How to Divide a Circle Evenly in Adobe Illustrator

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Last Updated: May 4, 2023

The pie chart is a staple in all business presentations. If you'd like to create a chart and divide it into individual pieces, follow the step-by-step instructions below. This will teach you how to use the divide command in Adobe Illustrator CS5.

Steps

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Go to File > New or Ctrl + N and set the size of the document to a vertical letter-sized canvas. You can add guides by creating a rectangle using the rectangle tool (W:8.5in, H:11in). Then drag the guides onto each center of the bounding box. Finish by right clicking over your ruler to change your document measurements to pixels.
Set the circle’s measurements to 500 x 500 pixels.

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To make the line straight hold down the shift tool on your keyboard.
You can rotate the line by selecting line > right click > transform > rotate. Once you've done that, you can set the angle to 25 and click copy.
This will produce an array of lines on top of the circle.
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Now go to window > pathfinder for your pathfinders window. Select all the objects (or you can simply choose Ctrl + A), and then click “Divide” on your pathfinders window.
- Automatically the circle will be divided by 14 individual triangles all grouped together. At this point you can click and collapse to delete unnecessary extra shapes.
This needs to be done before you can add color. To ungroup, select the group > right click > ungroup.
Add color by following these combinations: Red: C=0.08, M=99.65, Y=97.42, K=0.19 ; Orange: C=0,M=40.09, Y=95.65, K=0 ; Yellow: C=4.69, M=0, Y=88.69, K=0 ; Green: C=74.6, M=0, Y=99.46, K=0 ; Blue: C=78.34, M=30.95, Y=0, K=0 ; Indigo: C=85.27, M=99.91, Y=3.03, K=0.5 ; Violet: C=60.31, M=99.58, Y=1.62, K=0.44
Do this by selecting all or Ctrl + A > right click > group.
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After grouping the triangles all together, take out their black stroke for a cleaner finish on your artwork.
- You now have a circle divided into smaller individual triangles.