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Chapter 12: Drawing and Editing 2D Splines and Shapes

overlapping area from one of the splines (subtract), or you can throw away everything except the overlap-
ping area (intersection).

Cross-Ref
You can also use Booleans to combine or subtract 3D volumes, which are covered in Chapter 27, “Working with
Compound Objects.” n
The Boolean button works on overlapping closed splines and has three different options—Union,
Subtraction, and Intersection—shown in Table 12.3. The splines must all be part of the same object. The
Union option combines the areas of both splines, the Subtraction option removes the second spline’s area
from the first, and the Intersection option keeps only the areas that overlap.

TABLE 12.3
Boolean Button Options

Button Description
Union

Subtraction

Intersection

To use the Boolean feature, select one of the splines and select one of the Boolean operation options. Then
click the Boolean button, and select the second spline. Depending on which Boolean operation you chose,
the overlapping area is deleted, the second spline acts to cut away the overlapping area on the first, or only
the overlapping area remains. To exit Boolean mode, right-click in the viewport.

Note
Boolean operations can be performed only on closed splines that exist within a 2D plane. n
Figure 12.31 shows the results of applying the Spline Boolean operators on a circle and star shape. The first
image consists of the circle and star shapes without any Boolean operations applied. The second image
shows the result of the Union feature; the third (circle selected first) and fourth (star selected first) use the
Subtraction feature; and the fifth image uses the Intersection feature.

FIGURE 12.31
Using the Boolean operations on two overlapping shapes

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