multicolor not working when merging with holes??

[djelliott19]

I'm just discovering layerling, so it's possible I'm missing something here, but...

if I have 2 objects of different colors, and group them, they turn one of the colors, but if I then select the multicolor option, they return to their 2 original colors.

but, if I group the same 2 objects AND a hole object, the resulting object (minus the hole) turns to color 1. if I then select multicolor, the entire object turns to color 2. I have not found a way to restore the original two colors - unless I go to the trouble of grouping the hole individually with each color piece, then group those objects. which seems excessive.

can anyone tell me if I'm missing something obvious?

[henmedia]

@djelliott19, welcome, and thank you for the clear description. You are not missing something obvious. It works like this: a group that was cut by a hole becomes one body with one colour first, and Multicolor is meant to give every part its own colour back. I tried it here with two boxes of different colours and a hole, touching or overlapping, and Multicolor shows both colours, so something in your design must differ.

Could you tell me which shapes the two objects are (boxes, text, a sketch, an imported file), how they sit to each other (touching, overlapping, one inside the other) and where the hole goes? The easiest is to export the design as a .lyl file (Export window → LYL) and drag it onto a reply here, or click Bug report in the footer and attach the ZIP. Then I can try exactly your case.

Until then, what you describe as excessive does work: group the hole with each coloured part, then bundle the results with Bundle (Ctrl+B), which keeps the colours.

If you'd like to support the project, you can do that at https://layerling.com/support.html - it is very welcome.

[djelliott19]

Attached is a quick sample file showing the issue. there are 2 copies of the candy cane - the one on the left works fine, having grouped the top hole object with the red, then with the white, and grouping red/white. the one on the right had the red and white twists grouped first, then applied the top hole object, and multicolor only toggles it between the two colors.

In this 2 color case, either method works. but alot of my projects are combinations of multiple sketches which are then made into holes and cut out of each other (sports logo keychains, etc) and in that case, having to keep each color separate to allow for joining with a hole later becomes much more tedious.

candy cane multicolor issue.zip

[henmedia]

@djelliott19, thank you for the file, it showed it exactly. The cane on the right was grouped in the other order: the red and white twists first as one group, then that group with the hole. The outer group only knew the inner one as a single body of one colour, so Multicolor had only that colour to show.

I changed it: a group of several colours now opens into its parts when you group it with something else, so the outer group carries the red and the white twist itself and Multicolor shows both, also when the hole comes last. It is built and comes with the next release.

One thing changes with it: if you ungroup such a group later, the red twist, the white twist and the hole come out one by one, not the red and white group as one block.

[djelliott19]

I saw you added this in the latest update - just tested and it looks great. The multiple parts when ungrouping is a fair price to pay in my opinion.

Thank you for the great support.