In Illustrator, how do I create a cut between two anchor points?

Question

Suppose I have a shape that looks like the top, and I want the bottom:

I want to create cuts between the highlighted anchor points. The knife tool would do what I want if I could get it to snap to anchor points, but I can't find a way to do that. Is there a way?

I tried the scissors too, but it always gives me an error saying "Please use the scissors tool on a segment or an anchor point (but not an endpoint) of a path." and I'm not sure what that means.

Answer 1

As Far as I'm aware, there's no "cut between anchors" command anywhere.

• Use the Direct Selection Tool (White arrow) to drag and select the angled paths
• Choose Edit > Cut from the menu (Command/Ctrl+x)
• Select the two open end anchors on the top portion
• Choose Object > Path > Join from the menu (Command/Ctrl+j)
• Select the two open end anchors on the bottom portion
• Choose Object > Path > Join from the menu (Command/Ctrl+j)
• Choose Edit > Paste in Front from the menu to paste the angles paths back in place (Command/Ctrl+f)
• Choose Object > Path > Join from the menu 2 times to join the angled paths and close the shape. (Command/Ctrl+j, Command/Ctrl+j)

_{(Animation shows CS6, but it's the same procedure in newer versions)}

Answer 2

you could also also draw a line point to point and then selecting the line and object then choose "Divide" from the pathfinder

Answer 3

Just further to Scott's great advice, you can also:

1. Select the four centre anchor points of the shape using the Direct Selection Tool (A) + holding shift

2. Snip all anchors points at once by hitting the scissors tool

3. Join the anchor points of the centre (and outer) shapes using the pen tool (P)