Your video made the concept of compound paths so much clearer for me! I watched a tutorial explaining it, and the guy just failed to mention this very basic (and important) fact - a compound path is simply a shape with a hole in it. Thank you so much for explaining it the way you did.
Glad it helped! So happy to hear you liked my explanation. I remember being new to Illustrator and panicking when I saw a compound path - wondering what I had done wrong. It took me ages to work out that it was really just a donut rather than a circle! So easy when you know!
Your tip about "groups" in the layers panel was very helpful. I didn't realize that you could delete the group and still be left with an object. As always thanks so much, I do learn a lot from you.
I just found your videos and omgoodness they are so helpful. I love how straightforward you are with your teaching style. Thank you so much for putting these out.
Totally makes sense. Here's how I got it. 1. Everything is technically a path. 2. An open path is a line. 3. A closed path is a one rounded with its stroke without a gap. 4. A compound path is an object with at least one hole (and therefore it is defined with at least two paths). 5. A shape is a specific pre-defined entity of the closed path (rectangle, circle, star etc). P.S. An important 'hack': if you miss a hole in your letter after outlining it, select at least on anchor in the inner path and try 'Object > Path… > Reverse Path Direction' command. To make a hole, the inner path should run the other direction that the outer one.
Boris that’s an awesome summary. And thank you for the comment about reversing the path. It is really tricky that paths have direction and sometimes that can impact whether or not the hole is a hole. Most grateful for your input.
Please clear my doubt Image Link:-i.imgur.com/N3VlRbG.jpg Actually i am having a confusion with closed path @ Boris Nefyod To which we call a closed path?
It is an insightful video, thank you for enhancing our understanding of compound paths. My question; when you create a compound path of a composition after expanding it. How do you re-color individual parts of the same form or image?
In most cases you won't expand a compound path because it won't achieve anything - if it is a filled shape with no stroke, for example. A compound path is treated as a single object so it will have a single fill and/or stroke. If you release it (by choosing Object > Compound Path > Release) then you will get individual shapes that you can select and color. But, be warned, if your shape had a hollow middle (like a donut, for example), then you will have the donut and the hole as individual shapes once you have released the compound path. I hope this helps?
I have used the blend tool to create a smooth blend. I expanded the group. I now want to cut a hole in the expanded blend and minus the front without losing the blend. Any ideas for me? Thanks so much.
Very fruitful video thanks There are situations when you need to work both sides of ankar point handle separately. How to do that? I would appreciate it.
Click on the anchor and then hold Alt (Option on the Mac) to break the handles and then they will operate independently. Once they start to work separately you can let go Alt (or Option) because they will be permanently separated.
I have a whole bunch of paths and compound paths that I, for whatever reasons *cannot* convert to shape, and later on - cannot extrude them as actual 3D objects in After Effects. Why is that? How do I fix these troublesome paths and compound paths? Bear in mind that I'm talking about a particular .AI file that I got off the internet. In the meantime I myself, drew other/different shapes in Photoshop, saved as AI file, and the extrusion was available later in After Effects without any problems.
Thank you for this video! How do you make a compound path thinner? I am a beginning surface pattern designer. . .still in the learning phases. To make motifs (like flowers or butterflies) I usually hand draw a sketch on paper, bring it into Adobe Illustrator, image trace it with "black and white logo" and "ignore white". Then I am left with a black outline that is a compound path. I want these outlines to look thinner and more delicate. . . but because they are "fills" and not "strokes" I can't change the stroke weight. When I convert the outlines to a stroke, there are two strokes like railroad tracks and they are very messy and wonky. How can I make the outlines on my motifs thinner?
I hope I win too! I am so glad you found these videos Nathan, have fun stalking them - but occasionally let me know that you found a good one though - I love to hear that!
I used to work without compound paths for years and now I feel lost with CC. In my field (textile designs) compound paths must be avoided, always! I dont know how to colour with eyedropper anymore 😥 also... where is my command D???? what happened?
When I'm doing repeat patterns I create a colored rectangle with no stroke and then add a rectangle, behind the colored rectangle, without stroke and color . I notice in the layer panel some of my patterns show these as paths and some show them as rectangles. Can you explain why that is happening? Is it something to do with the version of illustrator as you noted in this video? I upgraded to adobe cc online about a year ago so some of my patterns were made previously from the disc version and some from the online version.Do I need to be concerned about it for my pattern productions?
Hi Helen. Thanks for this video. I'm TRULY struggling with Illustrator's controls and concepts. My current problem is that I want to use the shape tool to make a circle. Then draw lines with the pencil tool. Then merge the endpoints of the lines to the circle itself. No luck though. There seems to be no way to add or create nodes on the circle's path to join the line too. So the lines I'm making inside the circle end up overlapping the outline of the circle, not joining it. Help!
