Objective:
Create a gear in Adobe Illustrator using basic shapes and the pathfinder tool. The
gear should be all one object so we can export it for use in other projects and tools
such as Photoshop, and add filters to the shape.
In the example above, the shadow (created in CSS) would not display properly if the
gear were not one single shape.
Problem: It is hard to make the gear perfectly circular, with symmetrical teeth, and all one object instead of a group of pieces.
Solution: We can use the pathfinder tool to cut out the pieces. We can use the align tools to ensure the gears are perfectly placed before joining. We can use the rotate tool to rotate spokes to the correct angles. The gear shown uses one star, three rectangles, and five circles, all joined in various fashions (unite, minus front, intersect).