1 00:00:00.03 --> 00:00:01.06 - [Voiceover] In this movie I'll demonstrate how 2 00:00:01.06 --> 00:00:03.06 you can use the four shape modes 3 00:00:03.06 --> 00:00:07.04 to create yet another kind of special object in illustrator 4 00:00:07.04 --> 00:00:10.01 which goes by the name compact shape. 5 00:00:10.01 --> 00:00:12.08 And so let's start off with a definition 6 00:00:12.08 --> 00:00:14.03 of what I'm talking about. 7 00:00:14.03 --> 00:00:15.07 I'm just going to go ahead and move 8 00:00:15.07 --> 00:00:17.05 these guys around a little bit 9 00:00:17.05 --> 00:00:19.06 so that the purple square completely 10 00:00:19.06 --> 00:00:22.04 covers up the interior of that green ring. 11 00:00:22.04 --> 00:00:24.05 Then I'll go ahead and marquee these three shapes 12 00:00:24.05 --> 00:00:26.01 and I'll click on the first icon 13 00:00:26.01 --> 00:00:29.01 in the first row which represents unite. 14 00:00:29.01 --> 00:00:32.04 And notice I end up with a static path outline 15 00:00:32.04 --> 00:00:34.03 as indicated by the word path on the 16 00:00:34.03 --> 00:00:36.08 far left side of the control panel. 17 00:00:36.08 --> 00:00:38.07 Alright I'll go ahead and undo that by 18 00:00:38.07 --> 00:00:42.02 pressing Ctrl Z or command Z on the Mac a few times. 19 00:00:42.02 --> 00:00:45.08 Things work differently if we have gaps between the paths. 20 00:00:45.08 --> 00:00:47.05 Notice if I go ahead and marquee 21 00:00:47.05 --> 00:00:51.01 the paths now and then click on the unite icon, 22 00:00:51.01 --> 00:00:54.03 this time I've created a compound path 23 00:00:54.03 --> 00:00:56.08 as you can see again on the far left side 24 00:00:56.08 --> 00:00:58.09 of the control panel which gives me 25 00:00:58.09 --> 00:01:01.08 a little flexibility in terms of editing. 26 00:01:01.08 --> 00:01:04.02 So let's say that I want to move these paths 27 00:01:04.02 --> 00:01:05.09 with respect to each other, 28 00:01:05.09 --> 00:01:08.01 the easiest way to work is to just go ahead 29 00:01:08.01 --> 00:01:09.08 and double click on this object 30 00:01:09.08 --> 00:01:11.03 with the black arrow tool and that 31 00:01:11.03 --> 00:01:13.03 will take you to the isolation mode 32 00:01:13.03 --> 00:01:16.05 which prevents you from editing anything that's dimmed. 33 00:01:16.05 --> 00:01:19.08 You also have access to all of the sub paths here 34 00:01:19.08 --> 00:01:21.04 so that you can move them around 35 00:01:21.04 --> 00:01:22.07 as much as you like. 36 00:01:22.07 --> 00:01:24.08 You can even move them so that they're 37 00:01:24.08 --> 00:01:28.03 half in and half outside of the main path outline 38 00:01:28.03 --> 00:01:31.00 so that we have this kind of interaction. 39 00:01:31.00 --> 00:01:34.00 Alright so that's how you work with a compound path. 40 00:01:34.00 --> 00:01:35.08 Now let me show you how you create 41 00:01:35.08 --> 00:01:38.03 and work with a compound shape. 42 00:01:38.03 --> 00:01:40.01 I'm going to go up to the file menu 43 00:01:40.01 --> 00:01:41.07 and choose the revert command 44 00:01:41.07 --> 00:01:43.01 just so that I can restore the 45 00:01:43.01 --> 00:01:44.08 original version of the document 46 00:01:44.08 --> 00:01:47.01 and I'll once again marquee these three 47 00:01:47.01 --> 00:01:49.02 path outlines with the black arrow tool, 48 00:01:49.02 --> 00:01:52.07 and this time instead of clicking on the unite icon, 49 00:01:52.07 --> 00:01:54.01 you can see that tip right there, 50 00:01:54.01 --> 00:01:56.09 you press the ALT key or the option key on the Mac, 51 00:01:56.09 --> 00:02:00.08 and click and that will give you a compound shape 52 00:02:00.08 --> 00:02:03.08 as indicated by the words compound shape 53 00:02:03.08 --> 00:02:06.07 on the far left side of the control panel. 