Stop a patch from hiding BOTH strokes AND vector shapes

[CodyBDrawin']

I'll start by mentioning that patches were a game-changer for me when I first found out they were a thing and got a sense of how they worked, and for a while, they've served me flawlessly. However, when designing a few characters (with a bit more detail in patched sectors) lately, I've run into issues with them.

For example, the following two images are close-ups of the arms of a soldier character I'm designing, first without and then with a patch applied at the joint between the upper arm and forearm.

Here's without a patch; the stroke of the forearm is visible and so is all of the camouflage pattern on the arms.



But then with the patch, the stroke and the camouflage disappear, leaving a large circle that awkwardly breaks up the camo pattern.



I was under the impression that patches only hid the strokes of anything above the target layer and beneath the patch itself, not any vector shapes as well. Is there any workaround to this, with the patches themselves, with the layers, or with some other fix that provides a patch-like effect? I still want that effect of hiding the strokes so it looks like it's all one shape, but I don't want that massive circle that erases all of the camo shapes.

[Greenlaw]

I did a quick test here and it seems to work for me...



This might be one of those 'looks wrong in the workspace but looks fine in final render' things. Here's a GIF render of the two layers animated with the patch layer...



Hope this helps.

[Greenlaw]

Oh, wait...you know what? I just realized the patch layer is hidden in the above example so I'm not even using it. This is simply a masking trick with Exclude Strokes enabled. I guess you might try that instead of using a patch layer?

Sorry, I was in a hurry this morning and didn't check my work carefully. I'll take another look at the patch layer situation tonight.

[synthsin75]

Seems to work fine here.
I might need to see a file to see what you're doing that might be off.

[CodyBDrawin']

Seems to work fine here.
I might need to see a file to see what you're doing that might be off.

Sure thing. Here's a Drive link (which I hope works; let me know if it or the file don't work correctly): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Y9qmNU ... sp=sharing

Also, to save you the trouble of trying to go through the layers and folders (I'm not especially organized, just enough for me to know where everything is and what I'm doing), the "left arm camo" group is where the issue is being had (or at least where I'm concentrating on fixing it, because this happens with the other patches over areas with the camouflage pattern).

[synthsin75]

Try it like this:


You'll need to render to see the actual results, and you might need to make the patch a bit bigger, if any outline still shows.

[CodyBDrawin']

Thanks, that actually wound up working for the arm, though it sort of gave way to a bigger (but similar) problem: trying to patch the arm over the shirt without wiping out the camouflage patterns of both the arm and the shirt has proven impossible so far. I'm really inexperienced with patching, especially with something this complex. I'm trying to get this to where the camouflage pattern on his shirt, as well as the shirt pocket, buttons, collar of his shirt, and so on are beneath the arm whenever it moves in front of that stuff, but the patch keeps masking/covering all of that stuff. I dunno if it's a limitation of Moho or just how I have this stuff set up.




My layer order (of the relevant layers):

[synthsin75]

If you post a file with all the camo, I should be able to show you how to fix it.

[CodyBDrawin']

Sure thing (thank you for your continued assistance, by the way): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VvK9vo ... share_link

I haven't added the camo pattern to his legs yet, just because I'm trying to stay focused on one area at a time. I don't anticipated running into trouble with the legs, but for both this guy and another two characters made in a similar method, the camo patterns with the torso just aren't cooperating with the way I've got this layered, and I don't know where the problem lies.

[synthsin75]

First, this is an issue with the group layers. A patch can usually only blend vector layers in the same group. Your file kinda cheats that by setting the torso patch and then moving it. But if you try to set it again, you won't be able to select the torso without moving the layer again.
Removing the groups, it is then either an issue with exclude stroke or clear the mask (which you have to use to separate the arm and torso camo). You can't use both.

The main problem is that patch layers cut through to their target layer, bypassing the camo layers you're wanting to mask and only showing the target layer's fill color.
Notice on the arm, how the patch is below the camo. This just patches the outline, before it masks the camo.

This may be a case where it'd be better to render an image of the camo and use it as an image texture, to avoid all the masking.

[MrMiracle77]

If you decide to switch to a camo texture for your 'fill' instead of masking off a vector camo layer, Krita offers a 'wrap-around' mode that lets you make a texture pattern that connects at the top/bottom and left/right.