Blending two overlapping lines when expanded

Question

I made this brush from a tutorial I watched online.

I want this rope loop to look how its shown on top, but when they overlap in the loop I don't want them to look how they do once expanded (image below), I want them to be smooth as how it looks before the expand. I do understand that the first image has a white Fill, but I need the rope to be transparent which is why I expanded it.

I just want the Loop to be smooth looking and transparent and not see all the overlapping lines.

I've tried looking online as to how to fix this and I can't seem to find the right answer.

Answer 1

Check out this article on "Blend if" - http://bjango.com/articles/blendif/

Get those pesky white pixels to be transparent non destructively and without falling back on using Multiply!

edit

Extrapolating on this as I'm getting a notice telling me off for not going into enough detail.

Basically, using the "Blend if" options in the layer style for a layer/group you recreate the same blending effect as Screen or Multiply (so that white pixels are transparent whilst black pixels are opaque and vice versa).

So you can use this technique with your first image where the rope's interior is filled with white so that the white pixels will become transparent and black ones remain. You get to sidestep having to go and edit the paths to remove the ones you don't want.

Answer 2

To keep it transparent you might try using the pathfinder palette to elinate the lines you are not needing. If not you will have to edit the paths.