Simple stroke FROM outline stroke

Hi,
of course, I know how to create outlines from a stroke.
But for a specific project, I need to be able to do the exact opposite.
I have lots of vector illustrations like the one attached, that are made of outline strokes, and I need to convert them to simple lines. I know they will loose their shapes, but this is not a matter.
I would like to get a simple line that will follow the shapes, like an "average center line" of these outline strokes.
Finding a way to do this dynamically would avoid me to re-draw all the lines with the pencil.
Does a solution exist ?
Best regards,
Page Publique

For some of the shapes (e.g. the arrows) it would be possible to just delete one of the lines and then use "offset path"
You might try to convert this to pixels and then trace it using only strokes. That would be the only partly automatic solution.

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Outline stroke with Illustrator scripting

Hello everybody!
I'm making a script. I need to do the outline stroke action. I can't find it in the extendscript anywhere.
I can do it from a applescript and call it from my extendscript in CS6 BUT I need my script to run CS5.5 and run on a windows machine:
tell application "System Events"
click menu item "All" of menu "Select" of menu bar item "Select" of menu bar 1 of process "Adobe Illustrator"
click menu item "Outline Stroke" of menu "Path" of menu item "Path" of menu "Object" of menu bar item "Object" of menu bar 1 of process "Adobe Illustrator"
I have also found a way to do this in CS6 (app.executeMenuCommand ('Live Outline Stroke')) but i havent got it working yet. And its for CS6+ so I can't really use it if I cant force my users to upgrade
Anyone out there with an answer? It would help me alot. As I understand it you can call functions withing extensionscript if you have the right "action code" for it. Using the ActionDescriptor.
var desc3 = new ActionDescriptor();
I have looked around and I cant find any documentation with a complete reference with the action codes. Do any one of you out there the action code for "Outline stroke"?
Thanks so much for your answer and effort.
Regards,
Ruy Ramos

Hello,
Thank you for this!! My question now is, is it possible to do this comand without the UI coming up?
I tried to set:
UserInteractionLevel.DONTDISPLAYALERTS
but nothing changes.
Do you know where there is a list of all the menucomands?
Thanks again
Regards,
Ruy Ramos

Outline stroke command?

I'm making an extension panel, and I want to convert some fat roundendcapped lines to paths, but it seems there's no command for this in the SDK.
Object -> Path -> Outline stroke
Is it true?
If so, do you know a workaround for this?
I made an Action that calls Outline stroke from the menu, but then I got stuck again, because I can't find a way to call that action from my panel.
I see Photoshop has an ActionList stuff. I'm looking for something like that in Illustrator.

I think it's also possible to use the AIArtConverter suite to do this.
Something like:
AIErr error=kNoErr;
AIArtHandle MyPathToConvert;
error=sArtConverter->ArtConvertToOutline(&MyPathToConvert, kOutlineAddStrokes);

Outline stroke

hello,
I am creating swatches, filling the colors with live paint and other techniques. When I want to crop and create the actual swatch by using the outline stroke, I lose some of my paint infills and am not sure why this is happening...
If I can get some feedback, it would be great.
thanksss

After you have the color you want in the area on the artboard, just drag the color from the Color panel to the Swatches panel to create a new swatch.

"Outline stroke" command makes an unwanted rectange around shapes. Help

Hi,
I'm experiencing weird problem. I have an Art brush (scatter brush) which I sampled from a 5 tiny black circles to get the spray look. And it looks great as long as it stays as an art brush stroke. But when I select the path representing my stroke and doing "Outline stroke" it gives me desired shapes but along with empty bounding box-like rectangle around each of the sample. How to eliminate this problem? Thanks in advance.

Do you mean this is normal procedure in Illustrator? Create shapes from art brush, and then delete dull rectangles around samples? I'm asking because for example Corel never had such problems, everything is straightforward - you select an art brush, converting it to shapes, and you're done. No excessive junk, no strange bounding boxes around samples etc..

Outline Stroke, Effects, and Appearances.

Dear Adobe Users, Please come to my aid, I am at my wit's end.
I am trying to recreate the effect described here (http://opentype.info/blog/2012/08/09/the-google-maps-effect-in-adobe-illustrator/) - to whit, a a non-destructive, merged series of paths with a complete outline, with paths that can be resized at will without affecting any other paths, and any overlap areas should merge.* I have only been able to replicate it once and I cannot seem to do it a second time. Every single time I go to Effect > Path > Outline Stroke, nothing happens: an ‘outline stroke’ effect tab is added on the appearance panel, but nothing at all happens to my lines, they don’t change in the slightest.
I can add all the outline stroke effects I want (in the appearance tab) - no effect. I can double click on the outline stroke - nothing happens. There's nothing to edit. I can move it around - no effect. I can get OBJECT > Path > Outline stroke to work, of course, but that is not non-destructive: it destroys my paths, and I can't add new paths or anything.
I cannot copy-paste the successful attempt into new layers. I cannot duplicate the layers into new files and have the effects still work. I cannot copy existing paths into the layer and use the eye-dropper to copy the effects.
Please, someone, come to my aid! What did I do right, and how can I do it again?
Copy of file:
upload files free
* I am aware that the article is from 2012 and was thus done on CS5, not CS6, but like I said, I did get it to work once in CS6 already.

