Expert: Kevin Stohlmeyer - 7/2/2010

Question
I read the previous Q&As regarding clipping mask and my situation has an extra corollary: I have detail graphic from which I clipped the background, but now need to clip some gaps within the image that still reveal the background I'm trying to hide. To put it simply: I had a rectangle with a circle in it; got rid of everything around the circle, but now I have a smaller circle within it that I need to clip. When I click the Exclude tool within the Pathfinder palette, the background (rectangle) reappears. Hope this makes sense. Thanks for your help!

Answer
Hi Eva,

You need to create your clipping mask first. Create the shape with the smaller shape on top of it. Then select both and create a Compound Path (Object>Compound Path>Make). Then overlay this onto your original image, select both and create your clipping mask (Obj>Clipping Mask>Make). Pathfinder never has anything to do with this process and will not work.

Thanks

Kevin