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Mark5C74
Inspiring
October 6, 2022
Answered

Unite objects but keep different fills?

  • October 6, 2022
  • 2 replies
  • 684 views

I have quite some experience with Illustrator, but today I ran into a problem I can't seem to solve. I'm not sure if my brain is really letting me down, or if this is something I just never had to do before.

I made a compass rose pointer (for a GUI I'm working on) with 2 different fills, and I want to round the corners. However, in the lower and upper corner where the shapes come together, the corners of both shapes become round seperately. So I need to unite the shapes, but keep te different fills. How can this be done? 😐

 

 

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Correct answer Ton Frederiks

You cannot unite the shapes and keep different fills.

What you could do is start with a single shape, round the top and bottom corners.

Draw a vertical line from above the top to below the bottom in the center of the shape, select it and choose Object > Path > Divide Objects Below. 

Color the 2 resulting shapes and group them.

2 replies

D
d0nut247
Inspiring
October 7, 2022

I'd just

select all

copy

paste in front

path finder > unite

select all

object > clipping mask > make

select the mask and then pull on the radius anchors as required.

Ton Frederiks
Community Expert
Ton FrederiksCommunity Expert
Community Expert
October 7, 2022

Or create 2 rectangles with the gradients, Cut.

Select the object, click the Draw inside icon and Paste.

Ton Frederiks
Community Expert
Ton FrederiksCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
October 6, 2022

You cannot unite the shapes and keep different fills.

What you could do is start with a single shape, round the top and bottom corners.

Draw a vertical line from above the top to below the bottom in the center of the shape, select it and choose Object > Path > Divide Objects Below. 

Color the 2 resulting shapes and group them.

    M
    Mark5C74Author
    Inspiring
    October 7, 2022

    Thanks Ton!! Of course, why haven't I thought of that myself! Good to know it can't be done the other way though, that's valuable knowledge as well. Thanks for your help, much appreciated! ^_^

    Ton Frederiks
    Community Expert
    Ton FrederiksCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 7, 2022

    Good to hear that helped, Mark.

    But with Illustrator there are often ways to accomplish what you thought could not be done.

    I found a way to fill one shape with 2 gradients. It looks more complicated than the solution I described above, but why make it easy if it can be done difficult?

    Create a shape and round the top and bottom corner.

    In the Appearance panel, add 2 fills with different gradients.

    Convert the fills to a rectangle using the Convert to Shape > Rectangle Effect.

    Move the fills to the left and right using the Transform Effect.

    Add a Pathfinder > Crop Effect and move it below the other items in the Appearance panel.

     

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