Illustrator- I can not cut a line circle in half without it connecting back to itself

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
May 28, 2023
3 replies
815 views

ive watched every video on this and it should be very simple. all im trying to do is make atomic rings and intertwine them so some rings are in front and some cross in and out from each other.

i make my cirlce then draw my line, ive used rectangles pens pencils all for this, and then i select them all with the line and circle, use pathfinder, divide in half and then the cirlce connects back to itself, ive used the minus front as well, ive tried everything

what setting stops a shape from connecting back to itself when you divide it?

heres a picture of what is happening

Draw and design

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Monika Gause

Community Expert

Sorry for the German interface.

The function I've been using for the final step is called Intertwine in English

https://youtu.be/pcBCjQ11mWo

Jacob Bugge

Community Expert

Justin,

As a direct answer to this, "what setting stops a shape from connecting back to itself when you divide it?", no setting does: both Pathfinder was and Divide Objects Below create closed paths.

But in your screenshot Document preview of 2023-05-28.png, you can deselect, then ClickDrag over the two unwanted straight segments in the middle with the Direct Selection Tool, then press Delete to turn them into the desired curved open paths.

However, if you wish to "make atomic rings and intertwine them", none of the rings are to be cut at opposite points/intersections with other rings, as shown by Bobby.

So you need one of the other possible approaches.

B

Bobby Henderson

Community Expert

For a classic atomic rings icon, I would recommend making the three "base" ovals (rotated in steps of 120 degrees) and having them aligned and positioned as desired first. Then I would copy those ovals to the clipboard, pasting in front the copies I need for a primary line stroke and then another copy as an outline stroke. I would expand both and then use Pathfinder tools to make the welds and cuts where desired. The Shape Builder tool is another option. The new Intertwine tool can also speed up this process, but that is more of a "live" Illustrator-dependent effect.

Edit: I added a couple example images to show a sort of "before" and "after" result of what I'm describing. I threw the destructive result together using the Shape Builder tool, working on copies of the original ovals to get what I wanted.

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