Illustrator :: Remove Redundant Points While Maintaining Exact Shape Of Path
May 30, 2012
Is there a way to remove redundant points whilst maintaining the exact shape of the path?
After using Pathfinder or Expand there are often many redundant points which can't be removed using Simplify or Unite.
The VectorScribe plugin has a Smart Remove Points feature which is exactly what I want. I'm presuming the only way I can get that feature is to buy the plugin.
A simple example is shown below: The path is part of an exact circle and I need to remove one of the anchors.
i'm trying to build an easy way to create something like the following network graphic in Illustrator:
I basically want to create a brush or some other automatic method for adding a specific shape (in this case a circle) at every point a long a path. It would be nice if I could easily move around points on a path without have to move all of the circles independently.
I tried creating a pattern brush where the circles were the corner elements but depending on the angle of the corner the shape would get distorted.
I am wondering if there is a way to add/remove/redistribute anchor points on a compound shape so that there are evenly spaced anchors along the outline of that shape.I am aware of the "add anchor points" command. But that adds a new anchor at EVERY midpoint between two anchors. It doesn't smartly calculate where to add and where to avoid adding anchors.
I cant seem to get the clean command to do anything, it asks whether i want
[Imprint/seParate solids/Shell/cLean/Check/Undo/eXit] so i type "L" it says select object i click the solid it says [Imprint/seParate solids/Shell/cLean/Check/Undo/eXit] again...
Looking for a nice script that can search a complex design with lots of linework and find all coinciding duplicates and select them all and delete them but leave (1) good copy.
Basically when I use Outline Pathfinder in Adobe Illustrator, then bring back into corel, sometimes get a lot of redundant objects. I already set the settings in Adobe Illustrator to minimize that as much as possible.
I am trying to add an anchor to the left and right sides of a rectangular path at the exact same height. The easy method seemed: drag a guide to the right point and add the anchors at the intersection. But this is adding the anchors to the guide rather than the path "underneath" the guide? How can I place the anchor on the path?
Is there a way or an option I am missing to convert my regular paths to a path stroked with a brush profile,while maintining the proper stroke width?
For instance, I have a regular line with a stroke of 5 and then add a brush profile, which then converts the original stroke to whatever the brush was made at.
I'm trying to take a shape from illustrator and have the iOS graphics engine draw it without having to import the file. In order to do this, I need to somehow get a text break down of all the bezier paths / curves / points that comprise the shape so I can tell the iOS graphics engine the points that need to be drawn. Is there anyway to get a list of these points from illustrator?
I'm used to working with the pen tool in Adobe Photoshop, so Illustrator is just different enough to be problematic, since my automatic keyboard shortcut uses don't quite work. My biggest problem when drawing paths in Illustrator is that I can't figure out how to move individual anchor points without moving the entire connected path. I'm not using the direct selection right, or I don't have the rest of the path deselected properly, or something? How to move only individual anchor points in a path. (I am very tired of trying to move anchor points and ending up scooting the entire path along with it.)
General Information: Windows Vista (relevant only for keyboard shortcuts, I suppose) Illustrator CS2
In CS5, and in various documentation it doesn't appear possible to be a way to move multiple anchor points (as it is, in Photoshop). If this is the case... are you kidding me? Even Photoshop can do this.
Quite frankly, on my return to Illustrator, it's, as expected, Adobe has pulled a fast one with their suite of software. What was broken years ago is still broken today.
Photoshop needs the ability to add gradients to shapes, path brushing, symbols, ie the functionality of Illustrator needs to be placed into Photoshop.
I have to make an illustration with a 2D text that rolls on a 3D cilindric path. I don't know if is it possible on AI. Maybe I have to do this on a 3d software?
I have a crown I'm working on and I applied grunge brushes to the diamonds and shines. I would like to remove the grunge and keep the lines as they were before, smooth and clean. Is there an option or quick fix to do this? I created these diamonds and shines a long long time ago or I would just cmd+z. I have not expanded the paths, I have kept them them the same .25 stroke and no fill
this is a stroke of a path of a bicycle sprocket with 32 teeth,after removing 4 teeth from 4 different parts(there is a pair of 2 different type of teeth after every 6 standard teeth,i want to remove 1 of these 6 in each of the 4 parts).
