Illustrator Clipping Mask Help

[CES020]

I need some help from the smart kids in the class.

I have a customer supplied file that has a 20 objects or so, and they used a gradient or several gradients and used a clipping mask to get the gradients into the actual shapes. No big deal.

However, they want us to make something for them that is only a partial piece of that. I need to clip a large section off the bottom of it. It's a series of circles at the moment, and they want to do a wall graphic where it's only 2/3 of the circle, so it'll look like it's coming up out of the floor to some degree. That's not what they are trying to do, but that's me trying to describe it. So I draw a big fat rectangle across it and select the object(s) that are grouped and clipped, and select the object and the rectangle, but it won't let me clip it.

I'm stumped. I can't just draw a white rectangle over it, because I'm trying to superimpose it on a photo of their wall for approval.

I know it's really simple, but danged if I can figure it out.

Any suggestions on how to do this?

 

[The Vector Doctor]

can you just simply unclip their graphics and then redraw the existing clipping mask that was used? It sounds like you are trying to clip a clip. I don't think you can do it twice

 

[peavey123]

Unmask the gradient. Divide the rectangle with the circle. Delete unwanted pieces and clip gradient with your new shape.

 

[Jr Douglas Imaging]

easy way?? eps and use artboards (as long as your looking for a straight line)

wups looking for an appoval? sorry i think my way will only work for production

 

[CES020]

Thanks for the input so far. Sadly, it's still stumped me. When I released the clipping mask, I found the shapes and colors were a lot more complicated than I thought. It's like 16 different gradients applied independently across about 16 or 32 shapes, all laid on top of each other.

Seems like a really simple thing, but the construction of it has me stumped.

 

[GAC05]

Can you post up some screen grabs to see what you are dealing with?

wayne k
guam usa

 

[CES020]

Sure thing, here's a screen shot of it unmasked. The arcs are the actual finished shapes, and all the squares are various gradients. I'm trying to cut it off across the bottom, about where the inside of the arc is at the 6:00 position.

 

[rjssigns]

Direct Select and ditch the shapes. Then flatten and rasterize the rest. Should be able to clip what is left over.
Without having the file in front of me it's tough to think of the exact steps.

 

[Circleville Signs]

Create your artboard to the area you need to clip. Position the graphic so all you need is inside the bounds of the artboard. Save as PDF.

Done.

 

[MikeD]

copy, rasterize the copy + clip it

 

[CES020]

Rasterizing it just gives it a white background, which defeats the purpose of trying to clip it in illustrator so I can superimpose it on their wall, unless I'm missing something. That's the first thing I tried.

I'll work on it some more today and hopefully get it worked out using some of the suggestions so far.

 

[CES020]

If anyone is interested, here's the file in CS5.

https://www.filesanywhere.com/fs/v.aspx?v=8a71638a5f6372b1a0a8

I need it to stay in tact so I can scale it for a larger graphic later.

Maybe this will help explain it.

 

[jimgoodwin]

I'm interested, but I can't get to the file (expired). I know you probably already dealt with this issue, but I love solving problems like this.

 

[Bly]

Create your artboard to the area you need to clip. Position the graphic so all you need is inside the bounds of the artboard. Save as PDF.

Done.

This is what I would do.
PDFs crop to the page.

 

[CES020]

Thanks guys, the job is done and installed.