tutorial final
In this tutorial we will recreate the above biohazard symbol using only the Divide pathfinder tool and the Elipse tool. The divide tool can save you a lot of time when creating things such as logos and icons.
pathfinder Before we get started let me point out the tools you will be using. Here, highlighted in blue, is the "Divide" pathfinder. This tool will break apart the shapes for us, so we can form the new shapes needed to form our biohazard symbol.
elipse Here is a tool you are most likely familiar with, the Elipse tool (shortcut "L"). This is the only other tool you will need to complete this tutorial.
tutorial step one 1. First we need a perfect circle, you can hold down "shift" and drag with the Elipse tool to make perfect circles. Choose any color you like.
tutorial step two 2. Now create anouther slightly smaller circle and place it like I have in the image on the left. I have made my circle a lighter red so you can see the two, but it you don't have to.
tutorial step three 3. Select both circles by clicking and dragging over both. Now locate your Pathfinder palette (if it is not open, you can find it under the "window" toolbar). Click on "divide". Now you must right click on your selected objects and choose "Ungroup". Deselect your objects and now you can click on the new shapes created by the overlapping objects. Delete everything but the parts shown in the image on the left.
tutorial step four 4. Select our new shape and rotate it 45 degrees clockwise. You can do this easily by holding down the shift key while rotating the selection box with the cursor.
tutorial step five 5. Copy this shape two times and rotate them using the above method. You can copy using the standard "copy and paste" procedure, or you can hold down the "Alt" key while dragging. Place the objects as I have.
tutorial step six 6. We can make our ring by using the same methods. Create our two circles as before, but this time center the smaller one over the bigger. Use the "divide" features as we have in step 3.
tutorial step seven 7. Place our ring in the center of the developing biohazard symbol.
tutorial step eight 8. Create anouther circle (shown in light red) and place it in the center of our work. Use the divide feature once again to remove our middle section.
tutorial step nine

9. Done!