I do not know how to join up the open ends of the path to maintain the circular shape to produce a 28 tooth sprocket,the teeth size are not to change just the circle.
Cs6 here.... I am trying to cut out a simple shape to allow the area under the shape to be trasnparent or Alpha. Like a Mask. Except when I use the Mask it does at it should do and mask the area where the shape is and MASKING or removing the areas not under the mask. I tried Compound path but I am not getting any result from it. My shape stays right on top of my work and does not "cut it out" to allow the Background to shine through as an alpha channel. See pics for clarity. I want to reverse this where the circle is cut out and the rest stays visible...
I'm doing an offset path command on a random shape and I need to repeat that in 4mm increments. I noticed that this command is far from accurate. To be as precise as possible I copy the base shape, paste it in front, apply the offset path command +4mm, +8mm etc (since the shape has round edges I chose round and a miter of 5000), and expand appearance. However, at 8mm expansion the round curves become pointy curves and therefore not mimicking the original shape.
I am studying for an MSc in Geology and am doing seismic mapping. To tidy up my maps I exported them to ArcGIS so I could join various ones together and also contour the maps. Then I exported the GIS maps into illustrator so I could attempt to smooth some of the contours as they are extremely jaggedy due to the nature of the data.Is there a way to quickly smooth lines or mass delete points that make up the lines?I am asking because I have 30+ maps and each map has maybe 50lines with each line being made up of currently about 1000 points each...
If I can't find a solution I will probably end up drawing over the contours with the pen tool and just smoothing it that way, as it should be a lot faster then deleting so many points.
I am currently using Illustrator CS5 and have access to CS4.
I'm currently having troubles from having too many anchor points after "image trace" or "offset path tool".
1. I would like to know if there's a way of deleting useless points AT ONCE. (ex. multiple anchor points on a stait line, or duplicated points at one anchor point) - I've tried "Simplify" but it changed the picture too much. - I've tried "Remove redundant points" when using "image trace" but it came out as below:
2. Sometimes pathfinder seems to make duplicated paths. Is there any way of knowing that there are duplicated paths OR eraseing duplicated paths at ONCE?
I want to make the A shape as if it was composed from the grouped hexagons from B. the hexagons from B are grouped and the shape from A was made from two elipses and function Minus Front prom pathfinder.
I've tried all the functions from pathfinder in all ways but some don't give a result(I don't need explanation for this) and some do not work as I wish.
I got this error many different times and the problem still continues.
When I change the stroke weight from the Strokes menu arrows or by scroll, this action changes my path's shape and distorts it. You can see the problem below:
I got similar errors when scaling a couple of times. But this one looks just impossible to me.
After using the path tool to create offset path and increasing the size of a letter. when creating an outline of that new letter the outline remains the same as the original. How do I create outlines to the shape of the new path not the original??
I was trying to make a logo and for doing as I sketched it I thought Offset path will do. But unfortunately it didnt. By using this feature repeatedly the shape is losing its initial form. This is what I want (as concept) but as you can see the shapes don't have the same form as the original cloud:
I know is almost impossible to make this without any distortion, but I was wondering if there is any other methond with less shape deformation.
I want to simplify part of a complex shape. Is it possible to isolate part of a shape path and simplify it, leaving the rest of the shape with the original number of anchor points?
To get from the first to the second picture I used the scale tool on the selected points and scaled manually with the mouse. This however is inexact as I'm eying it. How do you exaclty scale the z and y values?
I have two shapes placed next to each other but the top section displays is a faint line to the left. How do I use the Path Eraser Tool to delete/remove that piece? Or is there a better way to remove?
Note:
Top image displays without path displayed... Bottom section displays with path displayed...
How do I offset the path of a random shape (for example the outline of a guitar) without having it automatically inset the path as well? Is there an easier way to delete the segments of path I don't want than double clicking continuously with the white arrow?
