How To Split Two Intersecting Circles in to Three Separate Shapes

Question

My question is specifically about Making a Venn Diagram in Adobe Illustrator.

I am trying to make a Venn-diagram to visualize different set operations in math. I found that Illustrator made some pretty good pictures but I am stuck now.

I want to turn the part of the Circle A that does not intersect with the Circle B into its own object so that I can fill it with a color.

The problem is that the intersection of A and B is one object, and the complement of the intersection is also one object.

So if I try to fill Circle A, but not the intersection with a color, it also fills Circle B minus the intersection.

In other words, currently the two circle make up two object, but I want to turn it in to three separate objects that share sides. I used the pathfinder tool to get this far, but I don't know how to use it to get what I want.

How can I create three separate shapes from the shape in the diagram below, one for Circle A without the intersecting part of the circle, the same for Circle B and one more shape for the intersecting part?

Answer 1

Select both circles and click the Divide button on the Pathfinder Panel. This will create 3 separate shapes.

You can also simply grab the Live Paint Bucket Tool and click once on the circles to create a Live Paint Group, then continue clicking areas to fill them with color. When done click the Expand button on the control bar across the top of the screen to expand the Live Paint Group to 3 standard shapes.