Outlines for artwork useing a plotter

[Roderick Treece]

Normally I would just pull out a liner and out line my project.
But I am trying to use my plotter to cut an out line so I can make a stencil for some reverse chiped glass.
I've got a nice scroll from my "Americana collection" and with Danny's help Ive got my outlines, but now I find that some of the out lines cross over into the artwork and if I cut it on my plotter now it would be a mess.
I think it has somthing to do with welding the two outlines together but I can't find it in my Illustrator 9 book ,I'm useing 10 by the way.

By the way I did my very first Vinyl window the other day (after being in the sign biesiness for 40 years) At first it was kind of weird not painting it by hand ,but it was nice not standing out in the cold rain and wind.

Thanks Roderick

[Billy Pickett]

... In AI 9 or 10 the "weld" command is called "pathfinder". Look for the pathfinder pallet and weld away! It does other cool things too.

[Mike Jackson]

Roderick,
Some programs like Omega offer a check box that will automatically "contour" or weld the offset outlines at the same time it outlines them. I don't recall that command in Illustrator, but there is a Weld command that does basically the same thing.

This highlights one of those subtle little features missing from some DTP programs, though some of those will do commands or actions the expensive dedicated sign programs won't, too. When outlining in Omega or Graphix Advantage, the original shapes become "grouped", and all resulting outlines become "grouped" as a separate group. That makes is easy to select just the newly formed outline group and then weld it, delete, reoutline it, or whatever. I don't think resulting outlines in Illustrator are grouped (?), so I suggest grouping the original complex object first, then outline. To be able to select all the resulting outlines, drag select the entire shapes (original and outlines together), then hold down the shift key and click on any part of the original shape. That should de-select all the original shape elements, leaving you with just the resulting outlines. At that point, you should be able to use the weld and contour commands that are a standard part of Illustrator. If I am wrong on this, I am sure a power Illustrator user will clarify the steps.

Good luck,
Mike Jackson