How to Combine Objects in Illustrator
Combine objects in Adobe Illustrator in a number of ways to create new and useful shapes. Using the Pathfinder panel, there are ten different ways to combine objects including uniting them or removing one object's shape from another. Compound Paths allow you to create a path between two objects, which is useful for removing one shape from another. You can also use Compound Shapes to combine objects, which can then be manipulated as if they were one shape.
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Instructions
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Pathfinder Effects
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1
Select the Rectangle Tool from the Illustrator toolbar and draw a rectangle on a new Illustrator document by dragging the tool across the page while holding down the mouse button. Draw a second rectangle on the page with its corner overlapping a corner of the first rectangle.
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2
Click the "Selection Tool" in the toolbar and drag the tool over both objects to select them both.
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3
Click the "Pathfinder" Panel. If it is not visible, click the "Window" menu and select "Pathfinder."
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4
Click the "Unite" button in the Pathfinder window. The rectangles merge where they overlap, combining into one shape.
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5
Hover the cursor over the nine other buttons in the Pathfinder window to explore the effects available for combining objects.
Compound Paths
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6
Draw two rectangles using the "Rectangle Tool" and have them overlap at the corners as in Section 1. Press "Ctrl-A" to select both objects.
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7
Click the "Object" menu and select "Compound Path." Click "Make." The objects combine to create a path between the two objects. Any change you make to the objects, such as changing the color or using the Gradient Tool is applied to both objects, except where they overlap.
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8
Press "Ctrl-Z" to undo the compound path. Click on the second rectangle and drag the corner to reduce its size. Drag the rectangle into the first rectangle. Press "Ctrl-A" to select both rectangles again. Apply the Compound Path again. This time the objects combine to create a hole in the first rectangle using the size and shape of the smaller rectangle.
Compound Shapes
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9
Create a new layer from the Layer Panel on the same document from the completed Section 2 by clicking on the "New Layer" icon at the bottom of the Layer Panel. Draw a new rectangle so a portion of it overlaps the compound path objects. Alternatively, draw two or more rectangles on a blank document in different layers, positioning them so they overlap. Press "Ctrl-A" to select all the shapes. Compound shapes can be made from shapes, compound paths, text or paths.
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10
Open the Pathfinder panel as described in the first Section. Hold down the "Alt" button and click the "Unite" button. You can use any of the 10 buttons to create compound shapes. Each of the compound path options combine into a new shape.
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11
Click the "Selection Tool" and click the corner of the compound shape to increase or decrease its size or to rotate the new compound shape.
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