Making Interlocking Rings with Live Paint

The things you see here in dekeStuff are accessible only to registered users. Sign up for a free account.

Comments

Illustrator any more

Submitted by khiens on 10 October 2009 - 8:13am.

Illustrator any more (because what could we possibly need to do that we couldn't do in freakin' PowerPoint?). Don't get me started. So I limped along with some really old Windows versions at work until I could afford to buy CS3 for my Mac at home. To get up to speed on all the new features I'd been missing out on!

INTERLOCKING TEXT

Submitted by cambo on 27 January 2009 - 9:49am.

thanks for the article on the rings - i have tried this in illustrator cs4 and it was fine.
however im trying to do the same with overlapping text and get the following message when selecting the paint bucket -
'the selection contains objects that cannot be converted.live paint groups can only contain paths and compound paths.clipping paths are not allowed'
ive tried the help for converting text but most of the options are greyed out.
could anyone please tell me where i am going wrong before i get in the bath with the toaster
[ only kidding ]

Convert the text to outlines

Submitted by deke on 31 January 2009 - 3:48am.

Looks like all you have to do is convert the text to editable paths.

Go to the Type menu and choose the Create Outlines command.

Great stuff!

Submitted by b3designs on 19 December 2008 - 8:32pm.

Thanks tons both of you :)

I wept tears of joy softly into my pillow...

Submitted by monk on 21 August 2008 - 3:15pm.

I've been doing battle with interlocking shapes for so long... so many years of wanton vector carnage only to find this incredibly easy solution.

Mordy and Deke need to take a trip to the middle east. We'd have that whole mess sorted out in a week.

Gradient Mesh Feedback

Submitted by MACinTUTOR on 6 November 2008 - 12:28am.

Dear Obiwan,

This is the most recent Illustrator article I could find to post this comment. (DekePod has rather become PhotoshopPod lately... not necessarily a bad thing in my book but I think there is a bit more to computer graphics.... I heard that "Amen!", Mordy). Variety ( = Illustrator Vectory) is the spice of life.

Your work on Gradient Mesh is stunning. I just reviewed your stuff on this on Lynda.com and... Wow! The possibilities you demonstrated amaze me! My jaw is warped and liquified somewhere on the floor and I'm sure I will eventually get around to recovering it sometime or other :-) Thanks enormously (think Amazon + Deke head = supercallafragalisticespe alladociously!) for that. Totally wicked cool dude! :-)

I hope Gradient Mesh makes it into your new Illustrator 1-on-1 book so I can easily work it into my classes... at least as a "Pearl of Wisdom" section, if not as part of a stunning chapter on gradients and patterns.

where did my jaw go anyway?,
Thomas

Thomas Benner
The Art Institute of Austin

I hear ya

Submitted by deke on 6 November 2008 - 2:38am.

And you know, I'm a big Illustrator fan. Well, admirer. Well, masochistic slave boy. B/c let's face it, no relationship with Illustrator is altogether equitable.

The Illustrator dekePods have had lower views than the Photoshop ones, so at the moment we're rather pandering to the masses. But we'll come back to it.

Gradient Mesh will be part of the book. At least, it's part of the 50-page outline . . .

ive tried the help for

Submitted by zebbor on 17 June 2009 - 2:12pm.

ive tried the help for converting text but most of the options are greyed out.
could anyone please tell me where i am going wrong before i get in the bath with the toaster
accelerated bsn - loan forgiveness for teachers - loan deferment - student loan deferment

Thanks so much for this

Submitted by utm on 5 August 2008 - 11:46am.

I've been doing this another way for too long - effectively: Duplicate Layer (one for fills, one for strokes); Pathfinder>Divide; ungroup; recolor; regroup; pray you never have to reposition any elements...

This way is ace. It's fast and flexible. I never realized Live Paint could be used for this type of work. Now I'm going to spend the rest of the afternoon drawing Celtic knots! Thanks again.

I remember that conversation...

Submitted by rwillustrator on 2 August 2008 - 10:30pm.

About the rings. Yeah. Funny thing. It's all true -- exactly how Deke told the story...

By the way, no need to delete those stroke segments -- you can just set their color to none. That way, if you do end up moving the rings around, they update, etc.

I am considering doing a 3-part series on Live Paint. Alas, that feature is sooooooo misunderstood.

