I have some text. I changed it to outline. Drew a rectangle on it. Selected all and then pathfinder->minus front. I got a weird result. How can get my desired effect in this way?
2 Answers
The easiest method is to change the color of the rectangle to something other than the type color. I'd choose white.
- Select the (now white) rectangle and the type and use
Pathfinder > Merge
. - Select the white rectangle and choose
Select > Same > Fill & Stroke
- Hit the delete key.
Merge combines shapes of similar fills and removes any other shape below. So if your rectangle is white, it'll combine with the counters if they touch it (like in the B) and it will delete the underlying black portion of the type shapes. Then selecting similar just lets you select and delete all the white in 2 steps. You are left with only the black top portion of the type shapes.
Another Method
- Select All
- Grab the Shape Builder Tool, hold down the Option/Alt key and then just drag across the rectangle, being certain to hit the areas you want gone.
- If necessary, keep the Option/Alt held down and continue clicking any other areas you want to remove.
For this you first need to select all of the letters and create a compound path. Object>Compound Path>Make THEN do your pathfinder minus front.
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What if I used a bunch of lines instead of rectangle? Do I have to make compound path with them also? Sep 7, 2014 at 13:37
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For this you can use the divide command in pathfinder and don't need to use a compound path. However, you will need to ungroup the object and delete any of the lines used for the dividing. Sep 7, 2014 at 13:48
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Tried it. But it's seriously painful. I have to select every line individually and delete it. Is there any less painful way?? Sep 7, 2014 at 13:56
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One other option is to select the lines you're using for the dividing, and expand them. Object**>**Expand**>**Ok Then you can do minus front again. But first, you need to make a compound path with your 'slicing' lines AND your other shapes to be sliced. This will make gaps but it's the only other option. Your gaps will obviously depend on how thick the stroke is. Sep 7, 2014 at 15:10