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rhope333
Participating Frequently
October 2, 2020
Answered

Creating a compound path makes small shapes appear smaller

  • October 2, 2020
  • 3 replies
  • 2155 views

Long-time AI user, first-time poster here, ripping my hair out over a compound path issue! In the process of finalizing a logo design, I created a fairly complex compound path that's behaving strangely (see image below). The "white noise" shapes on the top version's banner — which were filled with white (no stroke) for simulation purposes — appear smaller in the bottom version, after the compound path was created. The dimensions of each small shape are identical to the top version, but they look as if they've shrunk, and that's not what I'm going for. I tried creating the compound path using "Exclude" in Pathfinder, then using the good ol' "Make Compound Path" command, and got the same results for both. I printed them out to confirm that it's not a display/monitor issue, and they print exactly as shown below. Is there something I'm missing? Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

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Correct answer Ton Frederiks

It is anti aliasing, opacity masks behave better than compound paths.

Take your example with the white filled noise.

Group the white filled noise.

Select both the noise and the background shape.

In the Transparency panel, click Make Mask and uncheck Clip and check Invert.

Open attached example PDF in Illustrator.

That did not work (thanks to the reliable forum software).

You can download the example here:

https://shared-assets.adobe.com/link/d3815c0d-69eb-4258-7268-12ee891ae8eb

 

3 replies

Ton Frederiks
Ton FrederiksCorrect answer
Adobe Expert
October 2, 2020

It is anti aliasing, opacity masks behave better than compound paths.

Take your example with the white filled noise.

Group the white filled noise.

Select both the noise and the background shape.

In the Transparency panel, click Make Mask and uncheck Clip and check Invert.

Open attached example PDF in Illustrator.

That did not work (thanks to the reliable forum software).

You can download the example here:

https://shared-assets.adobe.com/link/d3815c0d-69eb-4258-7268-12ee891ae8eb

 

    M
    Maureen25272535msy2
    New Participant
    December 16, 2022

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Hi! I was having the same issue with making a compound path as OP washaving, specifically with my star. I tried your opacity mask solution and it's not working for me. As you can see, I set the star's fill shape as white, selected the whole logo, made an opacity mask, and un-checked "clip" and checked "invert mask."

     

    But when I put the logo over the blue square to see if it worked, I have two issues. 1) The star still isn't acting like a compound path and 2) I have all this white noise around the black shapes that wasn't there before. I'm a total loss for how to resolve this.

     

    Any advice?

    Ton Frederiks
    Ton Frederiks
    Adobe Expert
    December 16, 2022

    That looks like it should work.

    Can you share the problem file (Dropbox, CC filesharing, Google, WeTransfer...) and I will have a look at it tomorrow.

    Jacob Bugge
    Jacob Bugge
    Adobe Expert
    October 2, 2020

    Robin,

     

    Are you sure the white noise shapes have no effect/whatever applied (which might act more or less like a (white) stroke?

     

    You can have a look at (one/some of) them in the Appearance palette (after selecting).

     

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      rhope333Author
      Participating Frequently
      October 2, 2020

      Hi, Jacob — nope, zero effects applied! I've been experimenting with adding a white stroke around the white noise items (and then outlining/expanding the strokes) prior to creating the compound shape. So far it's a bit messy and complicated, but *could* be a workaround — definitely far from perfect, though.

        R
        rhope333Author
        Participating Frequently
        October 2, 2020

        Update: I added a white stroke to all of the "white noise" shapes > outlined those strokes > merged the results in Pathfinder so that each shape was significantly larger than before > created the compound path. It's taking some experimentation, but this seems like it could be a decent workaround for now. Still an issue that needs explaining/solving, though!

          Monika Gause
          Monika Gause
          Adobe Expert
          October 2, 2020

          Anti-aliasing.

          Before: white objects were anti-aliased.

          After: colored objects are anti-aliased.

          My theory is that anti-aliasing happens to the outside of the object, thus making it appear larger.

           

          You could try and turn off smoothing in Preferences > General. Is there still a difference then?

           

          When you print it on a Postscript device, do you see any difference?

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            rhope333Author
            Participating Frequently
            October 2, 2020

            Thanks, Monika — interesting theory! I tried turning off "Anti-Aliasing" in the Preferences, if that's what meant by "smoothing" (see below). Still got the same results when I created the compound path (small shapes shrunk). 😕😕

             

            Sadly, I don't have a Postscript printer — just comparing them on my old b&w laserprinter, which is admittedly not ideal. Do you think the 2 versions might actually print the same on a PS printer? That would be great, but it still doesn't solve the issue for on-screen applications of the Logo.

            R
            rhope333Author
            Participating Frequently
            October 2, 2020

            To be clear, the blue box, "Anti-aliased Artwork" is what I deselected before making the compound paths again:

             

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