54 00:02:06.07 --> 00:02:09.00 And what that means is you have access 55 00:02:09.00 --> 00:02:11.08 to all of your original path outlines. 56 00:02:11.08 --> 00:02:13.01 Now there's a couple of ways you can 57 00:02:13.01 --> 00:02:15.05 move them around with respect to each other. 58 00:02:15.05 --> 00:02:17.04 One is to double-click on the path 59 00:02:17.04 --> 00:02:19.07 in order to enter the isolation mode 60 00:02:19.07 --> 00:02:21.02 and now notice I can move these paths 61 00:02:21.02 --> 00:02:23.09 independently as much as I like, 62 00:02:23.09 --> 00:02:26.02 and then once you get the effect you like, 63 00:02:26.02 --> 00:02:28.04 just go ahead and press the escape key 64 00:02:28.04 --> 00:02:30.09 in order to exit the isolation mode. 65 00:02:30.09 --> 00:02:32.03 The other way to work is to switch 66 00:02:32.03 --> 00:02:34.01 to the white arrow tool which you can 67 00:02:34.01 --> 00:02:36.00 get by pressing the A key. 68 00:02:36.00 --> 00:02:37.07 Now if at this point you click in 69 00:02:37.07 --> 00:02:40.01 one of the path outlines and just start dragging, 70 00:02:40.01 --> 00:02:43.05 you're going to expand that live rectangle 71 00:02:43.05 --> 00:02:45.08 and you're going to distort it as well. 72 00:02:45.08 --> 00:02:47.02 Which is not what I want to do. 73 00:02:47.02 --> 00:02:50.00 So I'll just press control Z or command Z on the Mac, 74 00:02:50.00 --> 00:02:51.04 to undo that move. 75 00:02:51.04 --> 00:02:53.06 Instead if you want to select the entire shape, 76 00:02:53.06 --> 00:02:56.05 go ahead and alt or option click on it 77 00:02:56.05 --> 00:02:58.01 and as you may recall any time you 78 00:02:58.01 --> 00:03:00.04 press the alt or option key when you're working 79 00:03:00.04 --> 00:03:01.09 with the white arrow tool you get a 80 00:03:01.09 --> 00:03:03.08 little plus sign next to the cursor 81 00:03:03.08 --> 00:03:05.01 which indicates you're going to select 82 00:03:05.01 --> 00:03:07.07 the entire sub path at which point you can 83 00:03:07.07 --> 00:03:09.04 go ahead and drag it around. 84 00:03:09.04 --> 00:03:12.04 The rings going to work a little differently for you. 85 00:03:12.04 --> 00:03:14.03 Notice if you alt or option click on the 86 00:03:14.03 --> 00:03:16.09 outside circle for example and drag it, 87 00:03:16.09 --> 00:03:20.04 then you'll move it independently of the inside circle. 88 00:03:20.04 --> 00:03:22.04 If you want to select both the inside 89 00:03:22.04 --> 00:03:23.08 and outside circles, 90 00:03:23.08 --> 00:03:26.07 then presumably you'd press control Z 91 00:03:26.07 --> 00:03:28.09 or command Z on a Mac to undo that move, 92 00:03:28.09 --> 00:03:30.09 and then you would alt or option click 93 00:03:30.09 --> 00:03:33.07 on that path outline a second time 94 00:03:33.07 --> 00:03:37.04 in order to select the entire compound path. 95 00:03:37.04 --> 00:03:40.00 And so what we have here is a compound path 96 00:03:40.00 --> 00:03:43.03 working inside of a compound shape. 