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Question

Newb Question: How to thin the width of an existing path image

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
September 16, 2021
4 replies
5365 views

I'm fairly new to illustrator (PS being my stronger application). Can someone please tell me or share a video link instructing the best way to thin the width of an existing path? I'm working off an existing .svg file of a bow and my boss would like me to make the line width the same as the balloon string (pictured below). I tried to recreate but it looked pretty jagged even trying out the curve tool.

.svg

Image:

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Anna Lander

Inspiring

Actually, as for me, the fastest way is to redraw the bow with the Pen tool as a stroked path and set the needed stroke 🙂
The knot can be drawn a 3 short lines, and the loops are not too complex.

J

Julie5E14Author

Known Participant

I tried but I'm so new to Ai that I can't even accomplish this quickly.

Anna Lander

Inspiring

Yes, it might be a bit difficult for a novice.

The consolation is that a Pen tool works in AI the same way as in Photoshop! 🙂

Anna Lander

Inspiring

Sorry, I could be a bit inattentive.

What kind of shape is the bow? Is it a line with a certain width, a united shape, or a group of shapes (I mean, all loops, tails, and knot details are separate shapes)?

The best way would be if you could share the SVG file, then we could see what to suggest to you.

J

Julie5E14Author

Known Participant

The bow is made of a group of different shapes (paths) put together. I attached the .svg file as well in case I'm not describing it well enough. They are technically "shapes" but I'm not sure how it was originally created.

Bow_21751.svg

Anna Lander

Inspiring

Ok, great!
Then you can use the Offset Path option (see my previous answer).
But I would suggest the following way:

1. Scale the bow to the needed size;

2. Use Object > Path > Offset Path and in the dialogue window set the negative value (e.g. -1pt). Find the best one for your purposes.

3. Tweak the corners, they will be a bit distorted after the Offset operation.

Jacob Bugge

Community Expert

Julie,

I am afraid the only simple way you can make it look right is to scale uniformly down to obtain the same width (scaling from current bow width to the baloon string width), which is obviously unwanted.

This is owing to the inconvenient fact that the shape of the bow is determined by the width, most notably the centre part which will inevitably become lower because the knot/winding is tight.

J

Julie5E14Author

Known Participant

If I scale the bow down the width will still be thicker than the balloon string unfortunately. Looking for a way to edit the bow .svg separately in illustrator to narrow the width then drop the layer back into PS. Attached the bow .svg image as I see it in Ai and the file for reference.

Bow_21751.svg

Anna Lander

Inspiring

It's quite simple.

Select the object. Find the Stroke panel in the Window menu or the Stroke option in the Properties panel. In the Width field choose the needed width and other properties (color, dash. caps, etc.)

J

Julie5E14Author

Known Participant

Even if the path itself is not a stroke? I tried adding a white stroke within the path which achieved the look I wanted but I can apply it to the card image as the white stroke with be viewable in front of the other layers.

Anna Lander

Inspiring

No, if the path is not a stroke, this way does not work. You can try to use the Offset Path option (Object > Path > Offset Path) with the negative value, but the result depends on the path type. If it's a united shape, the knot will look a bit odd.

Could you please share the bow? You can put it to any web storage (google disc, cloud, etc.) and share the link.

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