This tutorial will act as a quick introduction to pathfinder, focusing on the most common tools along the bottom of the menu. This graphic visually explains the four pathfinder tool options used in this tutorial. I like to keep all of the shape-building tools, including Align and Transform, pinned to the side of my window in case I need them!) (If you love using it, consider adding it to your workspace. Go to Window > Pathfinder in either program to open the window if it isn’t kept in your default workspace by default. If you’ve never used pathfinder, don’t be intimidated! It’s easy to use and pretty forgiving if you mess up (because you can just press “undo” and try again). However, Illustrator and InDesign’s pathfinder tool makes it possible to create new, custom shapes by combining simple ones-which makes it possible to draw absolutely anything. If you’re used to the endless depth of shape libraries in Microsoft Office or Google Docs, it might seem initially limiting.

In Adobe Illustrator and InDesign, there are only a few basic shape tools: circles, rectangles, and regular polygons.

Endpoints and dashed lines to your strokes.Meet Pathfinder, your new favorite tool in InDesign or Illustrator!.

Direct selection tool and Grouping Objects together.

The topic starts with, what is Adobe Illustrator and the orientation covers as showing below. Along with Creative Cloud, Illustrator CC was released. Originally designed for the Apple Macintosh, development of Adobe Illustrator began in 1985. Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics editor and design program developed and marketed by Adobe Inc.

Adobe illustrator pathfinder panel