Very helpful, both for my immediate need of creating a honeycomb, but also for... well, sheesh, I feel like this opened up a ton of possibilities in general that I hand't thought of. Thanks!!
@@MichaelBullo So now, how would I go about making this a full vector image that I can use to create an SVG file to export for using with my laser cutter. I want to have the honeycomb pattern, crop that to a larger hexagon, so a hexagon filled with hexagons, and then export as a file I can load into my laser cutting app. Hope that makes sense.
@@fabcraftsandmore I don't know how much complexity within the files your cutter software can take. It might help to simplify where possible. Expand Select the hexagon with multiple effects applied to it and choose "Expand Appearance" from the Object menu. Visually, nothing will change, but the effects will be removed. This will leave you with groups of shapes contained within groups. Clipping Mask Draw your large hexagon and position it over your grid of hexagons. Select everything, right mouse click and choose "Make Clipping Mask".
Hi Damian. I'm just tapping the regular up and down arrow keys. If I had to guess I'm thinking that you might be tapping these keys after having already released the mouse button. Be sure to tap those arrow keys while you are still drawing the shape and have yet to release the mouse button.
With the object with effects selected, from the menu choose… Object > Expand Appearance You may also want/need the following… Object > Expand Object > Ungroup
Thank you. To separate all of these shapes, do the following… 1. Select the shape which has all of the effects applied to it. 2. From the Object menu choose Expand Appearance. 3. You will now have a series of shapes within a group. Actually, you may now have a group of groups. To ungroup something, select the group and from the Object menu choose Ungroup. You may need to do this several times if you have groups of groups.
With the effect(s) applied, all of the shapes are just copies of the original. From the menu choose "Object > Expand Appearance" to turn the copies into stand-alone shapes. All of the shapes will be grouped together. To separate them you can right mouse click and choose "Ungroup". You may have to do this several times. Keep in mind that this process removes the effects that you applied to create the pattern in the first place.
Thank you for the video! You can also create such a pattern with the pattern editor... it is very easy with it...
Nice. I think I made this video before that was an option. Thank you.
excellent tutorial
I wish you go on this and never stop
Thanks Mohamed. Hope it proves useful.
Very helpful, both for my immediate need of creating a honeycomb, but also for... well, sheesh, I feel like this opened up a ton of possibilities in general that I hand't thought of. Thanks!!
Thanks Jared. Yeah things can start to get pretty creative when you start stacking effects. Have fun :)
Great tutorial! Just what I was looking for. Thanks Bro! Happy Holidays!
Thanks Ralph. And a happy holidays to you as well.
This was great!! Thanks so much.
Thank you. I appreciate it.
@@MichaelBullo So now, how would I go about making this a full vector image that I can use to create an SVG file to export for using with my laser cutter. I want to have the honeycomb pattern, crop that to a larger hexagon, so a hexagon filled with hexagons, and then export as a file I can load into my laser cutting app. Hope that makes sense.
@@fabcraftsandmore I don't know how much complexity within the files your cutter software can take. It might help to simplify where possible.
Expand
Select the hexagon with multiple effects applied to it and choose "Expand Appearance" from the Object menu. Visually, nothing will change, but the effects will be removed. This will leave you with groups of shapes contained within groups.
Clipping Mask
Draw your large hexagon and position it over your grid of hexagons. Select everything, right mouse click and choose "Make Clipping Mask".
@@MichaelBullo thank you! This actually helped a lot! I was able to create the larger hexagon and use crop.
@@fabcraftsandmore Hey excellent. If you get it working with the laser cutter please post an update. Happy designing.
Thank you for this! I can't seem to find the right up and down arrow to change the number of sides. What am I doing wrong?
Hi Damian. I'm just tapping the regular up and down arrow keys. If I had to guess I'm thinking that you might be tapping these keys after having already released the mouse button. Be sure to tap those arrow keys while you are still drawing the shape and have yet to release the mouse button.
how do I make the patterned shapes an outline so I can then use that pattern to cut into another shape?
With the object with effects selected, from the menu choose…
Object > Expand Appearance
You may also want/need the following…
Object > Expand
Object > Ungroup
Thank you Michael! Quick question. Does anyone know how I can turn all of these hexagons into separate , movable images?
Thank you. To separate all of these shapes, do the following…
1. Select the shape which has all of the effects applied to it.
2. From the Object menu choose Expand Appearance.
3. You will now have a series of shapes within a group. Actually, you may now have a group of groups. To ungroup something, select the group and from the Object menu choose Ungroup. You may need to do this several times if you have groups of groups.
Question: Is there a way to change the colour of individual shapes?
With the effect(s) applied, all of the shapes are just copies of the original. From the menu choose "Object > Expand Appearance" to turn the copies into stand-alone shapes.
All of the shapes will be grouped together. To separate them you can right mouse click and choose "Ungroup". You may have to do this several times.
Keep in mind that this process removes the effects that you applied to create the pattern in the first place.