Mordy Golding
http://rwillustrator.blogspot.com

Olympic rings update

Submitted by deke on 3 August 2008 - 12:30am.

Mordy's absolutely right. Per his brilliant insight, I've adjusted Steps 4 and 7 as well as the conclusion. It makes a big difference in terms of the flexibility of the technique. If the figures don't match my descriptions, refresh.

I bow to you, Live Paint Master! And, yeah, thanks for making me work an extra hour on Sunday. But I guess that's okay cuz you posted your comment on Saturday(!). Please, Lord, don't be smitin'.

After sundown Deke, after sundown...

Submitted by rwillustrator on 4 August 2008 - 9:58am.

Besides, we all know that the live paint geeks only come out at night...

Mordy Golding
http://rwillustrator.blogspot.com

Almost Olympic.ai Link

Submitted by artwacker on 29 July 2008 - 1:45pm.

Not to be a pain in the ass, whiney, crybaby, beotch, but what's up with this!
(To download such a file for your own use, scroll to the end of this doc and click the "Almost-Olympic.ai" link.)

I don't think there is a link. Not even an "almost"..
Maybe Darwin knows where it is.

Thanks for the fun and games
Colleen, you are the Queen Bee.

L

The link is above your comment

Submitted by deke on 29 July 2008 - 2:47pm.

There was a problem with the link, which is fixed now. And I went ahead and added another link in the context of the article so you don't have to scroll down.

For some reason, both IE and Safari want to change the extension, so you may need to reset it to ".ai" after downloading to open the file in Illustrator.

Oh, and don't worry. I like "whiney, crybaby, beotch." It makes me feel . . . like I'm talking to me!

The link and pahh-henis

Submitted by artwacker on 31 July 2008 - 7:49am.

So WTF. Safari decides to change the file to .ps
Thanks for the corrected link.
man computers are, like, sooo stooopid.

One more thing, I just read the thread on censorsh*t ooops.
Reminds me of the late George Carlin's list of words ya can't say.
Maybe something like the Inconclastic Controversy. (see Byzantine Icons)
Fortunately the more enlightened usually find a way around this sort of myopia.

A friend of mine (who is a Saab expert tech) likes to use the euphemism of Pah Henis. It never fails to elicit a chuckle.

I like Pah Henis

Submitted by deke on 31 July 2008 - 10:57am.

A friend of mine pointed out the most obvious euphemism for a robot: Nuts and bolts. Ug. So obvious!

Oh great, now the penis discussion has carried over into the hallowed Olympic rings. It's like an insidious virus, that penis. By trying to kill it, my censors have only made it stronger.

Great Indeed!

Submitted by ChfMojoRising on 28 July 2008 - 9:53pm.

I learned about a CS3 tool that I didn't know about before ^^. When I see these tutorials, I always first look at the end result picture and think "how would I do this?" I figure I'd make each ring from two half circles. From there, make the bottom blue half position under the yellow ring and the top half position over the yellow.

If I had Illustrator at home I'd try to whip it up... maybe at school I'll find the time to~ if there's a way I can submit it here some how...

This is so great.

Submitted by liberty on 28 July 2008 - 4:43pm.

I always wanted to do intertwining designs like those in illuminated manuscripts, and it always seemed like something Illustrator should do. I've used Illustrator since the 88 version, and it just seemed to be something really obvious that got left out. Thanks for figuring it out for me. And thanks to Mordy, too. I can't wait to try it.

Also, I can't thank you enough nor contain my enthusiasm for the Lynda.com videos. I had failed to learn newer features since my company switched from Macs to PCs years ago and also decided we didn't need Photoshop or Illustrator any more (because what could we possibly need to do that we couldn't do in freakin' PowerPoint?). Don't get me started. So I limped along with some really old Windows versions at work until I could afford to buy CS3 for my Mac at home. To get up to speed on all the new features I'd been missing out on, I signed up at Lynda.com. I've learned an incredible amount of stuff in a short time, and have also been inspired and greatly entertained in the process.

Now that I'm almost done with all the Illustrator videos, I was wondering where I was going to get my Deke humor fix. So I'm really happy to find out that you also have a Podcast. I look forward to watching each one as soon as it becomes available.

Thanks!
Cindy Loyd