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sponger246
sponger246
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Combining many paths - CS5

May 3, 2012 12:10 PM

Tags: #combine #paths #shapes

I had a file come to me as a PDF. I opened it in illustrator and got it down to the image I want. One problem though, all the lines in the image are made up of hundreds if not thousands of small paths. I tried to outline all the strokes and kept getting an error. Is there a way to turn this into a shape without having to redraw the image?

 

I will be used on a t shirt so paths will not work.

Thanks in advance.

 

I am using CS5 on a Vista machine

1013 Views   13 Replies   Latest reply: Wade_Zimmerman, May 4, 2012 9:48 AM
 
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  • Jacob Bugge
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    1. Jacob Bugge,
    May 3, 2012 12:38 PM   in reply to sponger246
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    sponger,

     

    I will be used on a t shirt so paths will not work.

     

    All vector artwork consists of paths.

     

    Have you looked into Live Paint?

     

    How to combine paths, and how ugly it may become, depends on the paths you start with (which again may depend on which application was used to make them).

     

    A screenshot with selected paths might help helpers help you.

     
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  • sponger246
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    2. sponger246,
    May 3, 2012 12:50 PM   in reply to Jacob Bugge
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    I understand that they are all paths, I ment to say strokes. I need a solid shape.

     

    This is part of the larger image:

    multiplestrokes.png

    And this shows what I mean by the separate stroke lines:

    singlestroke.png

    Each line you see in the first image is made up of all these little lines. I would like to combine them in one solid shape.

     
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  • Mylenium
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    3. Mylenium,
    May 3, 2012 1:13 PM   in reply to sponger246
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    Good luck. That's one blody mess and a lot of manual work joining the segments. The  concatenate script might help a bit...

     

    Mylenium

     
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  • Monika Gause
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    4. Monika Gause,
    May 3, 2012 1:28 PM   in reply to sponger246
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    Did you try to outline them all at once? Maybe outlining them in chunks will be easier. Then combining the outlined parts at once to reduce the number of points.

     
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  • steve fairbairn
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    5. steve fairbairn,
    May 3, 2012 1:43 PM   in reply to sponger246
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    Eeeuw, this is really gross. Try outline stroke and Pathfinder (panel) Unite. Maybe in chunks like Monika says.

     
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  • Wade_Zimmerman
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    6. Wade_Zimmerman,
    May 3, 2012 1:45 PM   in reply to sponger246
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    In CS 4 and later did yo ury the command to join on the Mac it is Command J and on the PC it is Control J i should work

     

    oter wise you want Concatemate as mylenium suggested

     
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  • Jacob Bugge
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    7. Jacob Bugge,
    May 3, 2012 2:45 PM   in reply to sponger246
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    sponger,

     

    A free alternative is the Join reasonably script available here, with some other nice ones:

     

    http://park12.wakwak.com/~shp/lc/et/en_aics_script.html

     

    James also has a few scripts, JoinNearest and JoinNearestStraight; he might see this thread.

     
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  • sponger246
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    8. sponger246,
    May 3, 2012 3:33 PM   in reply to sponger246
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    Thanks everyone. I will give these a shot tonight and let you know what I come up with.  Thanks again.

     

    The concatenate script did work but unless I decide to buy it, I can only do 10 points at a time.

     
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  • JETalmage
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    9. JETalmage,
    May 3, 2012 8:09 PM   in reply to sponger246
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    I understand that they are all paths, I ment to say strokes. I need a solid shape....

    The concatenate script did work...

    It's not at all clear what you are trying to achieve. The above comments are contradictory. If by "I need a solid shape" you mean you need a closed path that follows the outline of the gray areas in your first screenshot, then that is not what the Concatenate plugin or any other method of joining the paths will yield. That would result from Object>Path>Outline Stroke.

     

    Moreover, if the gray in your screenshot is what you want the result to look like, why do you think it necessary to join the paths or outline them? Why do you think you can't print strokes on a T-shirt?

     

    JET

     
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  • sponger246
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    10. sponger246,
    May 4, 2012 9:16 AM   in reply to JETalmage
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    I wanted to join the small strokes to produce a simpler and easier to work with image. When one line in the grid is several hundred small strokes, it is hard to work with and edit. Once I had a single path I could outline the stroke and then smooth out the lines.

     
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  • JETalmage
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    11. JETalmage,
    May 4, 2012 9:30 AM   in reply to sponger246
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    Then you want to join the paths. Use the black pointer. Marquee-select a bunch of the tiny paths. Type Ctrl-J (shortcut for Object>Path>Join) to join them at their nearest ends. Illustrator only recently gained the decades-late ability to join multiple paths at once, and without having to tediously select their endpoints. So there is much less need now for resorting to an add-on plugin or script for this common functionality.

     

    JET

     
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  • Wade_Zimmerman
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    12. Wade_Zimmerman,
    May 4, 2012 9:44 AM   in reply to sponger246
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    I thpought I alresady wrotte Command J on the Mac and Control J on the PC to join the paths.

     

    Yep I sure did write it.

     

    Also Object>Path>Join

     

    But you have to select the art.

     

    Howwever Concatenate is different from the script posted and offers more control and you do not have to select the art.

     

    But if you do not do this often and work with CAD files all the time then the keyboard and Object commands are perfect.

     
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  • Wade_Zimmerman
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    13. Wade_Zimmerman,
    May 4, 2012 9:48 AM   in reply to JETalmage
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    I find this amusing…

     

    Illustrator only recently gained the decades-late ability to join multiple paths at once, and without having to tediously select their endpoints.

     
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