I'm a programmer, not a designer. I'm handy with a graphics program as long as it doesn't require artistic abilities. However, I'm not sure about the correct terminology.
I'm working with Adobe Illustrator 9. I have several files, provided by client, that I need to prepare for use in a PHP PDF creator (TCPDF). I'm saving as version 3 .ai files.
One of the files has a line through the text. The text has been converted to outlines. The line is a stroke with no fill. A clipping mask is used to hide any excess line.
Here is what it should look like.
And this is what it looks like inside the PDF that TCPDF created.
Apparently, TCPDF doesn't understand the clipping mask. TCPDF supports up to version 8, but that makes a bigger file. I tried version 8, just to see, and get the same results.
So how do I convert this to individual paths that TCPDF can understand?
I could do it manually by cutting the line into pieces, outlining the stroke, and then adjusting the shape to fit the letters. But is there an easier way?
In this case, it probably wouldn't be too hard. But I am going to have to prepare a variety of graphics and will likely run into some more complicated masks.