Where is pathfinder in illustrator cs6

Blogger templates. Posts RSS. Comments RSS. Toggle navigation. How to use pathfinder in Illustrator CS6. Pathfinder Panel in Adobe Illustrator is truly a blessing. It helps you create complicated shapes in a click. Get it now. Get the Adobe Illustrator tips worksheet, covering this and other posts! First Name.

Last Name. About Author Latest Posts. Similar Posts. Blog Science Science Communication. Advocacy Blog Personal Articles Science. Blog Art Science Science Communication. Search for:. But it also has tools which work as a glue stick for sticking two or more shapes together. You can combine basic shapes like, two ovals and a rectangle to create a cylinder. Pathfinder palette has many tools which can be used to combine, divide, trim, exclude objects in illustrator.

Each tool has its own utility in different situations. For example, the Trim tool in the Pathfinder Palette can be used as a cookie cutter. You place an object or shape on top of the other and it would cut a hole in the bottom layer in the shape of the top shape. The Pathfinder group of tools can be accessed from the Window menu. Go to Window and Select Pathfinder. You get two sets of tools in the Pathfinder panel. The Shape modes and the Pathfinder tools.

The tools and the their functions are explained below. Compound shapes make it easy to create complex shapes because you can precisely manipulate the shape mode, stacking order, shape, location, and appearance of each path included. You can use the Layers panel to show, select, and manipulate the contents of a compound shape—for example, to change the stacking order of its components.

You can also use the Direct Selection tool or the Group Selection tool to select components of a compound shape. When you create a compound shape, it takes on the paint and transparency attributes of the topmost component in Add, Intersect, or Exclude mode.

Subsequently, you can change the paint, style, or transparency attributes of the compound shape. Illustrator facilitates this process by automatically targeting the whole compound shape when you select any part of it, unless you explicitly target a component in the Layers panel.

Original objects B. Compound shape created C. Individual shape modes applied to each component D. Style applied to entire compound shape. You can include paths, compound paths, groups, other compound shapes, blends, text, envelopes, and warps in a compound shape. Any open paths you select are automatically closed. Each component of the compound shape is assigned the shape mode you select. Select Make Compound Shape from the Pathfinder panel menu.

Each component of the compound shape is assigned the Add mode by default. Note: You never need to change the mode of the backmost component, because that mode isn't relevant to the compound shape. To sustain maximum performance, create complex compound shapes by nesting other compound shapes containing up to about 10 components each instead of using many individual components.

Releasing a compound shape separates it back into separate objects. Expanding a compound shape maintains the shape of the compound object, but you can no longer select the individual components. The shape layers and layer clipping paths vector masks in Adobe Photoshop are types of compound shapes. You can import shape layers and layer clipping paths into Illustrator as compound shapes and continue to manipulate them. In addition, you can export compound shapes to Photoshop. Keep the following in mind when using compound shapes with Photoshop:.

Only compound shapes that reside at the top level of the layer hierarchy are exported to Photoshop as shape layers. A compound shape painted with a stroke using a join other than round, or with a weight in points that is not an integer, is rasterized when exported to the PSD file format. A compound path contains two or more paths that are painted so that holes appear where paths overlap.

When you define objects as a compound path, all objects in the compound path take on the paint and style attributes of the backmost object in the stacking order. Use the Direct Selection tool or the Group Selection tool to select part of a compound path. You can manipulate the shape of individual components of a compound path, but you can't change appearance attributes, graphic styles, or effects for individual components, and you can't manipulate components individually in the Layers panel.

If you want more flexibility when creating compound paths, you can create a compound shape and then expand it. Nonzero winding fill rule. Uses mathematical equations to determine if a point is outside or inside a shape. Illustrator uses the nonzero winding rule as the default rule. Even-odd fill rule. Self-intersecting paths are paths that intersect themselves. When you create a nonzero winding compound path, you can specify whether overlapping paths appear with holes or are filled by clicking a Reverse Path Direction button in the Attributes panel.

Four circular paths B. Circular paths selected, converted into compound path C. Reverse Path Direction applied to innermost path. Using the Direct Selection tool, select the part of the compound path to reverse. Don't select the entire compound path.