Check out my video on making a globe - th-cam.com/video/RAF-U2YFOTs/w-d-xo.html and this one - th-cam.com/video/rVuGT2or0uY/w-d-xo.html Hopefully one will be of help?
I was looking for a way to attach a shape to a path so I could place my custom font on a path. It's not text though, I drew it and brought it in and expanded the shape. I don't want to repeat shapes on a path either any suggestions?
tks i am trying to get a stroke around the outside of a compound shape i dont have a hole as far as i can see in my shape nor do i need one any help would be G8 tks
Another viewer just asked the same question. I have a video going up in the next week or so showing how to do this. It's pretty easy once you know how.
Good question Sergey. Unfortunately you can't have two shapes of different colors in a single compound path. You can have two shapes of different colors in a group but compound paths are treated pretty much as a single path and so they can't have two colors.
thanks for the video... I have a question and don't know how to optimize it to search it on the web. there you have one circle inside another that is a compound path. I want to rezise or scale precisely the inner circle afecting the outer to keep the same proportion... same as when you manually rezise with shift key, they both will change keeping proportion and position between them. but I want to select the inner circle and set 5 mm wide expeting the outer circle change depending on that setting. can it be done? if it is, can only be done with a compund path or with a group of paths to? thanks again.
You can probably do this by having one shape with 2 strokes or 2 fills (or some combination of these). Use the offset path command to make one fill (or stroke) the fixed distance away from the original shape. Then, provided scale strokes and effects is disabled in the General preferences- you should be able to resize the object maintaining the same distance between the strokes/fills. It will look like 2 shapes even though it is just one. Let me know how you go and if you need more help from me. Great question by the way!
Great question Ami. You need to convert the letter into an outline by selecting it and choose Type > Create Outlines. Then take the knife toll and drag a straight line through the A at a key point such as above or below the bar on the right. That will turn the path from a compound shape into a normal shape and you’ll be able to fill it with text. Let me know if you still have problems. I think it would make a good topic for a video.
Hello Helen, Thank you for sharing your expertise in design using Adobe Illustrator. Anyway, I have this vector image of a fire engine. Is is very detailed with many shapes etc. It reminds you of an blueprint design. Anyway, it is in black and white and I want to add colors to individual areas. it is in a compound path. I can change colors but the entire design is in that particular color. For example, Red in color but the tires are also in red. I would like to use the color black for the wheels and red and white for the color of the outside frame. I have tried to un-group, release the compound path etc. Nothing seems to work. Do you have any suggestions on how I can accomplish this? I greatly appreciate any further assistance you can provide.
Hi there Jason. This is a great question. I have looked into it for you and there is pretty much no way you can individually recolor an element in a compound path. If a compound path doesn't release to any thing usable then you are basically toast! Some people suggest you rebuild the pieces you want to recolor one by one - which might be doable or it might just be frustrating. If you just want the colored art and you don't care about it being a vector, then you could take it to Photoshop and recolor it there. It won't be easy but you can paint over the bits you want to color there. I hope this helps a bit? If you have more questions, please feel free to ask.
Your video made the concept of compound paths so much clearer for me!
I watched a tutorial explaining it, and the guy just failed to mention this very basic (and important) fact - a compound path is simply a shape with a hole in it.
Thank you so much for explaining it the way you did.
Glad it helped! So happy to hear you liked my explanation. I remember being new to Illustrator and panicking when I saw a compound path - wondering what I had done wrong. It took me ages to work out that it was really just a donut rather than a circle! So easy when you know!
Thank you for the video Helen , 90% of Illustrator hassle can be saved by just watching this. Amazing clarity of concepts you bring with it
Thank you so much - this is a very kind comment!
Thanks Helen! Your presentations always make everything easier to understand.
You're welcome Pat! I'm glad I could help. Thanks for stopping by my channel.
Your tip about "groups" in the layers panel was very helpful. I didn't realize that you could delete the group and still be left with an object. As always thanks so much, I do learn a lot from you.
I am happy to hear that the tutorials have been useful for you! Thank you for checking out my channel.
Thank you so much. I feel so frustrated not understanding many Ai tools do what they do. Now they make more sense.
I am so glad Miss Ace. I hope you will find Illustrator easier every day.
I just found your videos and omgoodness they are so helpful. I love how straightforward you are with your teaching style. Thank you so much for putting these out.
Thank you Junk Mail (love the ID!)
@@HelenBradley 😁
Totally makes sense. Here's how I got it. 1. Everything is technically a path. 2. An open path is a line. 3. A closed path is a one rounded with its stroke without a gap. 4. A compound path is an object with at least one hole (and therefore it is defined with at least two paths). 5. A shape is a specific pre-defined entity of the closed path (rectangle, circle, star etc).