I tried that, it didn't work. It just adds another stroke under the first - it doesn't work as an outline

CS3 Outline Stroke Problems

I don't know if anyone else has noticed this. But since upgrading to CS3, I've got a serious problem moving the points from a stroke I changed to an object with the Outline Stroke command. I use this quite often, since I like the control it gives me over the look of a line.
But with CS3, when I move some point at the end of the line, it turns out that there are sometimes even 3 overlapping points. This is very annoying. I could lasso select, but then, of course, I need to be in outline view or else I select the underlying object. The Clean Up command does not help. This is really not workable. It used to work so smoothly, and now there's overlapping points all over the objects.
I've been looking to see if there is any documentation about this. But I cannot find anything. Have there been any changes in how the outline is created? Are there points added when you move one? Are there new settings / options I have not found yet that can reset the behavior to CS2-and-before style?
Help wanted. Thanks.
Mark

> Also, I noticed that some hard corner points are very hard to move. Because when you try, it turns out you're pulling a bezier handle. It's impossible to move those points without just pulling the handle.
Are you referring to paths in general, or paths created by Outline Stroke?
If the former, I haven't noticed that happening at all. I see exactly the opposite. Due to the larger hit radius and the preference given to anchor point hits over direction point hits, as well as the highlighting of anchor points within the hit radius, it is
easier in CS3 to be sure of moving the anchor point instead of accidentally hitting the adjacent bezier edge or a direction handle that happens to be very short. (Of course if the mouse is outside the hit radius of any anchor point but within the hit radius of a bezier curve or direction control point, it will adjust direction handles instead, but that has always happened, and the anchor point hit radius is bigger now.)
But maybe you're making different kinds of paths than I do. I do not know what you mean by a "hard corner point" vs just a corner point. Do you noticed anything that distinguishes the anchor points that move as expected from the cases where the direction handle moves instead?

CS3 Outline Stroke Parallel Lines Bug

Hello everyone...
I'll try to explain my issue as best as possible. I am using Illy CS3 on Win XP Pro.
I am creating installation instructions for an electronic product and need to show wire routing.
I created an art brush of two parallel black lines two different ways (two black lines and two black lines with a white line between them) and am getting the same result when I apply the Object>Path>Outline Stroke command.
What is happening is instead of Outlining each of the strokes and individual paths, Illustrator is outlining the space between the two strokes as one filled, closed path.
Perhaps this is expected behavior. However, Illustrator CS4 (which I use at home on a Mac) outlines the stroke as I would expect it to with the two lines as individual paths.
Does anyone know of a workaround or any way for Illustrator CS3 to behave in a similar way to how CS4 handles the strokes?
Any help is truly appreciated.
Many Thanks!

I can't follow your description, and can't replicate the problem trying to follow it.
> I created an art brush of two parallel black lines two different ways (two black lines and two black lines with a white line between them) and am getting the same result when I apply the Object>Path>Outline Stroke command.
Explain "two black lines and two black lines with a white line between them".
Brush 1 built from:
Two parallel open paths, each with a black stroke?
Brush 2 built from:
Three parallel open paths, equally distributed, the two outermost ones having a black stroke, the middle one having a white stroke?
When you say "situated between them" are you talking about stacking order (paths with different weight strokes stacked in same location) or spacing (three parallel paths distributed vertically)?
You say you've created these two ArtBrushes and are then applying Object>Path>Outline Stroke. Are you in fact talking about outlining the strokes to the artwork
before converting it to an ArtBrush, or applying Outline Stroke to a path to which you already applied the ArtBrush?
Describe EXACTLY, step-by-step, command-by-command, the simplest steps necessary to replicate the problem. Don't use ambiguous terms like "line". Use the terms of the program.
JET

What is: Effect Path Outline Object & Outline Stroke for?

They've mystified me since I noticed them.
Lords of Illustrator, forgive your humble servant's blatant ignorance, but searches and experimentation have come up disinsightful (possible a new word) - what do you do with these?
(Right now, I'm making a focused effort to figure out everything I can do with live Appearance Panel effects - the more I know, the better I feel I set up artwork, non-destructively. It's great. Correct Answer will manifest happy dancing.)

(sweet, we can link Youtube's right in the posts, never tried it)
I'm sorry man . . . I'm still mystified here . . . I can't get Outline Stroke to work like the above-linked Illy 10 Style Demo.
I took her Distort > Roughen circle, with Outline Stroke applied so that the stroke becomes an outlined path and the subsequent Roughen affects it like it's been outlined and tried to duplicate the outcome from scratch, but I can't do it!
Doesn't work me . . . yet look at the Appearance Panel and compare - they're the same.
What is going on?

