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Design Illustrator Foundations Applying Effects Pathfinder Effects

Brian Hernandez
Brian Hernandez
20,285 Points

Pathfinder Effects (Illustrator) Not Working For Me :-\

Hey, I'm going through the Illustrator course and I'm trying out the various pathfinder effects on two rectangles that I've drawn and selected. Illustrator keeps giving me a "Pathfinder effects should usually be applied to groups, layers or type objects. This may not have any effect on the current selection" error-like dialogue box.

I click ok and the effect doesn't seem to be applying even though in the appearance panel is shows that the pathfinder effect has been applied. Any ideas on why I'm getting this dialogue and why it isn't rendering for me? I've tried merging these overlapping rectangles with them on the same and different layers... :-\

1 Answer

Hi Brian Hernandez,

I was having the same exact problem. What I did is I grouped the two shapes first and then applied the Pathfinder effects. That worked for me.

I hope it helps.