Expert: Amy - 10/26/2007

Question
Hello, I have CS3 on PC and frequently use strokes around text and line art and am required to merge them for a cnc machine operation. OFTEN the strokes will have little half lines pointing off after they are merged with pathfinder palette tool. My normal process is to flatten transparency to convert fonts to outlines and convert all strokes to outlines, then merge. I have tried separately converting strokes to outlines and expanding strokes, but nothing seems to improve the outcome. I *think* this is a new problem with CS3 that I didn't see in CS2. Do you have any ideas about this, or have you seen what I'm talking about? Thank for your help! -sue

Answer
Hmmmm.

I don't think I'm quite sure what you mean. Are you talking about spikey corners or joins of strokes?

I think our process is the same in the end, but try my way:
Type.
Assign Stroke and Fill.
Convert Type to Outlines.
Object: Expand (Stroke and Fill checked)
Pathfinder Window's flyout menu (at its top right): Make Compound Shape
Pathfinder Window: Expand.

I'm not sure why you had to flatten, maybe you could explain that, too.

If my process doesn't work either, please do me a favor and send me a CS3 file with a before and after and I'll see what's up.

-Amy Pace
AmyLynPace@yahoo.com