layer automatically.
The key was not accepted. Check you’re using the right product’s key and that you’re online for the first activation.
Still stuck? Contact support.