Cutting shapes - making a castle archway in a brick wall 2

[murfster]

Hello, I am trying to make a picture of a castle with Adobe Illustrator. I made a bunch of bricks (just black square). So, imagine a brick wall. Then I made a solid white arch shape to cover the bricks and make the 'entryway'. This looks fine as long as I only put the castle picture on a white background.

I'd like to cut the bricks in the shape of the archway and then remove the white arch shape such that there is nothing in the archway...i.e. the castle can be put on any background.

I'm sure this isn't too difficult for someone who knows what they are doing. In my attempts so far I think it may have something to do with compound paths or clipping masks but I'm glad to defer to the experts.

Thank you for any assistance you can give.

Marc

 

[Pixelchik]

Just select all the bricks and group them. Create your archway shape (it can be in any color). Place it where you want it in front of the bricks. Select both the brick group and the archway shape and go to your Pathfinder palette and select the Subtract from shape mode (second one from the left) and then EXPAND.

 

[apepp]

...bear in mind the 'expand' button in the pathfinder will render the arch shape uneditable, so always worth not expanding unless you find you really have to...

Andrew

 

[murfster]

Thank you both for your replies! Pixelchik, your advice worked really well and I got the result I was after! It would have taken me a while to find that feature...I am obviously very novice!!!

Have a great day!

Marc