Pathfinder: Complex Shapes

The Pathfinder effects are identical to those found in the Pathfinder palette (covered in Chapter 4), only here they are applied as Live Effects. Before you question the reason for making these available as Live Effects, remember that you can apply Live Effects to groups and layers. Applying these effects to type may also prove useful.

The following Pathfinder commands are available as Live Effects: Add, Intersect, Exclude, Subtract, Minus Back, Divide, Trim, Merge, Crop, Outline, Hard Mix, Soft Mix, and Trap. Refer to Chapter 4 for details on each of these functions.

To apply any of the Pathfinder effects, make a selection, choose Effect > Pathfinder, and choose the Pathfinder function you need.

What If . . . You Combine Offset Path and Pathfinder Effects on a Text Object?

A design may sometimes call for a word or sentence of text to be outlined with a single line that encompasses all of the letters. The Offset Path filter is perfect for this, but the effect outlines each individual letter that appears in the text. The result is a mess of paths that overlap, making the text difficultif not impossibleto read. If you were to expand the appearance of the overlapping paths, you might use the Pathfinder Add function to create a single unified shape, but if you do, the text can no longer be edited. This is where a Pathfinder effect can be really helpful:

Follow these steps to learn how you can apply both the Offset Path and Pathfinder effects to text:

1.	Choose the Type tool and click a blank area on the artboard to create a Point Type object.
2.	Using your keyboard, type the word Outline.
3.	Set your text to 36-point Myriad Bold.
4.	Switch to the Selection tool and select the Type object.
5.	Then, open the Appearance palette, and from the palette menu, choose Add New Stroke.
6.	With the new stroke highlighted in the Appearance palette, choose Effect > Path > Offset Path.
7.	In the Offset Path dialog that appears, specify a value of .0625 inch for the Offset and click OK to apply the effect (Figure 7.72). Figure 7.72. Adding an Offset Path effect to the new stroke that you created adds an outline around the text.
8.	With the new stroke still highlighted in the Appearance palette, choose Effect > Pathfinder > Add. The effect is applied immediately (Figure 7.73). Figure 7.73. The Add function combines all of the individual paths that were created with the Offset Path effect, resulting in a single combined outline.
9.	Switch to the Type tool and edit the text. You will notice that as you change the text, the outline updates accordingly.