Delete only smaller paths

[Mangkud]

I am creating a map with Illustrator CS2 on Mac OS 10.3.9. There are many small paths in several layers that I want to delete. Especially for an overview map I don't need the smaller areas to be drawn.

Is there a way to delete small paths which area size is below a certain threshold? Hope to avoid scripting since it'd be time consuming for me to get into it.

Cheers Mangkud

 

[itchybug]

Mang:

Have you looked at the magic wand tool? One would assume the small paths would have a different color and/or a specific narrow stroke you could use as a discriminating factor.

Bert

http://www.itchybug.com

 

[Mangkud]

To be more precise: All data is in one layer and those paths I want to delete can only be identified via their area size. I cannot work with the colors or stroke sizes.

It does look like a scripting thing... or?

 

[itchybug]

1. Create an Art Brush: Draw a horizontal path, make it .25 inches long, 1 point stroke, no fill. Drag it onto the Brushes Palette, define it as an Art Brush, check the box for "Proportional";
2. Select all paths, copy and paste onto a new layer and lock the original layer, then turn off visibility (this is your backup); Draw one 1" long "control path" in addition to all the existing paths;
3. Select all paths on the new layer (including the control path), assign a 1 point stroke, NO FILL, then apply the Art Brush to all of them; Some of the longer paths will become VERY FAT, don't worry about it;
4. Leave everything selected, then go to Object>Expand Appearance;
5. After expanding, there are stroked paths and unstroked spines, and we're going to get rid of all those empty spines in this step. Select the control path, then with the Group Select tool, shift-click on the path. It should appear to remain selected, but you actually deselected the stroked path and left the unstroked path selected. In your stroke/fill boxes, it should show as empty. Now, go to Select>Same Stroke Weight, this should bring up all the spines at once. Delete;
6. With the magic wand tool, click on one of the shortest paths you can see. A bunch of short paths should now be selected, if you need to narrow or widen the range, change the sensitivity of the magic wand (it has itso own palette that opens underneath the Navigator). Once you have all paths up to a certain length selected, delete.

Essentially, you have done the following: You've applied an art brush to all paths, and it has a proportional width, so the longer the path the wider the stroke. After expanding, the strokes become real, so you could select them based on their width...

HTH

Bert

http://www.itchybug.com