Illustrator CS4 Pathfinder problem.

[parkedcar]

I finally got around to upgrading to CS4. Ive had it for a while but was comfortable with CS3 so never bothered to upgrade. But i got a new Mac i7 and decided i might as well upgrade it now.
Well heres the problem. With pathfinder, i cannot "minus front" when the objects are grouped. Nothing i try seems to work right. I never had this problem before in CS3, and cant find a reasonable way around it. Is there something i'm missing or is it just not an option anymore?
Any help would be great! I gave up on Adobe after 30 minutes on hold and cant seem to find the answer anywhere else.

 

[Rick]

Thats odd because I can't MINUS FRONT (or weld, intersect or exclude) on grouped objects in CS3... never have been able too. I CAN do it with 2 separate grouped objects. CS4 acts the same to me.

I usually ungroup and then do whatever pathfinder thing I need to do or I sometimes put a tiny little box inside the object, then the pathfinder item, to work around the group.

 

[Vinylman]

I believe your problem is in the way you are approaching this.

If I remember correctly, you need to start with all objects UNGROUPED. Then select the items you want to interact with each other select them, then use the "minus front" option.

 

[Mason]

Pathfinder does not like "grouped" objects, this has been a long running issue with Illustrator. Ungroup and then use your pathfinder, everything should work just fine after that.

 

[parkedcar]

So say my group is 3 or 4 objects, i'll have to run pathfinder 3 or 4 times?

 

[Mason]

So say my group is 3 or 4 objects, i'll have to run pathfinder 3 or 4 times?

No you can run it once, they just cant be part of group,
Ie: you cant take two object you grouped together and one that sits by itself and run the pathfinder on them with the desired result. You have to un group the first set of objects in order for the action to do what you ask of it with the desired result