Quick Illustrator Question

DcMoody23

Okay so I've searched for literally hours for this seemingly ridiculously easy task but I can't seem to find the solution.. (Grr!)

Alright, so this morning I made 2 letters (a D and an M) using my bamboo tablet with the pencil tool on Adobe Illustrator.

Now, I have them fixed just how I want them, so what I want to do is combine them into one 'layer' (I know that term isn't technically correct for illustrator?).

One thing: when selected, the blue points outline the D, but are still in the middle of my M (mimicking my stroke)

I tried the pathfinder>merge tool , but all that did was connect the bottom line of my M.

Basically I want it so that if I click on the D, say, that it selects the D and the M (they're side by side). Right now I have to highlight all of it to move it.

Thunder Rabbit

Howdy.

One way.

Select both letters.

Menu>Object>Compound Path>Make (Ctrl+8).

This will merge the two into a compound path, and they will act as one. It is also easy to unmerge them if you need to rearrange them.

Menu>Object>Compound Path>Release (Ctrl+Alt+8).

Hope this helps.

DcMoody23

Hey thanks a lot for the response! A little too tied up to try it now, but I'll certainly try it later. Just wanted to thank you for the response.

DcMoody23

Alright this didn't work, and there is a simple reason for it (I think). It's because on the M it still recognizes it as my pen stroke, and not as an object -


That's what it looks like when I select both, then when I hit Object>Compound Path>Make, it does this:

Thunder Rabbit

Howdy.

I think I see the problem. The "D" is a closed path with a black fill with no stroke. The "M" is an open path with a stroke. When you combine them, the fill from the "D" is applied to the "M".

So, try this:

Select the letters. Menu>Object>Group (Ctrl+G) or Right click, select Group.

This should keep the properties of the two letters separate. Clicking on either will select both, and they move as one. You can still select each letter and edit it separately using the layers palette. They will remain grouped unless you Ungroup them (Ctrl+Shft+G).

DcMoody23

Well I wrote both letters the same way. Is there any way I can turn the M into a fill and then group them? Or because it is not closed (say, compared to the D) i cannot do it?

But thanks, the grouping is all that I wanted.
Thank you.

Thunder Rabbit

Howdy.

I vaguely remember that in PS or Illustrator there is a command that converts a stroke to a selection. I did a quick search and couldn't find it. You might have better luck.

But what I would do, is redo the "M", using the pen tool to trace the stroke, then flatten the ends to match the "D". As it is now, the letters don't quite match. On the "M", the end of the stroke is hemispherical, as the stroke has round endcaps. The ends of the "D" are rounded, but slightly flattened, which I think looks better than the round ends on the "M".

For what it worth.

BinaryFx

A compound path is not the appropriate command to use in this case. What you should be doing for the letter "m" is: object/path/outline stroke.

A compound path would be appropriate for a "counter" (typographic term) - such as the hole in a letter O or the hole in a P or the two holes in the letter B etc. This allows any elements under the text to show through the holes.

Once you have outlines for both the letters, you may wish to select them both and group them.


Regards,

Stephen Marsh

http://binaryfx.customer.netspace.net.au/ (coming soon!)
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~binaryfx/
http://prepression.blogspot.com/

Thunder Rabbit

Howdy.

"What you should be doing for the letter "m" is: object/path/outline stroke."

Thanks for refreshing my memory, Stephen. Much easier than tracing.

The result will be a closed path, and the endpoints can be modified to match the "D". As mentioned above, you don't have to ungroup them to modify the "M".