Inspiring

Answered

Deleting portions of lines beneath a shape in Illustrator CC

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
July 12, 2019
4 replies
5677 views

I am trying to delete stroke lines beneath a shape. Imagine several random lines inside a square. Now delete the lines that are beneath a shape (Circle) within the square so that the now empty space reflects that circle shape. I can do this if there is a shape over a shape, but I am having trouble with a shape over vector lines. Thanks!

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer miqui515

Thank you so much for all of your help. I have used each and every piece of advice, combined them and have come up with the answer. Here is it:

Lock any portion of the artwork not affected by the cut out shape. (In my case, I have text and cut lines in the actual artwork that I don't want combined with the artwork being deleted.) Select all and group. Object expand appearance Object expand (keeping stroke and fill checked.) Object make compound path. Move a solid fill shape that matches the area to be removed over the artwork. (In this case, that would be the oval.) Select all. Click exclude in pathfinder shape modes. Deselect all by clicking away from the artwork. Click the area being cut away with the direct select tool and drag away. This moves the unwanted lines away from the artwork. Now click delete. There are some residual lines remaining within the oval, but they are no longer joined to the rest of the artwork and can easily be deleted with the selection tool or direct selection tool. Now unlock the shapes that were locked and you're done.

miqui515AuthorCorrect answer

Inspiring

Thank you so much for all of your help. I have used each and every piece of advice, combined them and have come up with the answer. Here is it:

Lock any portion of the artwork not affected by the cut out shape. (In my case, I have text and cut lines in the actual artwork that I don't want combined with the artwork being deleted.) Select all and group. Object expand appearance Object expand (keeping stroke and fill checked.) Object make compound path. Move a solid fill shape that matches the area to be removed over the artwork. (In this case, that would be the oval.) Select all. Click exclude in pathfinder shape modes. Deselect all by clicking away from the artwork. Click the area being cut away with the direct select tool and drag away. This moves the unwanted lines away from the artwork. Now click delete. There are some residual lines remaining within the oval, but they are no longer joined to the rest of the artwork and can easily be deleted with the selection tool or direct selection tool. Now unlock the shapes that were locked and you're done.

Jacob Bugge

Community Expert

For my part you are welcome, miqui.

Jacob Bugge

Community Expert

miqui,

Like Peter, (by post #9)) I had been convinced that you talked about a laser cutter.

Based on this wording in your post #3,

That worked great until I went to print it on the laser machine. The laser still sees those lines and prints them.

the first sentence made me wonder, but the repetition of print(s) in the second sentence made me (foolishly) believe it was a laser printer.

Jacob Bugge

Community Expert

miqui,

If you are fine with line cutoffs that follow the shape and angle of the circle (rather than having Round or (perpendicular) Butt Caps), you can:

1) Give the circle a black fill and no stroke,

2) Select both the circle and the lines (you may have them Grouped), then in the Transparency (flyout) click Make (Opacity) Mask with both Clip and Invert Mask unticked.

That should make the parts of the lines within the circle invisible.

miqui515Author

Inspiring

That worked great until I went to print it on the laser machine. The laser still sees those lines and prints them. Bummer! I think I need to actually delete those lines.

Jacob Bugge

Community Expert

miqui,

That worked great until I went to print it on the laser machine.

Are you using PostScript (emulation) on the printer, or what happens if you do, if you can, or what happens if you Save a Copy/Print as PDF then print from that?

In your post #4 there seems to be an elliptical void and a larger red ellipse; which is the Clipping Path?

Sebastian Bleak

Community Expert

Would you be able to show us a screen shot of what it looks like?

miqui515Author

Inspiring

Peter Villevoye

Community Expert

In order to let laser cutters and other strictly path-based devices work properly, it's crucial to convert all kinds of complexities like line widths, arrowheads, pattern fills, and masks to plain shapes (simple paths with a fill). You can do this by using the Object – Expand command (or Expand Appearance). Depending on the design at hand, you might need to use this command multiple times (e.g. with pattern fills or symbol sets). And Masks need to be released and rethought and re-applied with PathFinder operations. Using the Crop option on resulting shapes is very useful, or using Divide in combo with Add and Subtract. The Shape Builder tool (NOT the Shaper) can mimic many PathFinder operations and even get rid of loose paths.

Just like you say: it should work like a cookie cutter, but cookie cutters only work on soft pieces of dough – not with patches or threads of wool, or steel cans with varied content...

And a good designer also keeps in mind the specific requirements of the hardware, like minimum corner angles and line widths of cutters, or the rounding corner effect of the drill.

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded