Combining stylized paths... AICS

[Cary_Wilson@adobeforums.com]

I am creating roadmaps using an underlying bitmap map.

I have created a series of road types using the Appearance palette by essentially overlaying a series of strokes for the various types (eg. highway, trunk road, dirt road etc.) These work fine as is, BUT...

....when I have, say, two highways cross each other, I would like the intersection to "fuse" for the sake of a better word. I have tried using the pathfinder tool but have been unsuccessful so far.

What's the best way to "fuse" the intersection of these two stylized paths?

[Kurt_Gold@adobeforums.com]

Cary,

you can work with compound paths. Select the two highways and push Ctrl + 8. A more elegant way is to create layers for each type of road. Apply the different stroke appearances as graphic styles to the road layers. Thus the intersections fuse automatically.

[Cary_Wilson@adobeforums.com]

Parfait! Thanks!

[Cary_Wilson@adobeforums.com]

Oh, BTW. Once having created the 4 or 5 different styles, how do I save these styles to a Library (?) so that I can call them up in the future. Thanks in advance.

[Kurt_Gold@adobeforums.com]

Please open the Illustrator Help file and make a search for *libraries*. You will find detailed information about creation and import of graphic style libraries. Thank you.

[Cary_Wilson@adobeforums.com]

Sorry to bother you, but I'm not out of the woods yet:

Let's say I create a new layer entitled "Highways". I draw two overlapping paths and then apply my "Highway" style. Bingo! Both paths reflect the style. I then select both paths, hit Ctrl-8 and sure enough I get what I want: a fused intersection.

I have been unable though, to utilize the "more elegant" and intriguing approach; namely, creating a new layer, drawing the two paths, hit the appropriate style button and the two paths will stylize and fuse accordingly...

What could I be doing wrong?

[Kurt_Gold@adobeforums.com]

Ok, out of the woods now:

- Create a new layer for the highways
- Draw some highways with intersections
- Select the small circle close to the layer name on the right hand (layers palette)
- Apply the highway style - the intersections will fuse now
- But it comes better: Draw new highways on the stylized layer...and what happens? All the intersections fuse automatically while drawing. No extra steps necessary...

Do you like it?

Kurt Gold

[Cary_Wilson@adobeforums.com]

Way cool. In fact, tremendous! Many thanks indeed.

(FYI, placing the scanned bitmap on the bottom layer was a bit of a bore until I learned that it had to be placed as a template which could be appropriately dimmed).