Placing one shape into another to enforce/create new border?

[Gemini80]

Hi all - I have been posting quite a bit today - am still a beginner so I really appreciate the help and patience on this forum!

 

I know how to place one shape into another but for some peculiar reason I am stumbling around and unable to place one shape into another so that it sits inside the other shape and does not poke through or get absorbed by the other shape, etc.

 

In the attached image you can see the colorful beams atop the sun - I would like the frame around the sun to cut off the rays poking through - however, in the 2nd & 3rd image you can see what keeps happening! I swear I spent an hour with this and could not figure it out. All tips very welcome!!

[GarryP]

Which ‘frame’ around the sun?

I can see three rectangles which I could call a ‘frame’ and the technique may vary depending on which rectangles you want to see the rays in, or not.

Can you annotate the image showing us which frame you want the rays to reach to the inner edges of but go no further, and tell us how you have constructed that frame and the frames 'within' it?

Also, we may need the document itself to see how the layers are arranged, if you are okay with sharing it publicly.

[h_d]

Do you mean like this:

 

 

(I did this very roughly with the Inpainting Brush Tool in Photo - it's by no means a perfect job.)

If you want to do it by hiding/masking different layers, then it's impossible to say without knowing how you have constructed/grouped/layered the original.

[NotMyFault]

In principle very simple:

1. create a new rectangle shape (no fill, no stroke) above the layers making the beams. Size: match inner edge of frame around sun
2. nest the beam layers to rectangle (mark all beam layers in layer stack, and drag-move them over the text label of the rectangle)

This will restrict the beam visibility to the parent layer.

[user_0815]

Perhaps because that rectangle is a path but not a shape? Placing the rays inside a path would be what we see in the second image. 
for ease of use I‘d use a separate rectangle shape as a mask for the rays (group them). Let it snap to the rectangle where you want it to cut off. IMHO that’s an easy and precise way.