Illustrator: Making Round Corners "Real"?

Question

I've drawn a square, and I've use the "Round Corners" effect to give that square... well, round corners. Thing like a modern day app icon.

The problem is, I want to now manipulate this shape. But I can't because it's technically still a square with an applied effect. I want to render the round corners so it's actual points and lines that I can mess around with. But I can't figure out how to do this. And I'm not sure what the right term is to describe what I'm trying to do, so it's hard to google.

Answer 1

Select the shape.. then, from the menu...choose Object > Expand Appearance

This will "bake in" the effect.

_{(The terminology for Illustrator is "expand" - which refers to making a "live" effect no longer "live" and committing it to the path/shape.)}