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timol4718607
Known Participant
September 12, 2019
Question

"commit","expand" Clipping mask

  • September 12, 2019
  • 4 replies
  • 3367 views

This has been doing my head in.  I have searched high and low and the only conclusion I have come to is that clipping masks are not nearly as simple as I thought.

 

My situation is this:

-I have a grid of clip groups. (hundreds)

-Each clipping path is a square, with 8 to 10 paths beneath it being clipped.

 

I need a way to trim/cut/commit (im not sure what the correct term is) the clipping mask so that all that remains are the clipped lines.

 

The reason for this is these graphics are for a plotter which doesnt ignore clipping masks and so would draw the lines i dont want to see.   make sense?

 

Ive attached a screen grab that should hopefully make sense.

 

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    4 replies

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    timol4718607Author
    Known Participant
    September 16, 2019

    gah, this forum is comfusing.  I cant post images in replies for some reason.

     

    this is what i get when i follow your steps:

    Monika Gause
    Community Expert
    Monika GauseCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    September 16, 2019
    What does outline view show?
    T
    timol4718607Author
    Known Participant
    September 16, 2019
    that is outline view selected 😞
    T
    timol4718607Author
    Known Participant
    September 16, 2019

    been struggling with this for days now.  It seems pathfinder tools are not very good with oen paths.

    Heres a link to a basic setup of what Im trying to achieve.

    help file

    Ultimatly I'll be dealing with hundreds (maybe thhousands) of these boxes, and I need an efficient(ish) way of cropping all these open paths so I can take them to be plotted.

     

    😞

     

    If any one can help me find a useable solution to this I will be eternally grateful and consider naming my first born after you..

    Monika Gause
    Community Expert
    Monika GauseCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    September 16, 2019
    Is outlining those paths an option or do you also need to work without outlining them?
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    timol4718607Author
    Known Participant
    September 16, 2019
    by outlining do you mean converting the paths to shapes? I need them to remain as paths for the plot to work.
    T
    timol4718607Author
    Known Participant
    September 13, 2019

    this is becoming so frustrating...

    I'm astounded that this sort of functionality doesn't exist in illustrator already.

    The pathfinder tools aren't very helpful with open paths it seems.

     

    The closest I've been able to get is using rj-graffix' cutting tools plugin.

    The "table saw tool" sort of does what I want, sort of.  It requires more manual work than I'd like as I'm dealing with close to a thousand clipping maks.

    Monika Gause
    Community Expert
    Monika GauseCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    September 13, 2019
    In your case you could first outline the strokes. Then use the Pathfinder "Crop". Afterwards select all invisible objects (no fill/no stroke) and delete them.
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    timol4718607Author
    Known Participant
    September 13, 2019

    no luck with this either im afraid. (Or maybe I've done it incorrectly)

    I need the parts in green to remain as paths.

    Jacob Bugge
    Community Expert
    Jacob BuggeCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    September 12, 2019

    Tim,

     

    There is the dirty destructive deed, with the Clipping Mask selected, exact way depending on version, just skip 1) if you have CC:

    1) In the Transparency palette/panel dropdown list select anything but Normal (Multiply is fine; this step may be unneeded in your version, you may try without it);
    2) Object/Edit>Flatten Transparency, just keep the defaults including 100% Vector;
    3) Shudder (optional, unless unavoidable).

    This will crop everything to the Clipping Path (or to its Bounding Box in case of raster images), with the possible exception of some empty paths, remnants of the pattern tiles that have been cut to fit the Clipping Path, or something similar; if there are such paths, you may:

    4) With the Direct Selection Tool, Click an empty spot to deselect, then ClickDrag along and outwards from each side of the former Clipping Path and press Delete (twice) to get (completely) rid of the empty paths;

    With this, everything should be cleaned up.

     

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    timol4718607Author
    Known Participant
    September 13, 2019

    Hmm, all that seemed to do is group everything. the clipping paths groups still remain and there are still the sticky out bits of the lines remaining.

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