Shape transparency

[Cyberdom]

While drawing a motorcycle rear sprocket can't get the inner holes to be "transparent"(had to fill with white background).  This is usually an easy task with square and round shapes but could not figure it out from this more complex sketch imported from a CAD software.  Affinity also lacks from a DXF or DWG import filter. 

Sprocket.afdesign

[PixelPest]

Open "Group" and select everything inside (11 white parts + 1 black) and do -> Boolean Subtract; everything looks black now-

Go->Layer->Fill Mode->Alternate (Even-odd) - there you have it:

         

[R C-R]

15 hours ago, PixelPest said:

Open "Group" and select everything inside (11 white parts + 1 black) and do -> Boolean Subtract; everything looks black now-

Go->Layer->Fill Mode->Alternate (Even-odd) - there you have it:

Alternately, to avoid everything looking black select all the layers in the group, change their fill mode to Alternate first, & then do the subtract. (Some may find this a bit less disconcerting.)

You can also hold down the alt key when you do the subtract to create a "(Compound)" object, which allows future access to the individual curves. Sprocket compound.afdesign includes the History so you can see the steps.

[PixelPest]

When you hold alt key down during Boolean Subtract there´s no need to change the fill rule at all - and I´m pretty sure the OP was about 1 compound path (Curves in AD) though. And if one´s so smart to avoid the black result he could alternatively reverse the curve of the outer shape - but he needs to know which ones turns left and which one´s the clockwise lactic acid. 

Cheers

[R C-R]

31 minutes ago, PixelPest said:

When you hold alt key down during Boolean Subtract there´s no need to change the fill rule at all - and I´m pretty sure the OP was about 1 compound path (Curves in AD) though.

You are right about no need to change the fill rule with an alt key subtract, but I am not sure what you mean about 1 compound path being a "(Curves)" object in AD, if that is what you meant. "(Curves)" & "(Compound)" objects are two different things in Affinity.

[PixelPest]

Compounds seems Serif own interpretation/label. While in all vector apps I know of a compound path is a bunch of paths-in-1-shape (geometry->Merge in AD) or whatever you may call it - Compounds in AD are a selection of shapes mangled by Boolean operations (in a non-destructive way). I can of course pick parts of a compound path (Curves labeled in AD) and edit it any further.

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, PixelPest said:

Compounds in AD are a selection of shapes mangled by Boolean operations (in a non-destructive way). I can of course pick parts of a compound path (Curves labeled in AD) and edit it any further.

I am still a bit unclear about what you mean about a "(Compound)" layer being labeled as a "(Curves)" layer, if that is what you are saying.

A "(Compound)" layer is a special type of container layer, similar to a "(Group)" layer, except that its child layers can be accessed directly & their boolean contribution to their compound parent can be changed individually.

[PixelPest]

Seems I´m in the need of an R C-R translation service - but I´m getting tired:

I wrote Combound Path is labeled as Curves in AD not Compounds:

All I´m saying is Compound Paths are labeled Curves in AD like in no other vector app I know of.

[R C-R]

21 hours ago, PixelPest said:

All I´m saying is Compound Paths are labeled Curves in AD like in no other vector app I know of.

I am saying the individual layers in a compound layer object may or may not be "(Curve)" layers, depending on what type of object they are. They may be assigned custom names (like "path856") or not, but they always have a "(Compound)" label. They are particularly useful because of all the non-destructive operations that can be applied to their layers:

Compound examples.afdesign

EDIT: I am slightly disappointed that nobody has commented on the names I assigned to the compounds & their child layers. 

Edited September 11, 2019 by R C-R

[Cyberdom]

Thank you !

[Alfred]

18 hours ago, R C-R said:

EDIT: I am slightly disappointed that nobody has commented on the names I assigned to the compounds & their child layers. 

You could have lessened the scope for disappointment by including a screenshot of the Layers panel so that we wouldn’t have to download and open the file in order to see those names.

Edit: I am slightly disappointed (how’s that for originality?) that the Sting one didn’t involve an ‘Add’ operation.

[Dazzler]

On 9/10/2019 at 1:18 PM, R C-R said:

You can also hold down the alt key when you do the subtract to create a "(Compound)" object, which allows future access to the individual curves. Sprocket compound.afdesign includes the History so you can see the steps.

Oooh didn't know about that ... that's kind of neat. I like the way you can adjust the modes (add, subtract, intersect etc), for each internal layer too.

I'm now wondering if you can 'flatten' a compound object back out to a non-compound shape - ie. the result as a single vector layer.

EDIT: Yes it's right there in the context menu - convert to curves! Nice!

Edited September 11, 2019 by Dazzler

[Alfred]

5 minutes ago, Dazzler said:

I'm now wondering if you can 'flatten' a compound object back out to a non-compound shape - ie. the result as a single vector layer.

Convert to curves.