97 00:03:43.03 --> 00:03:45.06 If you want to select the entire compound shape, 98 00:03:45.06 --> 00:03:48.05 you would alt or option click again, 99 00:03:48.05 --> 00:03:51.05 and as you can see that lights up the rectangle 100 00:03:51.05 --> 00:03:54.03 as well as the triangle and now you can 101 00:03:54.03 --> 00:03:56.05 move them around as one unit, 102 00:03:56.05 --> 00:03:58.05 but you should note that because the 103 00:03:58.05 --> 00:04:01.00 triangles no longer over lapping anything 104 00:04:01.00 --> 00:04:03.06 it's not uniting with any of the shapes either. 105 00:04:03.06 --> 00:04:05.02 If you want to change that, 106 00:04:05.02 --> 00:04:07.06 then click off the shapes to deselect them, 107 00:04:07.06 --> 00:04:09.09 alt or option click on that triangle, 108 00:04:09.09 --> 00:04:13.01 and then drag it so that you have an overlap. 109 00:04:13.01 --> 00:04:15.01 Alright now let's move on to minus front. 110 00:04:15.01 --> 00:04:17.01 I'll go ahead and press the V key to switch back 111 00:04:17.01 --> 00:04:18.08 to the black arrow tool and I'll 112 00:04:18.08 --> 00:04:20.07 marquee these shapes and I'll alt 113 00:04:20.07 --> 00:04:23.04 or option click in the minus front icon 114 00:04:23.04 --> 00:04:26.02 which is the second icon in the first row. 115 00:04:26.02 --> 00:04:27.08 Notice this time we're subtracting 116 00:04:27.08 --> 00:04:31.01 all the forward shapes from the rear one. 117 00:04:31.01 --> 00:04:33.09 Which means that we're doing a lot of cutting at this point 118 00:04:33.09 --> 00:04:37.00 and so let's say I want to modify this compound shape. 119 00:04:37.00 --> 00:04:38.06 I'll go ahead and double click on it 120 00:04:38.06 --> 00:04:40.05 to switch to the isolation mode 121 00:04:40.05 --> 00:04:43.05 at which point I'm not going to see those sub paths anymore 122 00:04:43.05 --> 00:04:45.05 unless I go up to the view menu 123 00:04:45.05 --> 00:04:48.00 and choose outline or press control Y 124 00:04:48.00 --> 00:04:50.02 or command Y on a Mac at which point 125 00:04:50.02 --> 00:04:52.08 I will see them which makes it easier 126 00:04:52.08 --> 00:04:56.04 to drag them around as we're seeing here. 127 00:04:56.04 --> 00:04:57.04 Problem is we're not really seeing the 128 00:04:57.04 --> 00:05:00.00 interaction anymore until I switch back 129 00:05:00.00 --> 00:05:02.02 to the preview mode which you do by 130 00:05:02.02 --> 00:05:04.03 either choosing one of the preview commands 131 00:05:04.03 --> 00:05:06.00 from the view menu or again 132 00:05:06.00 --> 00:05:08.08 pressing Ctrl Y or command Y on a Mac. 133 00:05:08.08 --> 00:05:11.04 Now the problem is what if you want to 134 00:05:11.04 --> 00:05:14.09 regain that interaction between the two rings. 135 00:05:14.09 --> 00:05:16.08 So for example you want to change 136 00:05:16.08 --> 00:05:19.02 these guys into a compound path, 137 00:05:19.02 --> 00:05:21.04 well that's not possible when you're working 138 00:05:21.04 --> 00:05:23.04 inside of a compound shape. 139 00:05:23.04 --> 00:05:24.07 If I go up to the object menu, 140 00:05:24.07 --> 00:05:27.02 choose compound path and choose make, 141 00:05:27.02 --> 00:05:29.00 Illustrator's going to scold me 142 00:05:29.00 --> 00:05:30.06 and tell me you can't do it. 143 00:05:30.06 --> 00:05:32.01 So if that's what you want, 144 00:05:32.01 --> 00:05:35.00 what you gotta do is go ahead and click okay of course, 145 00:05:35.00 --> 00:05:37.06 and then press control Z or command Z on the Mac 146 00:05:37.06 --> 00:05:39.05 as many times as it takes to regain 147 00:05:39.05 --> 00:05:41.04 your original path outlines. 