What is the difference between Object Outline Stroke, Object Expand..., and Object Compound Path/Make?

Could anyone explain the differences between these three commands? I created a circle with a stroke, applied all three commands, and ended up with the same thing, a compound path. Are there situations where this is not the case, or situations where one of these commands is more appropriate?

Cleveland,
In the case of the straight stroke/nofill, object>outline stroke and object>expand seem to do the same thing.
In the Layers palette you can see the three different outcomes for Expand if you have both Fill and stroke ticked, only Fill ticked, and only Stroke ticked. Only the last one corresponds to Outline Stroke.
You should use Outline Stroke as the simplest one if that is what you need. Compound Path is for creating something with one or more holes from multiple paths, or for collecting paths to forrm the Clipping Path of a Clipping Mask. Expand is for the rest.

Error: OSEG when Outlining Strokes

I have a problem that consistently occurs in Illustrator CS4 on Leopard that only presents itself when I try to outline paths in dxf files opened in Illustrator that I think have been supplied from and Autocad type software.
I get the unknown Error: OSEG and only some paths outline.
The only way I have found to fix it is to outline paths individually till I find the culprit path or paths and and either find the point in the path that is causing the error and remove it (which can be time consuming), or just delete the path all together and re-create a replacement. It seems to me there is a problem with Illustrator being able to handle certain path information it encounters that is causing the error.
I have been doing the same thing in all versions of Illustrator since the very first version that supported opening dxf files (so quite a few generations of Illustrator, pre CS I think) and this is the first time Illustrator has presented the problem with these types of files specifically.
Any suggestions?

I'm new to this forum, but I found this thread while googling the OSEG error I was getting when I tried to outline all of the strokes in an AI file (I'm using a Dell laptop, running CS4). All of my strokes were the same width, color, join (corner/smooth), miter limit, etc. Some of them had fill colors, the rest did not.
I was finally able to pinpoint why this error was popping up for me:
After successfully outlining the strokes layer by layer, and then path by path (once I found the problem layer), I discovered that my problem was just a few lone anchor points. Once I deleted those, the rest of the paths did just fine converting to outlines.
I guess the "outline stroke" function didn't like the single points, and they made it act all weird. Maybe it was because they weren't really lines or closed shapes, and therefore not "stroke-able"?
Also (not sure if this would have anything to do with it), the problem layer was the bottom layer, which Wade seemed to indicate was part of the problem.
Anyway, hope this helps.

Outline stroke not working in CS6

so I just create a straight, uniform line and press Effect > Path > Outline Stroke... but nothing happens
not sure if I'm doing something wrong... or if there is a bug?
thanks,
Terrence.

thanks for your reply...
the line has a black, 10 pt, uniform stroke on it.... I click the outline stroke command and nothing happens... an fx does appear in the appearance palette, but when I click the Outline Stroke item there nothing opens... every other effect opens a dialog window...

Can't remove stroke from shape CS6 Mac

Hi, I've not run into this before, but haven't used Pshop CS 6 a lot.
I am setting the stroke to 0 and none, but Pshop keeps putting a stroke around the shape:
http://screencast.com/t/J7sgWJpF
Not sure what is wrong or how to fix it.
Thanks
Jeff

To me that looks like the path instead of a stroke.
(path outline)
After you add the shape and press the enter/return key or if you switch to a different tool such as the Hand Tool does the stroke go away?

Outline Stroke in Illustrator CS3 Broken?

It seems that Outline Stroke in Illustrator CS3 is broken in more ways than one. The bug I'm struggling with at the moment is that Outline Stroke seems to ignore the strokes alignment. For example, if I have the stroke of an object set to "outside" or "inside" (instead of center), outline stroke creates the outline of the stroke as if it were "center" aligned. I've checked that in CS4 this bug has been fixed, but I don't have access to CS4 at work. Does anyone know of a work around or patch that resolves this, or is an upgrade to CS4 the only option?
On a side note, Illustrator CS3 has to be the buggiest adobe application I've ever dealt with. It has so many little annoying bugs, most of which are fixed in CS4. I shouldn't have to pay for an upgrade to CS4 just to get bugs fixed though, that seems wrong.

TomWardrop wrote:
On a side note, Illustrator CS3 has to be the buggiest adobe application I've ever dealt with. It has so many little annoying bugs, most of which are fixed in CS4. I shouldn't have to pay for an upgrade to CS4 just to get bugs fixed though, that seems wrong.
You must not have used version 10.
As for the outline issue... try Object > Flatten Transparency

How do i get an outline stroke without initial stroke in CC?

Hi,
I need an outline on a stroke that i drew but when i apply object>path>outline stroke i keep getting my initial stroke applied as well. I only need the outline, not the initial stroke. I use Illustrator CC.
Thanks

Hi Jacob,
i never had that problem before. I always assumed Adobe products were rock solid!
Illustrator failed on me twice today, when it also stopped in the middle of a process.
I guess nothing's perfect
Thanks

Simple stroke FROM outline stroke

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