why can't I make a chain mail pattern with fx in either AP or AD?

[kat]

I've been trying to make a chain mail pattern with selection, layer pattern and bitmap fill using transform math.

FX cuts off and circle quarters don't align. I set a style for 1 circle image. Can't make a style using more then 1 circle.

Also moving image groups is really slow. What am I doing wrong?chain mail best.afdesign

[NotMyFault]

Because the rectangle called „chain …“ is clipping the child layers.

a gave this layer a red fill helping to spot the issue.

[Alfred]

The alignment problem arises from the object positions not all being multiples of 250 px. The top left group (incorrectly labelled ‘top rt’) is offset by 5.9 px in the X direction and 7.9 px in the Y direction.

Within each layer there are several ellipses and a group containing a single ellipse. It isn’t obvious to me what function the group is intended to serve.

Last but by no means least, I would use doughnuts instead of ellipses. The current pattern of overlapping discs looks more like pangolin scales than chain mail.

[NotMyFault]

Attached find the results of my effort to repair your file.

• Use a grid of 250 px
• set snapping to grid only, deactivate all other
• align all shapes correctly to grid
• in the symbol add another copy of ellipse and put it on top, so the shadow cut off at bottom is added on top
• keep more distance between artboards,
• use view modes like outline for alignment and pixel for checking result
• keep number of artboards low. Two should be enough. One to build the symbol. A second to use symbol in 4 or 9 instances and check if pattern is perfect on all edges.

it works out nicely

chain mail best nmf.afpub

[kat]

5 hours ago, NotMyFault said:

Your file is beautiful @NotMyFault. 

You didn't need Steps below?

Steps:

• add a levels adjustment
• select the alpha channel
• set the white level to 75% (depending on blend gamma of the pattern layers, you may need to use 50% in case of blend gamma 1.0)?

--------------------------

1. Did you use addition circles outside to keep the FX? Or did you add addition circles outside the square symbol area to keep the FX?
2. Why did you add 2 levels below the circles in artboard 1?
3. Anyway to make a style out of the symbol?

Grid snapping info is great. Thank you

• in the symbol add another copy of ellipse and put it on top, so the shadow cut off at bottom is added on top

1. "in the symbol add another copy of ellipse on top"  Clarification please?

 

 

[NotMyFault]

17 minutes ago, kat said:

You didn't need Steps below?

Steps:

• add a levels adjustment
• select the alpha channel
• set the white level to 75% (depending on blend gamma of the pattern layers, you may need to use 50% in case of blend gamma 1.0)?

Not in this simple case. Those steps are not required in simple cases where all edge lines are rectangles, parallel to x/y axis, and carefully aligned to pixel positions.

Those steps are useful if the shape of the tile is a curve, rotated, not pixel aligned, or you need to fix a pixel layer which is already "damaged" by the lines.

[NotMyFault]

18 minutes ago, kat said:

Did you use addition circles outside to keep the FX? Or did you add addition circles outside the square symbol area to keep the FX?

There are no "additional" circles outside. 

The basic tile in Artboard 1 is a rectangle with multiple copies of the ellipse shape.

Those line outside are shown in view mode x-ray or outline. This helps to check the correct placement and those ellipse shapes are perfectly aligned to the grid.

Otherwise , in view mode pixel the rectangle clips the ellipses, and gives the preview similar to what an exporting from the document to will look.

 

[NotMyFault]

23 minutes ago, kat said:

Why did you add 2 levels below the circles in artboard 1?

I forgot to remove them, there are not needed. If you activate one of them and put them above an ellipse with layer FX for the shadow, this adjustment will show how far the shadow will reach in reality - much farer than you can see by eye only. The curves use the same trick mentioned earlier. It modifies the alpha value and makes semitransparent areas more opaque. I needed 2 of them to get the full effect, one is too weak.

[NotMyFault]

26 minutes ago, kat said:

Anyway to make a style out of the symbol?

Depends what you expect or want to achieve.

The easiest option would be to rasterize one of the instances from the symbol. Then you can use the pixel layer as bitmap fill, and create a style from it.

 

[NotMyFault]

34 minutes ago, kat said:

• in the symbol add another copy of ellipse and put it on top, so the shadow cut off at bottom is added on top

1. "in the symbol add another copy of ellipse on top"  Clarification please?

 

In my screenshot you see Artboard 1 on the left. A layer is selected, it has a blue bounding box. This is the copy of the eclipse shape I added. Look in the layers panel.

Just deactivate it to see how the rendering will change - it is the missing piece from the layer fx. Only this tiny bit will be visible inside the rectangle. most of the ellipse will be clipped and invisible.