Lining pieces of shapes up & making a background for specific shape.

[ashlenn]

I'm working on this overall shape and have 2 issues. 

1. How can I get the different parts (ie: the different shades at the bottom of the ball) to line up together perfectly so they're smooth and even? I'm guessing there's another magic button I'm missing (like the erase blend mode someone just told me about).

2. Is there a simple way to get an outline of the entire outside of the shape so that I can put a white background behind the cross and the ball? I just want the background behind the cross/ball, not the wording to the right of this (ie: not behind the whole piece). When I've tried to trace the shapes manually it comes out all wonky so I didn't know if there was an easier way.

Edited August 18, 2020 by ashlenn
Clarification.

[GarryP]

For the first part, it would depend on how the contents of you document are organised but, from what I can see and if I understand your requirements properly, I think you might need to do any adjustments manually. You could use a Blend Option but that would affect the whole of the layer and may make the overall image worse in this case, possibly.
My recommendation would be to see if you could put the darker-shaded shapes inside the lighter-shaded shapes, clipping the darker shades inside the lighter shades (see attached image).
For the second part, you can put a white background behind the cross and ball without doing anything else so I don't understand why you are asking about an outline. Can you give more details about what you want to do?

[Pšenda]

1 hour ago, GarryP said:

I don't understand why you are asking about an outline. Can you give more details about what you want to do?

Maybe this is meant, so placing the image on any background will preserve the white color only of the cross and ball.

[GarryP]

Quite possibly, and I think you could be right, but they weren’t specific, and they asked for “an outline of the entire outside shape” which is a little confusing, which is why I asked for clarification.

[ashlenn]

9 hours ago, GarryP said:

For the first part, it would depend on how the contents of you document are organised but, from what I can see and if I understand your requirements properly, I think you might need to do any adjustments manually. You could use a Blend Option but that would affect the whole of the layer and may make the overall image worse in this case, possibly.
My recommendation would be to see if you could put the darker-shaded shapes inside the lighter-shaded shapes, clipping the darker shades inside the lighter shades (see attached image).
For the second part, you can put a white background behind the cross and ball without doing anything else so I don't understand why you are asking about an outline. Can you give more details about what you want to do?

 

Thanks! That's basically what I wanted to do and hadn't quite figured out the nesting. I'll give that a go. I've probably got them nested backwards. 

The other person basically said what I wanted - I said "outline" because I figured if I could make an overall single shape outline I could fill it white and pop it behind the other shapes. I'm positive there are better ways to get my point across an I apologize that I"m not using the most effective wording. 

[ashlenn]

8 hours ago, Pšenda said:

Maybe this is meant, so placing the image on any background will preserve the white color only of the cross and ball.

This is EXACTLY what I'm looking for. When I try to manually create the white shape it never quite lines up with the overall shape so I was trying to find out if there's an easier way to accomplish it. If not, totally fine. 

 

[Alfred]

44 minutes ago, ashlenn said:

This is EXACTLY what I'm looking for. When I try to manually create the white shape it never quite lines up with the overall shape so I was trying to find out if there's an easier way to accomplish it. If not, totally fine.

Don’t try to create it manually! Make copies of the existing shapes, add them together and change the colour to white.

[ashlenn]

36 minutes ago, Alfred said:

Don’t try to create it manually! Make copies of the existing shapes, add them together and change the colour to white.

This feels like a stupid question but how do I add them together?

[Alfred]

27 minutes ago, ashlenn said:

This feels like a stupid question but how do I add them together?

Not a stupid question at all! Remiss of me to have neglected to elaborate.

To Boolean add vector shapes, select them (either on the canvas or via the Layers panel) and then click on the ‘Add’ button in the Geometry section of the toolbar.

[ashlenn]

31 minutes ago, Alfred said:

Not a stupid question at all! Remiss of me to have neglected to elaborate.

To Boolean add vector shapes, select them (either on the canvas or via the Layers panel) and then click on the ‘Add’ button in the Geometry section of the toolbar.

Thank you so much. Dealing with paths/shapes/etc. is new to me and I feel like I jumped in the deep end. Thanks again!!