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R
Rolando Riggio
Known Participant
May 27, 2022
Answered

Illustration with many layers need simplifying:

  • May 27, 2022
  • 3 replies
  • 548 views

I have an illustration that I need simplified but I don't know what would be the best way for me to decrease the amount of paths and layers that compose the illustration?

 

Here is the illustration:

 

And these are the total layers and paths currently:

 

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Doug A Roberts

 

quote

But say once I finalize the design, Is there a way I put it all one layer?? 


By @Rolando Riggio

 

A note on this: in Illustrator, the layers panel is a list of every object in the file. Objects can be grouped into layers at your discretion. Not every object is a layer.

3 replies

Anna Lander
Anna Lander
Inspiring
May 27, 2022

Hi!
Now you have a good layers structure (I just don't see the reason for the top layer duplication, but you see better)
As Doug says, each line is not a single layer, Illustrator is not like Photoshop here. Each line is like a book on a shelf, where the shelf is a layer. You can select some objects in a layer and group them, so you will decrease the first-level step of the structural complexity. If you need to get any specific object, you'll see it in the group.
If you want to collect all the objects at the top layer, just select them all and group them, they all will move to the top layer.
If you want to finally have the one united object, without separating to small details, follow Doug's advice: select all, call the Outline Stroke command and then use Unite option on the Pathfinder panel. But I would suggest doing this at the last step and primarily saving an editable copy for any further tasks with this image.

    Kurt Gold
    Community Expert
    Kurt GoldCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    May 27, 2022

    If you are merely looking for a simplified listing in the Layers palette, you can go to the Palette menu and choose Palette Options.

     

    There you can turn on the Show Layers Only option and control whether thumbnails for layers, groups and objects are displayed or not.

     

      Doug A Roberts
      Community Expert
      Doug A RobertsCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      May 27, 2022

      It looks to me like it has no more than the amount of paths it needs. What is your goal in simplifying it?

      You could outline all the paths and combine them if you really want, but that might be problematic if you need to edit it later.

      R
      Rolando RiggioAuthor
      Known Participant
      May 27, 2022

      Really?? Well then maybe it's me and wanting to have a simple to navigate layers panel.

       

      But say once I finalize the design, Is there a way I put it all one layer?? 

      For example: If I was designing a logo and wanted to keep anyone from altering the individual paths

      Doug A Roberts
      Community Expert
      Doug A RobertsCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      May 27, 2022

      If you want to group things or use sublayers to organise your layers panel, that may help your organisation, but in a working file your goal should be to keep things as editable as possible, and that means having each object separately accessible -- and thus neccesarily listed in the layers panel.

       

      If you wanted to produce a logo form for export to SVG or PDF or something, you might want to use Object > Path > Outline Stroke, then Unite in the Pathfinder panel. This would turn everything into a compound path.

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