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- [Instructor] Alright,

so, given that the contour



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of the path outline ends

up affecting the contour



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of the rows and the

columns inside the mesh,



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it makes sense to take a moment to reshape



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the original path outline before



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you convert it into a mesh object.



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And so what I'd like to

do, is release this mesh



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and regain my original path.



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So what you might figure you could



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right click on it and choose some command.



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Or, you could go up to the object menu



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and find some sub menu

and then choose release.



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But that's not the way it works.



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Another thing you may try

is alt or option clicking



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on the existing rows and columns.



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So if I alt or option

click on this mesh point,



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I'll get rid of a row and a column,



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and then I'll just alt or

option click on all these guys,



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and you can now see that every single one



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of the rows and columns is gone.



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However, I still have a

mesh object as indicated



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on the far left side of the control panel



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and that's going to make it very difficult



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to reshape this path.



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So what I want to do, is

release the darn thing



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and get access to my

original path outline.



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Now, the documentation recommends



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that you go up to the object menu,



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choose Path, and then choose Offset Path.



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Which, if you've loaded

D keys, has a shortcut



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of control+shift+backslash.



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That's command+shift+backslash on a Mac.



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And, I want you to notice something here.



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See how many anchor points we have.



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Not really all that many.



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A few more than we need,



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but notice if I set the

offset value to zero points,



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which is again what the

documentation recommends,



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and I turn on the preview checkbox,



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I'm going to see anchor

points all over the place.



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At which point, if I click OK,



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I do indeed have a static path outline,



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as indicated by the word path

up here in the control panel.



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The thing you have to

bear in mind, however,



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is if you press the V key



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to switch to the black arrow tool



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and then you click off the path



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and you click on it again,

you'll see the word mesh,



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because you still have

the original mesh object.



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And so, you'd have to get rid of it.



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And then select your

path and work from there.



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But this is a mess.



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Which is why I very much recommend



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that before you start

creating your mesh objects,



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you go ahead and duplicate

all your base path outlines,



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as we did a couple of movies ago.



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So I'm just going to get rid

of this hood path right there.



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And then I'll turn on this paths layer,



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and I'll press control+y,

or command+y in a Mac,



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to switch to the outline mode



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so I can see this path right there



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and so, I'll click on it.



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That is, once again, that

original compound shape.



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So go ahead and select it,



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and then press the alt key,



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or the option key on a Mac,



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and drag that blue square,



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if you're working along with me,



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up to the meshes layer



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in order to create a copy of it, like so.



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And again, that's an alt or option drag.



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Then turn off the original

paths layer so you don't harm it



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and press control+y,

or command+y on a Mac,



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in order to switch back

to the preview mode.



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And if you click off the path outline,



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you can see we've regained

the original hood.



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Alright, now I'm going to

simplify the path a little bit.



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You don't really need this

shape cut out of the hood



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because, after all, these grill elements



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are sitting on the very top layer



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and they're covering up the hood.



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So, what I'm going to do

is go to the window menu



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and once again choose

the Pathfinder command.



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And then, rather than

clicking on the expand button,



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and by the way, if you're not seeing it,



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click off the path and

then click on it again.



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This time what you want to do



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is click on the flyout menu icon



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in the top right corner of the panel



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and choose Release Compound Shape.



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And that will give you two path outlines



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and it looks like it's

still a compound shape,



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but that's just because

the grill's in front of it.



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And notice if I turn the grill off,



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we have two path outlines now.



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And so I'll go ahead and shift click



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on this hood path right there,



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and I'll press the backspace key,



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or the delete key on a Mac,



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to get rid of that guy that

was formerly cut out of it.



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Then I'll go ahead and turn

the grill, etc., layer back on.



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And that's how you regain access



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to your original path outline.



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Either because you wisely duplicated it



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before turning it into a mesh object,



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or using the offset path

command here inside Illustrator.