CS4 Quicktip: Pathfinder

November 08, 2008
54 Comments
Illustrator

While the Pathfinder functions themselves have not changed inside of Illustrator CS4, what has changed is their default behavior… and this might cause some confusion. In previous versions of Illustrator you could select two shapes and click a Pathfinder button to create a compound shape…

Pathfinder

However if you perform the same steps in Illustrator CS4, you won’t get a compound, but an already expanded shape. In order to create compound shapes, just hold down the option (alt) key and click the respective button in the Pathfinder panel. Voilà…

54 comments so far

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oliver November 08, 2008 at 07:24 PM

I am diggin the new way it behaves!
I was really getting tired of having to hit “expand” every time I used Pathfinder.

The new standard works so much better for me.

All the best from bonn,
Oliver

Tanie Pokoje w Szczecinku November 09, 2008 at 12:02 AM

I knew you had more of them! :) Seriously, consider creating hot ebook with your tips, that could give you more traffic and fame (and money possibly?) :)

—Dom Noclegowy Szczecinek

Nazo November 12, 2008 at 02:38 PM

Hmmm…. nice article :)

Robert November 13, 2008 at 10:09 AM

Ein verdammt guter Grund für das kommende Update!! Es ist immer wieder spannend die neuesten Entwicklungen von Adobe zu testen.

Icoste Shopping November 14, 2008 at 04:31 PM

This is a great tip, it is so irrating click menus and buttons, takes soooo much longer than hot-keying especially in adobe Illustrator!

guillermo familia November 16, 2008 at 12:57 AM

el señor nircio jesus rojas cedula 001047072-6 me estafo vendiendo como ajente de viaje una oferta de una vacaciones y me dijo que se lo depositara en un banco el valor de $5,200.00pesos que era la ofertra luego me llamo para decir k la reservacion no la avia podido confirmar el mismo dia k me tocava ingresar y luego no coje el celular y no me ha devuelto el dinero y ya son dos semanas en espera. y lo mejor es k vendio la oferta a nombre de el hotel coral costa caribe y llame al hotel y me di la sorpresa k el no esta relacionado lavoralmente con ellos y k no trabaja para ellos entonces esta poniendo el nombre de ese hotel por el suelo y estafando gente .

ultimas noticias November 16, 2008 at 01:31 AM

It’s very difficult to learn all CS4 options. But thanks to your quicktips I learn it rapidly. Thanks

evden eve nakliyat izmir November 17, 2008 at 04:43 PM

thank you.:)

33700 th guy November 18, 2008 at 03:44 AM

nice tip! it will save me time for sure…
thanks

John November 18, 2008 at 01:33 PM

I still have not got the 4. But glad that I found your tips. It will save lot of time when eventually I get it.
Thanks
:)

Jono November 18, 2008 at 02:33 PM

I use this a lot, & prefer how it behaves now :)

Good ideas November 18, 2008 at 03:48 PM

This was a good move IMO… It allows you to have more flexibility with the design. The previous method made it hard to expand the shape. Now you can do both quickly and easily!

Thomas November 18, 2008 at 07:13 PM

Thanks!

Fotograf November 19, 2008 at 08:56 AM

I think the new behavior is more natural.

Jillian November 20, 2008 at 05:41 AM

I LOVE the ALT key! This gives me one more reason.
Thanks for the tip.

motorlu panjur November 20, 2008 at 04:59 PM

thanks…

Definite Web Hosting November 21, 2008 at 08:49 AM

Oeh nice article.
Keep well :)

Games November 23, 2008 at 06:57 PM

Great resource. Thanks for the guide.

Gif - master November 24, 2008 at 05:07 AM

Everything is simple:)

Buzzle November 25, 2008 at 01:34 PM

A goog thing to know, thanks

Google November 25, 2008 at 01:35 PM

Good article, thanks !

Grossiste November 25, 2008 at 01:36 PM

Very good i love it :D

Tim @ deine-wandtattoos.de November 25, 2008 at 06:24 PM

wooohoo. im sure ill love this on my next cs4-ready laptop. cheers.

Billigflug November 28, 2008 at 11:30 AM

Thanks for the tip. I was quite confused at the beginning. But I am glad, that they made this change, since it’s easier and faster to work with it, now.
@ Google, your “goo goo gle gle search engine” is really funny:)

Janie Parrish November 29, 2008 at 08:52 AM

One awesome shortcut, thanks!

Alice November 29, 2008 at 07:15 PM

Klasse Tipp! Danke

Bartłomiej Rutkowski November 30, 2008 at 05:10 PM

I dont like the new behavior, at least I dont like it while playing CS4 at my friend’s computer. How do you find new Adobe soft overall, is the upgrade worth of the money anyway?

http://robakdesign.com/

Hochzeitsfotograf December 01, 2008 at 07:03 AM

Thanks for the information!

Tim December 03, 2008 at 04:41 PM

Netter Tip.

SV-Irxleben December 05, 2008 at 04:34 PM

Toller Tipp! Vielen Dank

Maki December 05, 2008 at 05:06 PM

Yes it’s a good article. Thanks for this

Магазин одежды December 11, 2008 at 07:41 PM

Thanks for the information

Personal Coach Hamburg December 12, 2008 at 12:27 AM

This looks like a very useful feature!

Piotr December 14, 2008 at 12:06 AM

I am a newbie to illustrator but thanks to people like you working with the program can become a pure pleasure. Thank you for your your open and helpful attitude!

Ton December 15, 2008 at 07:16 PM

Cool tip! Thanks for this…

Dan December 15, 2008 at 09:36 PM

Thanks, you have saved me hours of googling and trial by error combinations. Good work.

SasaVtech December 17, 2008 at 08:35 AM

Honestly, I opened up illustrator CS4 just yesterday and I was lost. I was never really good at Illustrator to begin with, but I was having more issues than I honestly wanted to contend with.

I guess it’s time to upgrade the brain hehe. Wolfgang, Can you recommend some good reading and/or sites (tutorial based) for the new CS4 GUI?

Rob