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How can I disconnect/ungroup overlapping shapes in my image?

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
December 5, 2018
4 replies
2054 views

I imported my design into Illustrator to vectorize it. My challenge is, my letters overlap and I can't work on them individually. Ungrouping them the standard way won't work because they were designed together as is.

Do you have any suggestions?

Thank you!

ungrouping

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Correct answer Monika Gause

Adobe Capture makes shapes of everything. And of course all the shapes are connected.

You really only want to color the insides of the letters?

In that case just leave the trace as it is and then use the live paint feature to fill the letters.

Make sure to activate the gap detection in Object > Live Paint > Gap detection.

How to create and work with Live Paint groups in Illustrator

ScooterD76

Legend

Im not sure what your desired end result is-

If you just want to add/edit colors in the piece than all of the above methods will work. If you are trying to move the individual letters around independently, you will probably be better off tracing the art with the pen tool. It is possible to cut all these paths apart and try and fill in the gaps, but IMO it would be more time efficient to pen tool out the letters. (Just the outlines of the letters, the linework and flourishes can be easily salvaged)

JgentryAuthor

Known Participant

Thank you ScooterD76! That definitely could be an option.

JgentryAuthor

Known Participant

I'm still not figuring this thing out. The image was vectorized with Capture, I've tried using "cut path" and I still can't edit one portion at a time.

I can't even do what @maxwithdax did above!

I still have the same issue as seen in the pic. Bummer!

maxwithdax

Community Expert

Check out this video I threw together regarding your image. It should shed some light on what you might be missing and a few things you can do to clean it up. As always, there are 10 different ways to do anything in Adobe programs, so the way I did it in this video is just one way. But at least it should point you in the right direction.

How to Image trace a simple logo - YouTube

- Dax

JgentryAuthor

Known Participant

Super! Thank you very much @maxwithdax! I appreciate you helping me out with the great video. I'll dive in shortly and get to work!

ScooterD76

Legend

This is a raster image that you want to trace, am i understanding correctly?

An image trace will produce artwork with the same overlap, so you will not have much room for edits.

However, if you trace with the pen tool, you can draw the letters complete, on seperate layers giving you more options

JgentryAuthor

Known Participant

It originated as an inked drawing and I imported it with Capture to vectorize it. I applied an Image Trace to it already. Does that mean I'm left using the pen tool?

I wanted to add color, but at this point it will obviously fill more than one area.

ScooterD76

Legend

In that case, making it a Live Paint object may work for adding color, but I have limited experience with that function.... anyone?

My pre- LivePaint coloring method:

Expand the object to turn any lines to shapes ( I believe this is where you're at)

Select this lineart and use "Unite" ( makes it one peice)

Draw a filled box around the artwork, filled with any color but black or white

Send this box behind the artwork ( Object > Arrange > Send to back )

Select everything, and use the Merge command in the Pathfinder

Now you can use the direct select tool to select the colored fill areas and change their color as you please. ( as well as selecting the outside filled area and delete it)

* Edit, forgot the third step