P.S. An important 'hack': if you miss a hole in your letter after outlining it, select at least on anchor in the inner path and try 'Object > Path… > Reverse Path Direction' command. To make a hole, the inner path should run the other direction that the outer one.
Boris that’s an awesome summary. And thank you for the comment about reversing the path. It is really tricky that paths have direction and sometimes that can impact whether or not the hole is a hole. Most grateful for your input.
Please clear my doubt Image Link:-i.imgur.com/N3VlRbG.jpg Actually i am having a confusion with closed path @ Boris Nefyod
To which we call a closed path?
Very good explanation...other people will only tell how to do it but not why. Understanding the reason why is vital!
Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed the explanation.
Flipping fantastic tutorial: thank you so much for diving straight in, no 'bs'
Flippin' heck, I don't do bs ;)
This was so helpful! Great video. Thank you so much!
You are so welcome!
I love it, "if you don't like 'compound path' change the name to 'donut"
:)
I'm new to Illustrator and this was a brilliant crush course! a big thank you !
You're very welcome!
Thanks Helen. Your videos are ever so useful.
You are welcome! Thank you for checking out my channel!
It is an insightful video, thank you for enhancing our understanding of compound paths. My question; when you create a compound path of a composition after expanding it. How do you re-color individual parts of the same form or image?
In most cases you won't expand a compound path because it won't achieve anything - if it is a filled shape with no stroke, for example. A compound path is treated as a single object so it will have a single fill and/or stroke. If you release it (by choosing Object > Compound Path > Release) then you will get individual shapes that you can select and color. But, be warned, if your shape had a hollow middle (like a donut, for example), then you will have the donut and the hole as individual shapes once you have released the compound path. I hope this helps?
Brilliant vid Helen
Thank you so much - BTW I love your TH-cam name :)
This is a great video, to help understand the difference between compound paths, shapes, type and creating outlines.
Cheers Susan! Glad you enjoyed the video.
Thanks so much. I did not understand compound path....now I do...Thanks for the videos.
I am glad the tutorial was able to be helpful! I will be posting more videos in the near future. Thanks for stopping by my channel.
Thanks very much, the video was helpful
Glad it helped
"I'm using illustrator say-say..." Haha, I almost thought there was a new release! Very informative video, can't thank you enough
Ha! You're very welcome!
Very helpful thank you
Glad it was helpful!
straightforward and easy to grasp, ta
Wonderful to hear that!
I have used the blend tool to create a smooth blend. I expanded the group. I now want to cut a hole in the expanded blend and minus the front without losing the blend. Any ideas for me? Thanks so much.
Very fruitful video thanks
There are situations when you need to work both sides of ankar point handle separately. How to do that? I would appreciate it.
Click on the anchor and then hold Alt (Option on the Mac) to break the handles and then they will operate independently. Once they start to work separately you can let go Alt (or Option) because they will be permanently separated.
Love your humor!
Thank you!
Just what I needed, thanks!
So happy it helped!
thanks, very useful.
Glad to hear that!
Thank you so much!
My pleasure!
I have a whole bunch of paths and compound paths that I, for whatever reasons *cannot* convert to shape, and later on - cannot extrude them as actual 3D objects in After Effects.
Why is that? How do I fix these troublesome paths and compound paths? Bear in mind that I'm talking about a particular .AI file that I got off the internet.
In the meantime I myself, drew other/different shapes in Photoshop, saved as AI file, and the extrusion was available later in After Effects without any problems.
Hi there, have you seen this video" th-cam.com/users/edit?o=U&video_id=6XmkV0XQrSY
It might help - I certainly hope it does.
Thank you for this video! How do you make a compound path thinner? I am a beginning surface pattern designer. . .still in the learning phases. To make motifs (like flowers or butterflies) I usually hand draw a sketch on paper, bring it into Adobe Illustrator, image trace it with "black and white logo" and "ignore white". Then I am left with a black outline that is a compound path. I want these outlines to look thinner and more delicate. . . but because they are "fills" and not "strokes" I can't change the stroke weight. When I convert the outlines to a stroke, there are two strokes like railroad tracks and they are very messy and wonky. How can I make the outlines on my motifs thinner?
This was super useful , well explained. Thank you so much.
I’m so glad you enjoyed this video. Thanks for stopping by.
Argh!
I hope you win lotto!
Thanks for making this so much friendlier!
I'm stalking your videos now for more beginner tips!
I hope I win too! I am so glad you found these videos Nathan, have fun stalking them - but occasionally let me know that you found a good one though - I love to hear that!
I used to work without compound paths for years and now I feel lost with CC. In my field (textile designs) compound paths must be avoided, always! I dont know how to colour with eyedropper anymore 😥 also... where is my command D???? what happened?
I am so sorry you are struggling with Illustrator.
