Anti-aliasing in divided objects

[marteidu]

Hello everyone,

I have a question about anti-aliasing. I've already looked through the forums, but none of the suggestions helped me achieve the desired result. 

I came up with an illustration for a logo design by using three shapes with different blending modes. However, I would like to simplify and prepare the illustration for export, so I copied it, divided the shapes and gave them the colours that the blending mode gave me in the first version, and changed the blending mode to normal. The anti-aliasing is creating undesired gaps between the shapes. I've seen a couple of suggestions to create an underlying object or give objects an outline in order to avoid this, however for logo designs it's important to keep things as simple and neat as possible.

Is there any other way to achieve the result I have on the left without adding extra shapes or outlines to the design? Am I approaching the problem incorrectly?

I attached a Designer file and a picture. The illustration on the left is 3 shapes with the average blending mode, the one on the right is 6 separate shapes with a normal blending mode.

1.afdesign

[GarryP]

In this particular instance – not a general-purpose fix – you can try changing the Coverage Map of the two ‘inside’ shapes as can be seen in my attached image (you may need to tweak it to get it just right).
There may be other/better methods which other people might like to post.

[marteidu]

Thank you for your reply, Garry. It seems that this method still does not produce a result as smooth as the one on the left, however it does reduce the gaps.

[marteidu]

I spent some time online learning about anti-aliasing. Experienced users probably know this, but I'll post what I found here for anyone else who runs into this same issue. 

Anti-aliasing is a feature that most design apps have, it reduces the jagged edges of objects by creating additional, semi-transparent lines around objects, making them look smoother. The jagged edges are there in the first place due to the fact that pixels are squares and we're creating round shapes or diagonal lines. Some apps do anti-aliasing better than others, but the visible lines between divided objects are generally expected in any app when working at a lower resolution (or zoomed out). 

When you zoom closer to the objects that are divided/split, you will see that the gaps between them do not get bigger. That's because you're seeing the object at higher resolution.

Three ways to get rid of the gaps between shapes:

1. Export your design at higher resolution. 

2. Create same-colour objects under your shapes, move them to cover the gaps.

3. Create a thin stroke/outline on the objects, thus removing the gaps.

Reducing the blend gamma (cogwheel icon next to blending modes) also reduces the gaps.

 

If you want to export a vector file for someone else to use, I would suggest to do it without these workarounds, so that the simplest, most basic form is presented to the other designer, who will in turn be able to use one of these methods when exporting.