MichaelDaens Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 I am trying to draw a wing as part of a logo image. I used the power copy (cmd J) feature to rotate and size a particular shape to make the wing. That being said I need the space between each shape (i.e. the stroke) to be transparent so the background will be visible and the shapes crisp and clean with fine edges. The best way I can think of to do this is to expand the stroke of each shape in the layer and set it's blend mode to "erase" and then make it all into a group. There's just one problem (apart from the whole process being a pain), when I do this there is a fine white hairline just outside the edge of where the stroke was (see image below). That being said I am at a loss to figure out how to get this image to look right. Any suggestions for a simple way to do this? I do designs like this frequently so it would be nice to find a simple solution. I should note I have played around with stroke options and creating a new group of just the stroke with no fill, as well as breaking up the shapes using the combination buttons but nothing is working out the way I need it to. Wings.afdesign Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fixx Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 If you use erase blend you lose vector output. (Which means you can easily erase white lines in AP...:-P I just yesterday created a symbol design where I needed black shapes separated with transparent lines, and I did it combining circle shapes and freehand curves... was NOT perfect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelDaens Posted October 3, 2017 Author Share Posted October 3, 2017 I thought about doing freehand but it's hard to get this design to look good without some consistency. I also noticed that when I changed the background and stroke to black (without a blend mode) the same faint white line appears around the edge of the stroke, which seems strange to me as it is purely a vector image at that point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyJack Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 58 minutes ago, MichaelDaens said: I thought about doing freehand but it's hard to get this design to look good without some consistency. I also noticed that when I changed the background and stroke to black (without a blend mode) the same faint white line appears around the edge of the stroke, which seems strange to me as it is purely a vector image at that point. The white line is from having your stroke(s) aligned to the inside. The white fill color is bleeding out past the edge. It's an ongoing (and known) issue with AD/AP. Try a stroke aligned to the center (you will most likely need to bump up the Mitre value to get a nice point on the acute angles). As far as the erase bits go... you can use boolean subtract to remove those areas physically. But that's even more work. If you stay with the erase blend method, you don't need to expand stroke first. Which will at least keep them more easily editable as single vectors while working... albeit not on export. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gdenby Posted October 4, 2017 Share Posted October 4, 2017 This was an interesting question, and I worked on it today. Turned out to be fairly complex. Essentially, the strokes do need to be expanded, and the results used to subtract from the original form(s). I'll try to post tomorrow about what I learned, but I'm trying to remodel a house for sale, and that's taking lots of time. Quote iMac 27" Retina, c. 2015: OS X 10.11.5: 3.3 GHz I c-5: 32 Gb, AMD Radeon R9 M290 2048 Mb iPad 12.9" Retina, iOS 10, 512 Gb, Apple pencil Huion WH1409 tablet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gdenby Posted October 4, 2017 Share Posted October 4, 2017 My 1st inclination to solve the problem was to expand the objects' strokes, and subtract them from the back ground. This proved to be difficult, as the power duplicate stack created a huge number of fragmentary curves, and an immense number of nodes. Hung my machine twice trying to re-unify the results. Tried a few different things, and along the way, "got a clue" as the phrase goes. I realized that the duplicate stack could all be added together, producing a single outer stroke. In the same manner, ever smaller portions could be added, each of which would mostly sit within the previous addition. I couldn't come up w. as nice a set as MichaelDaens did, but I'll offer my approximation. Method: Make duplicate stack, with a shape that has no fill & a stroke of reasonable width, butt end, mitre join, mitre size sufficient to produce a sharp join. Select the stack, and copy it so there is 1 copy for each original layer. Set the original to the side. Delete succesive layers in each stack copy. In my example, there are stacks 7 down to 1. Add each stack. The interior lines will be turned to fill, the outer lines converted into a continuous outline. Rebuild the original by stacking the added shapes onto the original. Hide the original. Select all, and expand the strokes. With everything still selected, use the fill tool to set stroke to none, and fill to solid. Add the shapes. The joined forms can then be subtracted from a background. Alternatively, they may divided into the background, and the resulting pieces colored separately. NOTE: If the added shape is to complex/finely detailed, division may end up creating excessive numbers of "shavings." Quote iMac 27" Retina, c. 2015: OS X 10.11.5: 3.3 GHz I c-5: 32 Gb, AMD Radeon R9 M290 2048 Mb iPad 12.9" Retina, iOS 10, 512 Gb, Apple pencil Huion WH1409 tablet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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