How to make transparent shapes inside of a colored layer?

[RurouniKarly]

I'm trying to make a layer that is white with transparent half circle cutouts. So far I've managed to make myself a transparent layer with white half circles. So far I've made a transparent layer, then I used the ellipse tool to make some half circles. Then I transformed and copied the half circles where I needed them to go. Now I'm not sure how to make the half circles transparent and the layer around them white. Can anyone help me?

I've included a picture of what I have so far. The outer circles are part of a different transparent layer and aren't relevant to my question.

 

[iDad]

What you're saying is you want those half circles transparent?are they separate layers or all combined

 

[ibclare]

When you say the layers around the semi-circles, I'm not sure what you mean. Do you want to fill in the circle itself minus the half circle?

You will need to duplicate the circle. The problem with trying to use your existing circle is that it appears you have stroked it, so making a selection of it will result only in a selection of the perimeter line, not the fill you want to put inside. Probably the best way to do this is make a circle using the shape tool, line it up with your existing circle, and fill it with white.

You can next control click the half circle to get a selection and use that to mask out the half circle area within the white full circle. Then it is a matter of duplicating or using a selection tool to copy-move on the same layer.Or duplicate to another layer, ctl/cmd + J.

I hope this helps; if not, let me/us know. Possibly uploading the psd will help me to see your issue.

 

[iDad]

In your layer palette at top of it opacity and fill sliders will help with that

 

[iDad]

Oops all your i_B

 

[ibclare]

Well, we work together on this I think. But we need to hear back from our very organized Mr. Karly. I'm impressed by the orderly grid lines and setup of the circles. You have a career in engineering ahead of you!

I have to go get ready for a dinner with my sister and bro-in-law so I'll be back in a bit, then gone in about an hour.

 

[RurouniKarly]

Hey Guys,

Thanks for responding. What you can see in my picture right now is two different layers. One layer has the circles, the other has the half circles. I'm only concerned with the half circle layer at the moment. I'm trying to make one layer that is completely white except for transparent half circle cutouts. I want the half circles to be transparent and entirety of the layer around them to be white. I'll take any suggestions about what I can do to edit what I have, but if you know of a better way to go about doing this that requires starting from scratch, that's okay too.

I'm trying to make my own version of some spice labels that I like (picture included below), and my idea was to have the spice picture as the bottom layer, the white/half circle layer on top of that, and the final transparent/whole circle layer on the very top. I've also included the .psd file I'm working on.



View attachment Spice Labels.psd

 

[ibclare]

OK.
Just select each filled half circle. It has to have color/pixels in it to make it into a selection, unless it is a path. If each half circle is on a different layer, merge or copy merge these first so they are all on one layer, then follow the next steps. If they are all on the same layer, ctl/cmd click the thumbnail and all the half circles will be selected. Use shift/ctl + I to invert the selection. Now you can fill with white. (I would recommend using a new layer for this)

 

[ibclare]

I just got home and downloaded the psd. Maybe you've already figured it out.

Since the half circles are already on a path, it will be easy to activate the path and invert the selection, then fill the inverted selection with white.

Let me know if you need any more pointers.

 

[RurouniKarly]

I got it, thanks so much for your help

 

[ibclare]

Anytime. Your welcome.