Removing thick lines and/or slicing underlying shapes into new curves

[deergod]

I have designed myself into a corner that I can't figure out how to escape. I made a candle shape with thick lines that overlap in such a way that they obscure underlying shapes. It looks great with a white background, but I actually want the white lines to be transparent in the final export. I have tried expand stroke, but that just separates the white lines from the underlying shapes and using those as "cookie cutters" still doesn't yield what I want. Conceptually, a "flatten all to new curve" would do what I want (assuming I could specify to ignore white). I tried some fx masking, but still couldn't get there. Any thoughts on how to leave only the visible blue shapes in a new object?

[Komatös]

Hello @deergod

In Windows, I would select all layers with the blue objects and in the export settings, in the Area option, select Selection only. So it may be different on iPad or Mac.

[NotMyFault]

It could be more complicated as the white curves actually covers some parts of underlying blue curves. Exporting blue only could expose unwanted areas.

Assuming you want to keep everything as vector (so blend  mode erase is not an option)

1. sort the curve layers from top to bottom (currently candle is bottom)
2. Use Layer>Geometry>Subtract to remove white curves from blue one. May need an iterative approach from bottom to top (and add blue curves step by step, too)

[deergod]

@Komatös That still exports the white borders, which need to be transparent.

@NotMyFault I did try your process, but kept getting lost in my stack. I would want it to remain vector, but it doesn't have to remain separate shapes.

How would I do the Blend/Erase?

[NotMyFault]

1. Select all white shapes
2. select blend mode erase in layers panel (instead of normal)

Never the less, it was faster for me to create the candle from scratch.

See attached file, saved with history so you can undo/replay.

candle.afdesign

Edited August 30, 2021 by NotMyFault

[deergod]

I was just thinking that. With these primitive shapes, I might as well just redraw them. They are part of a larger design where I still kind of need a technique for blending out the white as transparent. I'll try that layer blend. Thank you!!