Illustrator Question (easy one)

[acothran]

Sorry for the elementary question but I spend more time in Photoshop than Illustrator. I'm trying to print/cut a race car driver's name to go above the windows, on top of the car. They requested it look like they're last car (I didn't do the graphics) hence the Brush Script for the font. I'm wondering how to combine overlapping paths within the letters so the cutter will just cut the outline. I tried the direct selection tool and a few options on the Pathfinder but had no luck. I've attached a pic with rough sample text (just a basic version of what I'm doing). On the close-up, the red circles show the problem areas and the green circles are what I want them to look like minus the rough eraser (I just erased the lines in Photoshop to show my desired result). Thanks for your help.

Allen

 

[Fred Weiss]

• Select text.
• In Pathfinder, click on Merge.

Done.

 

[Rick]

What version of Illustrator?

Fred left something out

-- Select text (make sure it is outlines/converted to curves)
-- In Pathfinder Select "ADD TO SHAPE AREA" (usually located at the upper left corner of the palette)
-- The Hit "EXPAND"

Forget what I said, Fred was right! I never hit the merge button before... time to read up on my Illy, I hate finding something that obvious!!!!

 

[Gino]

I do it the way Rick does it and then it allows me to still use effects such as outlines. Doing it Fred's way, I can't get outlines to work. I realize the OP wants to make a contour cut, but if you just wanted to go on naturally, how can this work, Fred ??

I'm CS2...... perhaps that's the difference.

 

[kustomguy]

What I do is convert the text to outlines. Select the word, go to the pathfinder pallete, hold down the alt key and click on the "unite" button which is the first in the upper left. Very easy to remember. Good luck with it.

 

[Fred Weiss]

You're right ... one must Convert to Outlines before Merging.

 

[acothran]

Thanks for the replies but I can't get any of these to work. I converted to outlines, selected the text (all of the text & tried regular selection and direct selection), tried merge and got an error (see pic below). I tried Rick's suggestion and everything looks the same. At work I was using CS4 the at home I'm using CS3 (my last try). Thanks again for the help.

Allen

 

[The Vector Doctor]

odd, the replies so far are exactly how it should be done. Maybe you can email it so someone can look at what could be wrong with the file. Something is amiss

 

[Sin-Tek]

Thanks for the replies but I can't get any of these to work. I converted to outlines, selected the text (all of the text & tried regular selection and direct selection), tried merge and got an error (see pic below). I tried Rick's suggestion and everything looks the same. At work I was using CS4 the at home I'm using CS3 (my last try). Thanks again for the help.

Allen

you will get that error if your text is not converted to outlines. Its weird that you are still getting it. I would just double check that it is converted.

 

[acothran]

I got it. Thanks. It's been a long day and I was forgetting to switch to the Direct Selection Tool before clicking "Add to Shape Area." No matter what I do, I still get the previously mentioned error when trying Fred's suggestion (outline, select w/ direct selection, click merge). Thanks again for your help. I'll sleep better tonight not thinking about that.

Allen

 

[kustomguy]

So you go to the type menu and select "convert to outlines". Try restarting the computer and making a new file from scratch. Also try to deselect a fill color and only use your stroke color with only 1 pt stroke. Then try to do a direct selection on only two letters at a time. Somethings gotta give here for you. This is a really easy task that is being very difficult. Good luck.

 

[kustomguy]

Sorry about my last reply, I should have reloaded the page before submitting my post. Bad timing. Glad you got it!!!

 

[GAC05]

Good that you got it worked out.

wayne k
guam usa

ps
Better check the forum rules - having Brush Script loaded on your hard drive can get you banned here....

 

[Bill Modzel]

When you "convert to outlines", is doesn't mean that you should change the lettering from a "filled" color to just an outline with no fill. That also will trigger that warning.

So, select your word, turn font to outlines, command>shift>O, hole down your option/alt key and merge. That should do it. If you "merge" without the alt key, just go to Object>expand appearance and that will change the merge "effect" to a true merge.

One other thing to watch out for is all of your compounded shapes will have a duplicate shape "underneath". In other words, there will be two shapes in the center of your "O".
Use your group selection tool, thats the arrow with the + sign. Click ONCE on the center of the arrow, hold down the shift key and drag over a part of the same shape.
It will still look selected but if you look at your color swatch at the bottom of your tool bar it will show no fill or stroke. Go to select>same> fill and stroke and the rest of the duplicate shapes will be selected, hit delete and your good to go.