Hi,

Real newbie question I think.

I have an object (see image below) which I would like to change. I have created some large sweeping arcs (using the ellipse tool) that go through my logo. I would like to make my logo square, in effect, clipping these arcs off but leaving their effect (i.e. white lines) in place. How do I achieve this in Illustrator? Any ideas?

Gav

Click to Enlarge

You can use pathfinder.
In your case you have two eliptical bands created by four elipses.
First do the first band as follows:
a)Select the outer elipse and substract the inner elipse.
b)Now select the resulting shape (band) intersect it the final shape of the logo.
c) fill with white and place above logo.

you are done:
To turn on pathfinder pallete go to Window/Pathfinder.

I found the previous reply - a little confusing (but that might just be me).

It's easier to deal with each elipse one at a time...

Step 1:
Select both the black square shape, and the first elipse shape.

Step 2:
Go to 'pathfinder' and select the 'subtract from shape area' icon. (I also prefer to hit the 'expand' button - which just leaves you with the basic shape.

Step 3:
Repeat first 2 steps (above) with second elipse.

Hope this helps.