Shape builder isnt working on shapes that i have applied effects to

[amye99729561]

I made an anchor using different shapes and I want to join the shapes together so its one solid outline. when I use the shape building tool it doesn't seem to work on shapes I have applied effects to ( bulge, arc, etc), it changes it back to its original shape. When I select the anchor you can see it still shows the original shapes in blue.. any ideas on what I can do? Thanks

[Michael Riordan · Accepted solution]

Hi Amy

you need to expand the art. Select all of the shapes then go to the object menu and choose expand. After that the shapes will be back to basic vectors but will hold the appearance you created AND you’ll be able to use the shapebuilder tool to combine everything.

[amye99729561]

Thanks! that worked perfectly.

[Sam33844451cqpm]

Thank you so much!