Script to Remove extra Paths within a Compound Path?

[BryanPagenkopf]

Hey Everyone,

I've been trying to write a script to remove the inside paths leaving the needed ones behind, but I can't get it quite right...

// Get the active document and selection
var doc = app.activeDocument;
var sel = doc.selection;

// Loop through the selection
for (var i = 0; i < sel.length; i++) {
  var item = sel[i];
  // Check if the item is a compound path  
  if (item.typename === 'CompoundPathItem') {

    // Get the paths in the compound path    
    var paths = item.pathItems;

    // Check the number of paths in the compound path    
    if (paths.length > 2) {
      // If there are more than 2 paths, delete all but the outside and inside most paths      
      var numPaths = paths.length;
      var firstPath = paths[0];
      var lastPath = paths[numPaths - 1];
      var secondPath = paths[1];
      var secondLastPath = paths[numPaths - 2];
      
      if (numPaths === 3) {
        // If there are only 3 paths, delete the middle path        
        secondPath.remove();
      } else {
        // If there are more than 3 paths, delete all but the outside and inside most paths        
        for (var j = numPaths - 2; j > 1; j--) {
          secondPath.remove();
          lastPath.remove();
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

[femkeblanco]

var doc = app.activeDocument;
var sel = doc.selection;
for (var i = 0; i < sel.length; i++) {
    var item = sel[i];
    if (item.typename === 'CompoundPathItem') {
        var paths = item.pathItems;
        var numPaths = paths.length;
        if (numPaths > 2) {
        // If there are >2 paths, 
        // delete all but the outside and inside most paths
            for (var j = numPaths - 2; j > 0; j--) {
                paths[j].remove();
            }
        }
    }
}

[BryanPagenkopf]

I'm not sure why but I am getting mixed results with your script @femkeblanco 

The 2nd "A" turned out how it should 🙂

[femkeblanco]

Unfortunately, I can't open your file (because of my version of AI), but I presume the result you get is because of the anatomy of the items.  For example, the path item that makes the "hole" in the A may be the topmost path item in the second A, but not the first A. 

[m1b]

Hi @BryanPagenkopf, you can post ai files if they are saved as pdf with illustrator editing capabilities. 

In the case with the text outlines there may be challenges in working out which paths to remove. I'm wondering if using pathFinder could help here. - Mark

[BryanPagenkopf]

@femkeblanco I believe you are correct.
Here is the PDF version

[CarlosCanto · Accepted solution]

it seems like the lines are multiples of 3. Holes are on top, outside lines are at the bottom

- if count == 3, keep 2

- if count == 6, keep 0, 5

- if count == 9, keep 0, 3, 8

that should cover 0, 1 and 2 holes, it doesn't account for characters like i 

[m1b]

OMG great work @CarlosCanto!

var p = item.pathItems.length;

if (p == 3) {
    //  if count == 3, keep 2
    item.pathItems[1].remove();
    item.pathItems[0].remove();
}
else if (p == 6) {
    // - if count == 6, keep 0, 5
    item.pathItems[4].remove();
    item.pathItems[3].remove();
    item.pathItems[2].remove();
    item.pathItems[1].remove();
}
else if (p == 9) {
    // - if count == 9, keep 0, 3, 8
    item.pathItems[7].remove();
    item.pathItems[6].remove();
    item.pathItems[5].remove();
    item.pathItems[4].remove();
    item.pathItems[2].remove();
    item.pathItems[1].remove();
}

@BryanPagenkopf, see how you go with Carlos' advice. In my test with your sample file, it worked on all except the first A which is malformed (it has 7 sub paths due to a glitchy bit near the top). 

- Mark

[BryanPagenkopf]

Thank you! 
I'll have to play around with "i" "j" ":" ";"   characters

var doc = app.activeDocument;
var sel = doc.selection;
for (var i = 0; i < sel.length; i++) {
    var item = sel[i];
    if (item.typename === 'CompoundPathItem') {
        var paths = item.pathItems;
        var p = item.pathItems.length;

if (p == 3) {
    //  if count == 3, keep 2
    item.pathItems[1].remove();
    item.pathItems[0].remove();
}
else if (p == 6) {
    // - if count == 6, keep 0, 5
    item.pathItems[4].remove();
    item.pathItems[3].remove();
    item.pathItems[2].remove();
    item.pathItems[1].remove();
}
else if (p == 9) {
    // - if count == 9, keep 0, 3, 8
    item.pathItems[7].remove();
    item.pathItems[6].remove();
    item.pathItems[5].remove();
    item.pathItems[4].remove();
    item.pathItems[2].remove();
    item.pathItems[1].remove();
}
    }
}

[CarlosCanto]

I'll have to play around with "i" "j" ":" ";"   characters

post samples to analyze

[BryanPagenkopf]

I ran this code and it fixed all of the characters except the "?"

var doc = app.activeDocument;
var sel = doc.selection;
for (var i = 0; i < sel.length; i++) {
    var item = sel[i];
    if (item.typename === 'CompoundPathItem') {
        var paths = item.pathItems;
        var p = item.pathItems.length;

        if (p == 3) {
            //  if count == 3, keep 2
            item.pathItems[1].remove();
            item.pathItems[0].remove();
        }
        else if (p == 6) {
            // - if count == 6, keep 0, 5
            item.pathItems[4].remove();
            item.pathItems[3].remove();
            item.pathItems[2].remove();
            item.pathItems[1].remove();
        }
        else if (p == 9) {
            // - if count == 9, keep 0, 3, 8
            item.pathItems[7].remove();
            item.pathItems[6].remove();
            item.pathItems[5].remove();
            item.pathItems[4].remove();
            item.pathItems[2].remove();
            item.pathItems[1].remove();
        }
    }
}

[m1b]

@BryanPagenkopf  I had a look at the reference file, and here's what I noticed: the questionmark's paths are ordered differently to the others (one of the top bit of the question mark's paths are mixed in with the dots path order.) You can fix this by just selecting the 3 dot paths and bringing to front. If you need to automate this process (including analysing when it occurs, we would need much more samples to test).

Although, who knows? again Carlos may just have the answer! 🙂

- Mark

[CarlosCanto]

something is wrong with that file, like you said, the dot's outer path of the Question mark is not part of the compound path. But all other 5 paths follow the same order as the original characters so the script should work with the question mark as well.

[m1b]

You're right Carlos, I forgot that I had fixed that first. Anyway, the point is that these are not all normal, untouched, "create outlines" paths. For example, the two dots of the colon are not in the same compoundPathItem, which they would be after create outlines. In that case it is fine, because the path order is still in the default order.

So @BryanPagenkopf are you creating these outines? If so, please be careful what you do to them after creating outlines, because Carlos' script will only work if they remain in the default order.

[m1b]

@BryanPagenkopf I'm a bit stumped by this one. It is harder than you might think. I would love to see someone solve it.

If you need to resort to manual methods, then PathFinder Unite does a good job immediately. But the PathFinder options we have available via the scripting API don't seem to do what the normal PathFinder does in this case. The project is complicated by the stroke aligned with outside path perhaps.

- Mark