148 00:05:41.04 --> 00:05:43.05 Then go ahead and marquee those two guys 149 00:05:43.05 --> 00:05:45.07 and either go up to the object menu 150 00:05:45.07 --> 00:05:48.02 choose compound path and choose make, 151 00:05:48.02 --> 00:05:50.06 or of course you could just click 152 00:05:50.06 --> 00:05:54.01 instead of alt or option clicking on minus front 153 00:05:54.01 --> 00:05:57.02 in order to subtract one path outline from the other. 154 00:05:57.02 --> 00:05:59.04 Then marquee what is now three paths, 155 00:05:59.04 --> 00:06:02.04 and alt or option click on minus front 156 00:06:02.04 --> 00:06:05.04 in order to turn them into a compound shape. 157 00:06:05.04 --> 00:06:07.07 And now if I double click on any one of them, 158 00:06:07.07 --> 00:06:11.00 I can grab this guy and move him over here for example, 159 00:06:11.00 --> 00:06:12.07 and then I'll grab the triangle 160 00:06:12.07 --> 00:06:14.08 and move him in a little bit as well 161 00:06:14.08 --> 00:06:17.07 and we have a totally different configuration. 162 00:06:17.07 --> 00:06:20.02 You can also change how the subtracting is working 163 00:06:20.02 --> 00:06:23.01 by clicking on one of the path outlines 164 00:06:23.01 --> 00:06:25.08 then right click and choose arrange 165 00:06:25.08 --> 00:06:29.02 send to back and that way the forward shapes 166 00:06:29.02 --> 00:06:31.01 will be cut away from the ring 167 00:06:31.01 --> 00:06:33.08 because it is now at the back of a stack. 168 00:06:33.08 --> 00:06:34.07 That's not what I want however 169 00:06:34.07 --> 00:06:36.04 so I'll just go ahead and press control Z 170 00:06:36.04 --> 00:06:38.09 or command Z on the Mac and then press 171 00:06:38.09 --> 00:06:42.07 the escape key to exit out of the isolation mode. 172 00:06:42.07 --> 00:06:45.02 Alright now let's try our hands at intersect 173 00:06:45.02 --> 00:06:47.04 by marking those path outlines and alt 174 00:06:47.04 --> 00:06:51.05 or option clicking on the third icon in the first row. 175 00:06:51.05 --> 00:06:53.07 And this time we don't see anything 176 00:06:53.07 --> 00:06:56.01 and that's because there is no point at 177 00:06:56.01 --> 00:06:59.02 which all three of the path outlines intersect. 178 00:06:59.02 --> 00:07:01.01 So to change that I'll just go ahead 179 00:07:01.01 --> 00:07:02.06 and double click on those paths to 180 00:07:02.06 --> 00:07:05.09 enter the isolation mode and then notice if you will, 181 00:07:05.09 --> 00:07:08.03 when I hover my cursor over something 182 00:07:08.03 --> 00:07:10.06 that's there whether it's invisible or not, 183 00:07:10.06 --> 00:07:13.04 I see a little square next to my arrow. 184 00:07:13.04 --> 00:07:16.09 If there's nothing under my arrow I don't see a square. 185 00:07:16.09 --> 00:07:18.03 So whenever you see a square, 186 00:07:18.03 --> 00:07:20.03 go ahead and try clicking and then move it 187 00:07:20.03 --> 00:07:22.03 to a different location and sure enough 188 00:07:22.03 --> 00:07:24.05 now I see that I have a little bit 189 00:07:24.05 --> 00:07:28.00 of intersection between all these path outlines. 