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I purchased a vector image from vectorstock.com but I cannot fill some of the areas on it.

This is the image I purchased:

What happens is when I set a fill it only makes an outline of the triangle. I want to put a fill color on the inside triangles (the ones with gray border).

When I try to fill it this is what happens:

2 Answers 2

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Stock vector artwork is often all outlined; which means all strokes, or "outlines" have been converted to filled shapes, so anything that isn't already filled can't be filled simply by setting a color on an object; you need to manually fill it somehow...

The easiest way to do that in Illustrator is probably with the Shape Builder tool...

  1. Select the object which you want fill the empty spaces of,
  2. Activate the Shape Builder tool,
  3. Choose the color you want to fill with,
  4. Click each area you want to fill...

A few notes on the Shape Builder tool;

  • It will, by default, only detect closed spaces, so if there are gaps it won't be able to create the shape to fill. You can double click the icon in the toolbar and enable "Gap Detection" to give you a bit of leeway here but it's best to try and start of with closed areas to begin with.

  • The tool only works on the object that are currently selected, so if you have multiple overlapping shapes, make sure the correct objects are selected (your artwork has distinct foreground and background shapes for example, so only select and work on one at a time).

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  • Hello Cai! I try to do that but unfortunate, the fill color acts as outline only. can you please help me ?
    – Dave
    Apr 5, 2018 at 9:03
  • You tried the Shape Builder tool? Did it create the correct shapes on the inside triangles and did you set the fill color on those shapes?
    – Cai
    Apr 5, 2018 at 9:07
  • Yes, when I try it. the fill color only acts as outline?who you mind yo check AI file?
    – Dave
    Apr 5, 2018 at 9:11
  • I doubt my answer will change by looking at the file. If you're getting an "outline" after using Shape Builder then either you're selecting the lines themselves (rather than spaces between) or you're giving the shapes a stroke rather than a fill.
    – Cai
    Apr 5, 2018 at 9:18
  • I will try again, by the way where can I find the GAP Detection?
    – Dave
    Apr 5, 2018 at 9:19
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You are probably have something that looks like this on the left of your screen:

enter image description here

The black colour is the outline and the white colour with the red line is the fill. In this case, the red line indicates that there is no colour set.

Select your triangle, then double click the box with the red line and select a colour. This should fill your triangle.

If this doesn't work, then the lines may not be connected as one shape. You'll have to connect the lines to make a closed shape.

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  • Hi! How to make a close shape? I already do that but it is still that way, the fill color is acting like a outline
    – Dave
    Apr 5, 2018 at 7:59
  • @DaveManuel have you tried the flip button? It's the two arrows to the top right of the boxes?
    – Chris
    Apr 5, 2018 at 8:02
  • what 2 arrows? I update my question with another picture to show the problem
    – Dave
    Apr 5, 2018 at 8:04
  • @DaveManuel Okay, I know now what the problem is. Sometimes, when people sell their designs, they create outlines of their work. That way people can upscale and downscale their work without messing with line thickness and all that... So you basically have very thin objects. You'll have to draw triangles behind the lines and colour those. Then you can get the effect you need.
    – Chris
    Apr 5, 2018 at 8:05
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    @Chris no you dont either use live paint bucket or shapebuilder. And no they dont sometimes do this some stock sites demand that you do it!
    – joojaa
    Apr 5, 2018 at 8:24

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