When I'm doing repeat patterns I create a colored rectangle with no stroke and then add a rectangle, behind the colored rectangle, without stroke and color . I notice in the layer panel some of my patterns show these as paths and some show them as rectangles. Can you explain why that is happening? Is it something to do with the version of illustrator as you noted in this video? I upgraded to adobe cc online about a year ago so some of my patterns were made previously from the disc version and some from the online version.Do I need to be concerned about it for my pattern productions?
Hi Helen. Thanks for this video. I'm TRULY struggling with Illustrator's controls and concepts. My current problem is that I want to use the shape tool to make a circle. Then draw lines with the pencil tool. Then merge the endpoints of the lines to the circle itself. No luck though. There seems to be no way to add or create nodes on the circle's path to join the line too. So the lines I'm making inside the circle end up overlapping the outline of the circle, not joining it. Help!
Check out my video on making a globe - th-cam.com/video/RAF-U2YFOTs/w-d-xo.html and this one - th-cam.com/video/rVuGT2or0uY/w-d-xo.html
Hopefully one will be of help?
Thank you
You're welcome
I was looking for a way to attach a shape to a path so I could place my custom font on a path. It's not text though, I drew it and brought it in and expanded the shape. I don't want to repeat shapes on a path either any suggestions?
tks i am trying to get a stroke around the outside of a compound shape i dont have a hole as far as i can see in my shape nor do i need one any help would be G8 tks
Another viewer just asked the same question. I have a video going up in the next week or so showing how to do this. It's pretty easy once you know how.
Hi.
how to combine two shapes of different colors into a compound path so that they have a different color?
Good question Sergey. Unfortunately you can't have two shapes of different colors in a single compound path. You can have two shapes of different colors in a group but compound paths are treated pretty much as a single path and so they can't have two colors.
@@HelenBradley Thx)
Sorry the news wasn't any better Sergey.
Thankyou verymuch...
It’s my pleasure!
thanks for the video... I have a question and don't know how to optimize it to search it on the web.
there you have one circle inside another that is a compound path. I want to rezise or scale precisely the inner circle afecting the outer to keep the same proportion... same as when you manually rezise with shift key, they both will change keeping proportion and position between them. but I want to select the inner circle and set 5 mm wide expeting the outer circle change depending on that setting.
can it be done? if it is, can only be done with a compund path or with a group of paths to?
thanks again.
You can probably do this by having one shape with 2 strokes or 2 fills (or some combination of these). Use the offset path command to make one fill (or stroke) the fixed distance away from the original shape. Then, provided scale strokes and effects is disabled in the General preferences- you should be able to resize the object maintaining the same distance between the strokes/fills. It will look like 2 shapes even though it is just one. Let me know how you go and if you need more help from me. Great question by the way!
Thank you very much
You are welcome! Thank you for checking out my channel!
how to solve the compound path problem while filling up character "A" with texts?
Great question Ami. You need to convert the letter into an outline by selecting it and choose Type > Create Outlines. Then take the knife toll and drag a straight line through the A at a key point such as above or below the bar on the right. That will turn the path from a compound shape into a normal shape and you’ll be able to fill it with text. Let me know if you still have problems. I think it would make a good topic for a video.
Thankyou!
You're welcome!
thanks
You're welcome!
its was great
Hello Helen, Thank you for sharing your expertise in design using Adobe Illustrator. Anyway, I have this vector image of a fire engine. Is is very detailed with many shapes etc. It reminds you of an blueprint design. Anyway, it is in black and white and I want to add colors to individual areas. it is in a compound path. I can change colors but the entire design is in that particular color. For example, Red in color but the tires are also in red. I would like to use the color black for the wheels and red and white for the color of the outside frame. I have tried to un-group, release the compound path etc. Nothing seems to work. Do you have any suggestions on how I can accomplish this? I greatly appreciate any further assistance you can provide.
Hi there Jason. This is a great question. I have looked into it for you and there is pretty much no way you can individually recolor an element in a compound path. If a compound path doesn't release to any thing usable then you are basically toast! Some people suggest you rebuild the pieces you want to recolor one by one - which might be doable or it might just be frustrating. If you just want the colored art and you don't care about it being a vector, then you could take it to Photoshop and recolor it there. It won't be easy but you can paint over the bits you want to color there. I hope this helps a bit? If you have more questions, please feel free to ask.
Thats great . Thank you .
So glad you liked this!
nice
Thank you!
Let's call it a doughnut. Just about sums it ;)
:)
I've got some better idea of how it works, but unfortunately it did not help me to resolve the problem.
Hi there. If you can let me know what your problem is, I may be able to be of help to you.
Speak slower please.
Thank you for the advice! And thank you for checking out my channel.
Please clear this doubt
Image link:-i.imgur.com/sAqXqUL.jpg
Exactly what I needed. Thanks!
You're welcome!