Whatever shape you want to make, pathfinder can help you add simple shapes together to create a custom shape.Ĭompared to the other capabilities of pathfinder, this one is easiest to visualize. Maybe you have a triangle and a square that make a house. Maybe you have multiple rectangles that, together, create a maze.
Maybe you have three circles that you want to merge into a snowman. You can manipulate points on your shapes using the white arrow tool, but pathfinder is different from grouping objects because it fuses them completely and does not leave the original shapes intact.įor When You Want to Make a Complex Shape Note: Before we begin, realize that you cannot “un-pathfind” shapes once you use this tool. If you are looking for a more in-depth explanation of its various uses and applications, see this more thorough guide for combining shapes. This tutorial will act as a quick introduction to pathfinder, focusing on the most common tools along the bottom of the menu. This graphic visually explains the four pathfinder tool options used in this tutorial. I like to keep all of the shape-building tools, including Align and Transform, pinned to the side of my window in case I need them!) (If you love using it, consider adding it to your workspace. Go to Window > Pathfinder in either program to open the window if it isn’t kept in your default workspace by default. If you’ve never used pathfinder, don’t be intimidated! It’s easy to use and pretty forgiving if you mess up (because you can just press “undo” and try again). However, Illustrator and InDesign’s pathfinder tool makes it possible to create new, custom shapes by combining simple ones-which makes it possible to draw absolutely anything. If you’re used to the endless depth of shape libraries in Microsoft Office or Google Docs, it might seem initially limiting. In Adobe Illustrator and InDesign, there are only a few basic shape tools: circles, rectangles, and regular polygons. That’s all for this time.Meet Pathfinder, your new favorite tool in InDesign or Illustrator! How was it? The point is to have two or more objects. It leaves only the part overlapping the foremost object.Ĭut out the front object in the shape of the object placed on the back. In this case, the red objects were merged and the green objects were split. The same color objects will be merged together and the different colors objects will be split. To make it easier to understand, I have changed the blue objects to red. It keeps the foremost object and removes the part of a filled object that is hidden. In addition, please note that unlike the Shape modes, Compound Shapes are not created. *The objects applied the Pathfinder are grouped. To move detached objects, use the “Direct Selection Tool” (white arrow) in the tool bar. In the next section, we will see 6 different types of pathfinders. In this case, the object is filled with the foremost object’s color. Make the area two objects are overlapping transparent. In this case, the color of the foremost object remains. It leaves only the most overlapping area. It crops multiple overlapping objects by the front object’s shape (Not the foremost one.). The color of the foremost object is selected. This time we will use these sample shapes.įirst, show the Pathfinder panel. You can easily create shapes and complex paths that are difficult to draw with the Pen tool. Pathfinder is a feature that allows you to merge or cut out objects made of paths. In this article, I’m going to introduce the Pathfinder in Illustrator.
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