Pathfinder Minus Front releases compound shapes from their compoundedness except when the compound is a negative space.
Pathfinder Minus Front releases compound shapes from their compoundedness except when the compound is a negative space.
Anonymous
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Clay, if the frame was above the text, I am pretty sure you used Subtract (the top row) and not Minus Back (the bottom row)... but it doesn’t really matter, I know exactly what you mean I think.
If a result after any pathfinder operation has visually separated shapes, Ai prefers to make it group instead of a compound path. In your case you’d have to ungroup an make these into a compound path again (you can skip ungrouping, since in this case Ai handles this for us, unlike some other cases). Another method is to hold Opt/Alt before clicking to create a live compound shape first, and then click Expand button — this always creates a compound path.
There are several relevant entries here at UserVoice:
1. Add an option for Pathfinder to make compound paths instead of groups — http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/47013433
2. Make Pathfinder work with groups properly — http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/31525312
3. Groups inside compound paths lead to problems — http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447/suggestions/41110042 (this requires some explanations)I think your report can be merged into either of first two, but it’s up to you.
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Clay Meyer
commented
Yes, I am still experiencing this. In the attached example, I converted text to outlines, selected all, released compound paths and then made compound paths (to make sure the outlined text was truly a compound path). Then I created a rectangle with an open middle, and made it a compound path. I placed it over the text and selected Minus Front from the Pathfinder functions, and the result was the empty white space you see in the P and the U. Then, I made another compound rectangle shape and moved it to the left, without checking to see if the text underneath had remained a compound path after the first transformation. I selected Minus Front again, and the result was that only the C remained - which is what happens if the underneath shape is not a compound path. So it appears that the first transformation of two compound paths doesn't leave the resulting shape as a compound path. Or am I misinterpreting the results?
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Does it still happen to you? I try to reproduce it but can’t say I can
