Clipping Mask or pathfinder...

[Guest]

Hi, I have a complicated vector graphic made up of lots colours including spot colours and overprint (Its for a UV Printer) . I need to place some text over the graphic and then add a stroke around the text. Easy enough. The problem then comes when I need the stroke to become invisible and knockout the stroke shape from the complicated vector graphic that is behind. Any ideas? Thanks peeps

[Kurt Gold]

Which version of Illustrator are you using?

Also, I think it would be pretty helpful if you could provide a sample Illustrator file including some further instructions.

[Guest]

Hi Kurt, I'm using Illustrator 2021.

Here is an example of what I would like to do. I want to knockout the letters, rather than mask them. The file will be printed onto colour fabric, so I want the letters to be transparent. Let me know if you have any ideas.

Many thanks

[tromboniator]

Barring complications I'm not familiar with or am overlooking, group the lettering and background, activate Knockout Group in the Appearance panel. Set the opacity of the text's fill or stroke, as desired, to 0%.

Peter

[Guest]

This worked Peter! Thank you so much for your clear instruction. I also had to do the same with a compound path which didn't work, but I followed your same principle but just gave the opacity 1%, that did the trick! Thank so much! Zoe

[tromboniator]

You're welcome, Zoe! I'm glad you found it useful.

Peter