Hi all, I am new to the glowforge community and first time posting. I am trying to figure out how to make this SVG file into a format that will print the negative space so I can use it as a block print. This will be a skill I would like to learn so I can continue to do this on other projects. I have no clue how to do that and I am using the recent version of illustrator. TIA!
Welcome to the fun! Luckily this is super easy in AI.
Click the “Edit” menu, select “Edit Colors,” then click “Invert Colors.”
Welcome to the forum.
I think a block print is very similar to a stamp. You would simply engrave away the area around your design. The stamp maker tool included in the Glowforge Premium subscription would accomplish this fairly easily.
Where is this stamp maker tool you speak of?! I have the premium subscription.
Thank you! I just tried it and when I import it into GF it reverts back to the basic SVG again instead of the negative image.
Just found it! I suppose this is one of those “you should read your manual” moments lol!
In Inkscape I do it in six operations.
- Make a filled rectangle that gives you space around the image. It helpos to have it a different color.
- Send the filled rectangle to the bottom.
- Right Click on any of the black objects in the original SVG.
- Context menu Select Same > Fill color
- Shift click the bottom rectangle to select.
- Path > Exclusion
Whoops. Almost made the primal mistake. Uploaded a not reversed image.
I don’t know if this will give you the definition you want. The SVG is vector art, but most likely a scan of some bitmap that has lost definition along the way.
Thank you! I have Inkscape as well, just haven’t used it much. This is very helpful and thanks for posting the image too!
And for completeness, if your image is a raster here’s another way to do it: