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Main => Artwork => Topic started by: Hammerheadx on January 27, 2012, 03:29:30 pm

Title: Adobe Illustrator Help
Post by: Hammerheadx on January 27, 2012, 03:29:30 pm
To show how much of a beginner I am I pose the following question:

When tracing letters liks A, B, D, Q, etc that have a "hole" in them, what I currently do is fill the outline of the letter in , say black, and then fill the inside of the letter in, say white.  Works great except when you want to print on a background other than white, or a transparency.

There must be a simple way in Illustrator to trace the letter and then punch a hole in it.
Title: Re: Adobe Illustrator Help
Post by: opt2not on January 27, 2012, 03:38:17 pm
If these objects are shapes, that is, without strokes:
Select your black outline shape, and then the white hole shape you drew, and hit Ctrl-8  which joins the objects together. They must be in the same layer.
This command can be found under one of the drop-down menus too, I think it's in Objects--> Compound Paths --> join.  Something like that (I don't have Illustrator at work, so I can't check this for you).

This will take the white shape object and use it as a boolean object to poke the hole through the Black shape.  :cheers:
Title: Re: Adobe Illustrator Help
Post by: knohbody on January 27, 2012, 03:57:27 pm
I always use the pathfinder pallette's subtract tool. the object on top will be subtracted from the lower object, then expand to make it permanent.
Heres a tutorial that explains the pathfinders features: http://www.bittbox.com/illustrator/pathfinder-explained (http://www.bittbox.com/illustrator/pathfinder-explained)
Title: Re: Adobe Illustrator Help
Post by: opt2not on January 27, 2012, 06:19:08 pm
I always use the pathfinder pallette's subtract tool. the object on top will be subtracted from the lower object, then expand to make it permanent.
Heres a tutorial that explains the pathfinders features: http://www.bittbox.com/illustrator/pathfinder-explained (http://www.bittbox.com/illustrator/pathfinder-explained)
Ah, good to know. I usually shy away from the UI, and try to learn the hot-keys in any software I use. Either way is good.  :cheers:
Title: Re: Adobe Illustrator Help
Post by: knohbody on January 27, 2012, 07:42:44 pm
I always use the pathfinder pallette's subtract tool. the object on top will be subtracted from the lower object, then expand to make it permanent.
Heres a tutorial that explains the pathfinders features: http://www.bittbox.com/illustrator/pathfinder-explained (http://www.bittbox.com/illustrator/pathfinder-explained)
Ah, good to know. I usually shy away from the UI, and try to learn the hot-keys in any software I use. Either way is good.  :cheers:
Yeah, I learned to use the menus for stuff like that. Adobe allows you to change the hotkeys on just about everything in CS and when I was working in the computer lab at school, each station would have different hotkeys, depending on who would sit there that day.   :banghead:
Title: Re: Adobe Illustrator Help
Post by: Hammerheadx on January 29, 2012, 12:38:24 am
Thanks for all your assistance - this is of tremendous help!