Designer Question. How do I make a vector outline of a whole project?

[alecksjaycubs]

Total new guy here. I have the attached turkey vector graphic. I'd like to outline the whole thing, not the individual elements, in white for printing. I was able to group the layers and then use the Outline layer effect. That got me the result but on export to eps the outline doesn't appear as a vector element and because of the group all of the other vector elements don't show either. Is there a better way to do this to have the outline be a vector element?

 

Edited November 19, 2022 by Patrick Connor
Copyright attachment removed

[Komatös]

Hi @alecksjaycubs

The easiest way is
- Duplicate the group
- select all objects of the lower group and unite them via the geometry symbol "Add".
- Now you can give the lower layer a white outline.

If you need a cutcontur, then have a look here

 

Edited November 19, 2022 by Komatös
Additional Information

[firstdefence]

@Komatös Video not playing?

Used the contour tool to make cut edge/outline.

Exported to eps.
shutterstock_223821256 with contour line.eps

[Komatös]

@firstdefence

It works for me.

[firstdefence]

9 minutes ago, Komatös said:

@firstdefence

It works for me.

I can see it now, must have been a browser glitch. 🤭

[alecksjaycubs]

THANKS SO MUCH! The Contour Tool worked great.

[skee]

On 11/19/2022 at 10:37 AM, firstdefence said:

@Komatös Video not playing?

Used the contour tool to make cut edge/outline.

Exported to eps.
shutterstock_223821256 with contour line.eps

Hi @firstdefence can you please describe how you did this step by step? I tried someting similar with the contour tool but I can't see the contour as a single curve/path.

[firstdefence]

1. Expand the Parent Layer, confusingly called a "Layer Layer" and scroll down to the bottom, select the last nested layer and delete it, this is the contour I made, so we are starting afresh. 
   
2. Scroll back to the top of the layer stack, select the Parent Layer and duplicate it, this preserves the original should mistakes be made, make sure you lock it. 
   
3. Working on the duplicate, expand it and select all of the child layers and use Boolean Add, if everything goes black just go to the colour tab and flip the colours from fill to stroke
   
4. From here you can use the Contour tool to pull out an edge, don't forget to Bake Appearance so that you can edit the curve and remove edits like the ones shown in the image below. 
   

Good luck.