These are the various shapes I will be using for this demonstration. First I'll show you the problem with using the Union command, then it's how to use FreeHand MX's new Multiple Attributes feature to get passed this problem.

After doing the Union command on these shapes, you will see in Keyline view that they are no longer live primitive shapes. You can't adjust their position, size or shape. You would have to remember how you created this shape if you had to make any adjustments later.

First select all of the objects that you want to make look like they are one path. Then remove the Stroke. There are many ways to do this in FreeHand MX now. One way is to select the Stroke in the Object Properties panel and click on the Trash can icon to remove the stroke.

Then while the objects are still selected, Group them together.

While the group is selected, hit the Add Stroke icon in the Properties panel. This will apply a new Stroke to the entire outline of the grouped objects.

Now as you can see in the animation above at right, even though it looks like it's a destroyed path, all of those objects are still live Primitives that you can edit to your needs as seen above-right.

To make it transparent, just double-click on the "Contents" in the Properties panel. This will select all of the objects in that group, and show you the fill/stroke properties if they are the same.

To remove the fill, just hit the Trash icon again. Now you can see through it!

To fill all of the shapes as if they were one piece, just click on the Group, and hit the Add Fill button in the Property inspector panel. This applies a fill to the exact shape of the interior of the grouped objects like shown above.

To make this group of objects act like a clipping path, it's just about as easy. First, move the objects you wish to clip off to the side of the page in the paste board area. Then move the group over the top of them in the position you wish to make the clipping. Again, hit the Add Fill icon to add a new fill to the group. Then set the fill type as Lens fill, with the Magnify option at 1x the size.

Lastly, hit the Centerpoint option. This will make a virtual link to the position of where everything is...

... so when you move the group around, anything that was under the lens fill will move with it. If you update the original objects that are sitting off on the paste board, this lens fill will automatically update to reflect those changes.

One warning though, this method is NOT recommended to use with lots of effects or if you are using Spot colors.