Step # 7 – Selecting the “minus back” option This removes the inside fill in the object, and the stroke that now emerges is of the color fill that was in the image. Step # 6 – Creating an outline of the illustrationĪnother pathfinder option is “outline”. Anything outside the rounded rectangle will be cropped out. This removes those parts of the image, that fall outside the one on the top. The “crop” pathfinder option can be used to cut and work on only a certain portion of any illustration. Now, if you move it with the “direct selection tool”, you can see that the ones with the same color will now be one whole shape. After you apply it on the object, it gets rid of the stroke, trims the overlapping shapes, but also merges the shapes with the same color. This basically does the same thing as “trim”, with an additional feature. The shape on top is the only one that remains completely intact. When you move it, you will realize that it has trimmed the object where it was overlapping. Now, select the second object to apply the other pathfinder option to, titled “trim”. Press undo, that is “ctrl + z”, to bring it back to its original position. When you select this object, you can see that each part of it is divided or separated.

Go to the tool panel and choose the “direct selection tool”. To apply this, select the first illustration. Over here, you have six pathfinder options.

Scroll down and click on the option titled “pathfinder”. To open the path finder options, go to “window” on the menu panel. Step # 1 – Opening the pathfinder options Therefore, while using Illustrator, knowing how to use pathfinder options in Adobe Illustrator can work to your advantage.

In cs5 Illustrator the pathfinder options can be used to alter the existing paths of shapes according to your own requirement. These shapes can be created by the pen tool or the shape tool. Illustrator pathfinder provides a set of options, through which you can bring changes to your shapes.

Pathfinder adobe illustrator