Edit outside pieces of a cog?

[Quarter]

Hey all! I'm making a bicycle currently. 

 

To do the spokes on the wheels, I'm using 4-tooth cogs with no fill to create a wire frame. I'm using 8 cogs total, not that this really applies to the question just explaining...

 

Anywho, I'm trying to do a subtract operation of JUST the wire frame (so once it's all said and done I have a logo with a bicycle cut out of it), but it's also cutting out the non-filled inside sections of the cog teeth, which I am not wanting it to do. Is there a way around this?

 

BTW, I planned on PM'ing someone but I figured this was something simple that every beginner should know, so I decided to make it a post. 

 

Thanks in advance! 

 

:)

[MattP]

Hi Quarter,

 

Is there any chance you could either share the .afdesign file with us, or even just post a screenshot? It's just so much easier to help if there's a concrete example :)

 

Thanks,

Matt

[MEB]

Hi Quarter,

 

Since you used a "smart" shape to do the spokes, you have to convert it to a regular shape first (since you will need to edit its nodes). To do this select it and go to Layer -> Convert to Curves. Then select the Node tool and delete the nodes corresponding to the non-filled inside sections of the cog teeth. You will end up with just the external wireframe you want.

 

I recommend you to duplicate the cogs's layers first (or duplicate the entire document to create the logo separately), to keep a parameterizable version of those shapes (if you need to change them later) and because I may also have misunderstood your post... (i agree with Matt - an image would have helped a little!)