Adobe Illustrator CS5 One-on-One

Note that Illustrator, thanks to Live Paint, knows to keep those “invisible”

strokes that we established in Step 10 intact. So you can select “all” the

strokes in Step 11 and make them white, and not have to reset the strokes

that you wanted to be set to None.

12. Move the black ring. The great thing about this technique is

that it results in a very close approximation of true interlock-

ing objects. To prove my point, grab the white arrow tool by

pressing the A key. Alt-marquee (or Option-marquee) the right

edges of the black ring, to get the whole thing, then Shift-drag

the ring down below the yellow and green rings to make a large

medallion-style Olympic necklace. Move it in two or three passes

(release and drag a few times), so that the Live Paint strokes

that are set to None stay intact. The amazing results are shown

in Figure 11-43.

P E A R L O F W I S D O M

Big modifi cations may result in stray strokes and gaps, where Illustrator fails

to understand what is still considered an overlap. You can always fi x them

with the Live Paint tool. To effectively move the black ring to the position

you see in Figure 11-43 without having to reapply Live Paint, I had to stop

and release a few times, then resume dragging the black ring to its fi nal

position.

Figure 11-43.

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Lesson 11: Live Trace, Paint, and Color