190 00:07:28.00 --> 00:07:29.09 The thing about intersect though 191 00:07:29.09 --> 00:07:31.05 is the more path outlines you have 192 00:07:31.05 --> 00:07:33.08 the less likely they are to intersect 193 00:07:33.08 --> 00:07:36.08 and so you may want to keep the equation fairly simple 194 00:07:36.08 --> 00:07:39.01 by clicking on the triangle for example, 195 00:07:39.01 --> 00:07:40.07 then clicking on the top of it 196 00:07:40.07 --> 00:07:43.00 so I can select it independently of the ring, 197 00:07:43.00 --> 00:07:44.08 and then just pressing the backspace key 198 00:07:44.08 --> 00:07:47.01 or the delete key on the Mac to get rid of it 199 00:07:47.01 --> 00:07:49.03 and that way you can drag the ring 200 00:07:49.03 --> 00:07:53.00 over the rectangle and get some more interaction. 201 00:07:53.00 --> 00:07:55.06 Alright I'll once again press the escape key 202 00:07:55.06 --> 00:07:57.04 in order to exit the isolation mode, 203 00:07:57.04 --> 00:08:00.06 and finally I'll marquee this last group of shapes 204 00:08:00.06 --> 00:08:01.09 and alt or option click on the 205 00:08:01.09 --> 00:08:05.03 fourth icon in the first row which represents exclude 206 00:08:05.03 --> 00:08:07.05 and now you can see that any place 207 00:08:07.05 --> 00:08:09.05 where the path outlines overlap, 208 00:08:09.05 --> 00:08:11.01 they either create a hole 209 00:08:11.01 --> 00:08:13.09 or the path outline ends up showing up again. 210 00:08:13.09 --> 00:08:16.00 And so for example a really interesting 211 00:08:16.00 --> 00:08:17.05 thing to do with exclude, 212 00:08:17.05 --> 00:08:19.09 is double click on the path outline 213 00:08:19.09 --> 00:08:22.01 of course to enter the isolation mode, 214 00:08:22.01 --> 00:08:23.09 and then just drag these guys around 215 00:08:23.09 --> 00:08:25.04 and notice how they keep interacting 216 00:08:25.04 --> 00:08:28.01 with each other so it's an even odd equation. 217 00:08:28.01 --> 00:08:29.04 In other words any time two 218 00:08:29.04 --> 00:08:31.04 sub paths overlap you get a hole. 219 00:08:31.04 --> 00:08:34.01 When three overlap you get a fill. 220 00:08:34.01 --> 00:08:37.02 When four overlap you get another hole and so forth. 221 00:08:37.02 --> 00:08:39.08 So if I were to marquee all these paths 222 00:08:39.08 --> 00:08:42.09 and then make sure that align to selection 223 00:08:42.09 --> 00:08:45.00 is active up here in the control panel, 224 00:08:45.00 --> 00:08:47.08 then I could click on horizontal align center 225 00:08:47.08 --> 00:08:49.09 followed by vertical align center 226 00:08:49.09 --> 00:08:53.01 in order to center all these paths like so. 227 00:08:53.01 --> 00:08:54.02 The only one that's not going to 228 00:08:54.02 --> 00:08:55.08 center properly is the triangle 229 00:08:55.08 --> 00:08:57.07 because Illustrator is terrible at 230 00:08:57.07 --> 00:08:59.08 judging the center of a triangle. 231 00:08:59.08 --> 00:09:02.05 So I'll just have to go ahead and nudge that guy upward. 232 00:09:02.05 --> 00:09:04.05 And then I'll press the escape key 233 00:09:04.05 --> 00:09:07.06 in order to exit the group isolation mode. 234 00:09:07.06 --> 00:09:10.00 And that's how you work with entirely 235 00:09:10.00 --> 00:09:13.01 dynamic compound shapes that you can create 236 00:09:13.01 --> 00:09:17.03 using any of the four shape modes here inside Illustrator.