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Inspiring
September 2, 2021
Answered

I'm trying to subtract a line from a rectangle, but when I do, the line just disappears

  • September 2, 2021
  • 1 reply
  • 1162 views

The title kind of says it all. I made a design for something I'm making. When I try to subtract a line from a rectangle, the line just disappears, and the rectangle is left without any difference. 

 

Do I have to remake my entire design with rectangles? Because that's gonna take a while. Is there a way I can just mass convert them? Or am I just doing something wrong with Pathfinder?

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Correct answer martinf90893535

But you lost the little triangle...


In the end, I just made a hexagon, and used the edge to make the effect. That allowed me to subtract it.

1 reply

Peter Spier
Community Expert
Community Expert
September 2, 2021

Some screen shots might help to explain the problem.

 

Using Pathfinder to subtract implies you want what is subtracted to be removed. If that's not the case, you might want to use the scissor tool instead to cut the line.

Inspiring
September 2, 2021

I'm trying to subtract the white from the red, but the white is made out of lines.

Peter Spier
Community Expert
Community Expert
September 2, 2021

I was able to produce something similar by drawing a closed shape like your lines using the pen tool.

I made two stacked copies of that in position over the rectangles (I needed two in order to subtract from both rectangles; select the topmost drawn shape and one rectangle, then run subtract; repeat with other drawn shape and second rectangle), but honestly I think it might be just as fast to simply add some points to the edge of the rectangle using the Pen tool and use the Direct Select tool to reposition them where you want them.