{"id":11090,"date":"2010-07-17T16:02:01","date_gmt":"2010-07-17T23:02:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/?p=11090"},"modified":"2018-03-26T22:57:35","modified_gmt":"2018-03-27T05:57:35","slug":"how-to-combine-shapes-in-illustrator-for-laser-cutting-with-ponoko","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/how-to-make\/how-to-combine-shapes-in-illustrator-for-laser-cutting-with-ponoko\/","title":{"rendered":"How to combine shapes in Illustrator for laser cutting with Ponoko"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The right way, and the <em>wrong<\/em> way<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><object width=\"480\" height=\"385\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/xbBFX8VRBd0&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1?rel=0\"\/><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\"\/><param name=\"allowscriptaccess\" value=\"always\"\/><embed src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/xbBFX8VRBd0&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1?rel=0\" type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" width=\"480\" height=\"385\"\/><\/object><\/p>\n<p>In this short tutorial, I&#8217;ll show you how to combine shapes in Illustrator to create single vector objects for laser cutting with Ponoko.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Below is a transcript of the video:<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"ponoko-content-box\">\n<h2 class=\"ponoko-content-box-title\">Adobe Illustrator Tools For Makers<\/h2>\n<p class=\"ponoko-content-box-body\">Everything you need to know about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/how-to-make\/adobe-illustrator-tools\/\" target=\"_blank\">Adobe Illustrator tools<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/how-to-make\/adobe-illustrator-tools\/\" class=\"ponoko-content-box-cta\" target=\"_blank\">See the ultimate guide here<\/a><\/div>\n<p><!--more-->Hi &#8211; this is Josh from Ponoko &#8211; and today I want to show you how to combine shapes in Illustrator for laser cutting with Ponoko.<\/p>\n<p>To do this, we\u2019ll be using three key menu commands:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> the first is <strong>Object &gt; Group<\/strong><\/li>\n<li> the second is <strong>Effect &gt; Pathfinder &gt; Add<\/strong><\/li>\n<li> and the third is <strong>Object &gt; Expand Appearance<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Before we look at this process in greater detail, lets check out an example of shapes in Illustrator which have been combined incorrectly for laser cutting with Ponoko.<\/p>\n<p>At first glance, this looks perfect for laser cutting. There is a thin blue line which traces around the letters on the top, and a rectangular base on the bottom. However &#8211; if we use the <strong>Select &gt; All<\/strong> command &#8211; you can see that all is not what it seems.<\/p>\n<p>Another way to look at what is really in this file is to use the <strong>View &gt; Outline<\/strong> command. This reveals the true vector content of a file &#8211; and lets us know what will actually be made. In this case, what it has revealed is that these letters and this rectangle are not truly connected.<\/p>\n<p>What I have done instead is place white fills over the blue lines in my design that I do not want cut out &#8211; which unfortunately would not have worked. When it comes to cutting lines and vector engraving lines, the laser cutter will cut or engrave them anywhere they are present in the design &#8211; even if they are covered by something else. The white fills I placed over these cutting lines would be ignored, and the lines underneath them would still be cut.<\/p>\n<p>So let\u2019s combine these shapes correctly.<\/p>\n<p>The first thing we do is select all of the shapes we want to combine together. We then use the <strong>Object &gt; Group<\/strong> command &#8211; which most of you will have used before.<\/p>\n<p>Next is the <strong>Effect &gt; Pathfinder &gt; Add<\/strong> command. The Pathfinder effect lets you create new shapes out of overlapping objects &#8211; which is exactly what we want.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, we use the <strong>Object &gt; Expand Appearance<\/strong> command to turn the pathfinder effect into true vector information. Leaving out this step would be the same as using white fills to cover the lines.<\/p>\n<p>Now when we use the <strong>Select &gt; All<\/strong> command, there is nothing highlighted between the pieces we wanted to combine. We can also change to <strong>View &gt; Outline<\/strong>, and see that these letters and the rectangle below are truly a single vector object. Once again, this a true representation of what will be laser cut &#8211; and this time it\u2019s what we want.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s go through this process one last time. We\u2019ll open a new Ponoko template &#8211; and create a collection of overlapping shapes which are formatted for laser cutting with Ponoko&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>So now we have something vaguely arty &#8211; let\u2019s turn it into a single object for laser cutting. First, we\u2019ll select all the shapes that we\u2019ve laid over each other. Now we use the <strong>Object &gt; Group<\/strong> command, the <strong>Effect &gt; Pathfinder &gt; Add<\/strong> command, and the <strong>Object &gt; Expand Appearance<\/strong> command.<\/p>\n<p>All of these shapes have now been combined into a single object ready for laser cutting with Ponoko. We\u2019ll do a final double check by using the <strong>View &gt; Outline<\/strong> command, and it\u2019s definitely correct.<\/p>\n<p>So that\u2019s all there is to it. I hope this technique might be helpful to you in the future &#8211; for making new exciting projects with Ponoko.<\/p>\n<p>Thanks!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The right way, and the <em>wrong<\/em> way<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>In this short tutorial, I&#8217;ll show you how to combine shapes in Illustrator to create single vector objects for laser cutting with Ponoko.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Below is a transcript of the video:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Adobe Illustrator Tools For Makers<\/p>\n<p class=\"ponoko-content-box-body\">Everything you need to know about Adobe Illustrator tools.<\/p>\n<p>See the ultimate guide here<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-how-to-make"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How to combine shapes in Illustrator for laser cutting with Ponoko<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/how-to-make\/how-to-combine-shapes-in-illustrator-for-laser-cutting-with-ponoko\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to combine shapes in Illustrator for laser cutting with Ponoko\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The right way, and the wrong way In this short tutorial, I&#8217;ll show you how to combine shapes in Illustrator to create single vector objects for laser cutting with Ponoko. 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