Ok, lets try this... cutting paths up with other paths (pic examples)

[Gilligan]

Ok, so we start with this (1st pic attached)... the "S" is a path (the "S" is just used for example here but could be a star, a heart or even something more complex.)

I need to end up with the 2nd attachment.

This was done with clipping mask but that only gives me the "look" I want, not the end results I want.

I need EACH of those lines to be an independant path that can be manipulated individually later.  So like the 4th row from the bottom would be two separate paths.

Does this make sense?

What is the best way to achieve this?

[Command-Z]

What software are you using?

[Gilligan]

Sorry, left that vital info out.

This is in Illustrator.  If there is another option that might facilitate this process better I'm game.  But I will say the next few steps are using javascripts that I've mangled together to make some "magic" happen.

Works great once I get it to the point of example 2.

[JBLUE]

Make your text an expand it. Next draw your lines and expand them. Select everything and use the divide in the path finder. Delete what you dont want and your done. Thats one way of probably many.

[Gilligan]

The "S" is an example... so it's already expanded... it will rarely be text that I'm working with.

If this was a one off project that could work... but that creates a lot of trash including all of the paths of the "S" which I need to get rid of and they are all attached to the horizontals now.

What I need in the end is the 2nd image with JUST horizontal paths with single anchor points at each end of each path.  And each visible line in that pic should be it's own path.

The problem is that I'm not done with this... I'm not just trying to achieve this look.  From here I need to run more scripts that are dependent on the simplicity of the 2nd image.  All the pathfinder tools have left behind too much junk to clean up.  Plus some objects will be more complex than this so cleaning up after could prove to be painstakingly tedious.

Which I could deal with via scripts that check each path to see if their anchor points are on the same X plane or not... but it would need to be simple paths and not ones with bends and cluttered with anchor points.

[Denis Kolar]

Use this (lower left button), Divide, as Inkwerks said.

[Gilligan]

So far best answer I got on another forum was actually quite out of the box.

Use the live paint option to paint the strokes inside the object ("S" in this case) a different color and expand the live paint group.  Then using the white cursor select part of what you you want to delete.  Then use select same as stroke and fill and delete.  This cleans it up pretty nicely.

Does take some time to "paint" the strokes though you can click and drag around... still have to zoom in on tight spots of complicated objects.  But overall it's seemed to be the most clever and quickest answer.

[Denis Kolar]

So far best answer I got on another forum was actually quite out of the box.

Use the live paint option to paint the strokes inside the object ("S" in this case) a different color and expand the live paint group.  Then using the white cursor select part of what you you want to delete.  Then use select same as stroke and fill and delete.  This cleans it up pretty nicely.

Does take some time to "paint" the strokes though you can click and drag around... still have to zoom in on tight spots of complicated objects.  But overall it's seemed to be the most clever and quickest answer.

And why would you do all that? There are tools made for doing that quick and easy way.

[Gilligan]

And why would you do all that? There are tools made for doing that quick and easy way.

Because Divide as far as I have tried it has not been able to leave me with just simple paths with two anchor points on each side of them.  It always leaves the "sidewalls" of the inner object there.  I can't have those there.

Here is an example of what I get... this is after two quick easy clean ups around the outside (marquee select around lines on right side then on left side).

[inkman996]

Illy must have a way to do it. In Corel it is simple as pie.

Simple set your lines the spacing you want them either combine or group the lines. Select the lines and object and click intersect. All you have to do then is select and delete the outside left overs.

What you are trying to do is always going to require some deleting of left over parts.

[Denis Kolar]

Try this.
Draw lines, outline them into paths (object menu, Path, Outline stroke) than make compound path (select all and click Command+8) from those lines.
Place outlined letter on top, select all and click "Intersect" in Pathfinder pallet (top row, third from right).

If you loose color, click on the color swatch to color the shapes.

[inkman996]

I don't know about Illy but in Corel if you combine all the lines first into one object then perform the intersect action, it leaves you only one object to delete on the outside. Obviously if you did not combine all the lines or simply grouped them then you have to delete them individually.

[Gilligan]

Try this.
Draw lines, outline them into paths (object menu, Path, Outline stroke) than make compound path (select all and click Command+8) from those lines.
Place outlined letter on top, select all and click "Intersect" in Pathfinder pallet (top row, third from right).

If you loose color, click on the color swatch to color the shapes.

EXTREMELY close and EXTREMELY easy... now how do I revert the outlined paths back to simple two anchor point paths/lines?

My next step involves the anchor points via some scripts and single lined paths.

[Denis Kolar]

Try this.
Draw lines, outline them into paths (object menu, Path, Outline stroke) than make compound path (select all and click Command+8) from those lines.
Place outlined letter on top, select all and click "Intersect" in Pathfinder pallet (top row, third from right).

If you loose color, click on the color swatch to color the shapes.

EXTREMELY close and EXTREMELY easy... now how do I revert the outlined paths back to simple two anchor point paths/lines?

My next step involves the anchor points via some scripts and single lined paths.

Try without outlining paths then.
It might work that way too.

[Gilligan]

Yeah, that was my first thought.

Seems that the shape is what causes the intersect not just a path.

I'm looking for a redundant anchor point removal script... I have one that doesn't function.  Found another written by Jim Heck and touted a good deal on various sites but his site seems down. http://pinballwiki.org/index.php?title=RedundantPoints

If I could find a script like that I could easily expand it (if the points aren't close enough according to the script) to accommodate my issue as I don't need any anchor points within like 3+mm of each other