Help with Moulds Please

[lcbarker]

I am new to moulds. I worked through Gary Priester's October 2001 on the flag and was encouraged. Then I found Tony Roberts suite of moulds and his 2002 Guest Tutorial (#12) Mould Mania. As I followed his instructions (I think) I ended up with an error message which I can't seem to avoid. I obviously misunderstand something. Here's what I did:

1 Created a 300 x 200 rectangle.
2 Applied a default mould to it.
3 With shape editor clicked on top left corner, clicked on top handle on left side and moved it (gathered it?) up to top left corner. Repeated step with other bottom left side handle and gathered it to bottom left corner.
4 Repeated step 3 with right side.
5 Still with shape editor clicked on top left corner, clicked on left handle on top side and dragged it down 150. Clicked on right handle on top side and dragged it up 150.
6 Repeated step 5 with bottom.
7 Moved mould (status line calls it a mould) out of the way.
8 Created banner 400 x 50.
9 Moved mould over banner and sized to fit over banner.
10 Cut mould. Selected banner. Selected mould tool. Selected paste envelope.
11 Received error message - "This shape is not suitable for use as an envelope mould. Envelope moulds must have four sides."

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Les

[gwpriester]

That's a lot of steps, Les!

I have seen that error message before but I cannot remember what causes it.

Look up Envelopes or Mold Tool in the Help file. I think you will find a suggestion or explanation there.

If not let us know and we'll probe deeper.

Gary

[lcbarker]

Thanks for the reply Gary.

Yes, there were a lot of steps. I was trying to follow the steps which Tony Roberts had in his tutorial.

I tried a much simpler procedure - draw a rectangle, apply default mould, adjust 1 side, copy to clipboard, draw a second rectangle, select it with mould tool, click on paste envelope button, and still get the same error message. I also tried it with converting the second rectangle to editable shapes, and still received the same error message.

I did not see anything in the helpfile addressing such an error. The helpfile and the tutorial both say you should be able to copy a mould you've created and paste it to a new object. But something isn't working.

Les

[lcbarker]

Just tried something else. Instead of copy or cut (ctrl-c or ctrl-x) I clicked on the copy mould shape button and it worked fine. Now that I re-read Tony's instructions he does say to "click the copy icon on the infobar". I guess the copy button acts differently that the copy keystrokes. Not sure why. But it looks like I've learned another thing.

Thanks so much.

Les

[gwpriester]

Glad it worked out.