A

Anonymous

Question

Trouble when creating a compound path of a complex illustration

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
October 11, 2019
6 replies
1043 views

I'm having trouble when converting a complex black and white illustration to a compound path (I want it to be transparent where the white dots are). It not only looks much darker (even though both illustrations have the exact same path sizes) it also prints terribly.

Can you help me?

Detail (before and after the compound path)

:

I've updated this question with the file itself. Both versions of the illustration are there:

CompoundPath.pdf

This topic has been closed for replies.

Ton Frederiks

Community Expert

Good to hear that helped.

I think the difference may have something to do with displaying the result on lower resolution devices. When you zoom in , the compound path version and the opacity mask version look the same.

Ton Frederiks

Community Expert

I think you are better off with an Opacity mask to make the white dots transparent.

See this file where I used white to Select > Same > Fill color, grouped the selection and made it in the Transparancy panel into a Mask:

https://adobe.ly/2Bc7okI

A

Anonymous

I think this is it! It prints great and looks perfect on screen. Thank you so much Tron! This was a real headache. Cheers!

Ton Frederiks

Community Expert

I don't think you can attach a pdf or ai fil in this forum, but you can share it using the CC files folder or othe sharing apps (google, dropbox etc.).

A

Anonymous

it's already done! can't you see (at the bottom of the main post)? Here's the link anyway: https://www.dropbox.com/s/1rdwkfg1dzrub7p/CompoundPath.pdf?dl=0

Ton Frederiks

Community Expert

Sorry I missed that, I'll certainly have a look later.

Ton Frederiks

Community Expert

Can you share an example file?

A

Anonymous

Hi Ton, thanks for answering. I've updated the question with the file itself. I had an error trying to attach the .ai, but saved in an editable pdf.

Monika Gause

Community Expert

Is the printer PostScript enabled? Is it a compound path or a compound shape (they are different)? Sometimes it just makes a difference on screen and not in print, but only on a PostScript enabled printer.

A

Anonymous

Hi Monika! I believe this is a compound shape. Unfortunately the difference is both on screen and print. And because this is part of a logo it needs to work in both digital and print. I'm considering I will only be able use it transparent in a png or tiff, by "punching the holes" in photoshop with the magic wand. So far, doing it with the vectors only looks good if I maintain both shapes separated (with no compound shape), each filled with its respective color, black and white.

P.S.: I added new images to the initial post for more detail.

Monika Gause

Community Expert

If this is part of a logo you should reconsider the logo concept. It's far too detailed.

tromboniator

Community Expert

Difficult to say without seeing at least what's in the Layers panel, but my guess would be that you have a stroke applied to the white dots, which disappears when the paths become part of the compound, so that the holes consist only of the area encompassed by the paths themselves.

Peter

A

Anonymous

Hi Peter, thanks for answering. I know what you're talking about, but the shapes don't have any strokes applied. They're just shapes with colour inside (one black and the other one white).

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