I am new to Corel Draw, but up to now I have been able to figure out how to do most of what I have tried to do. I am trying to do a combination engrave and score on a bamboo cutting board. Here is a picture of what I am trying to do. I don’t know how I did it, but I can’t seem to repeat it on another board. You can see the score around the engraved text.
Here’s the trick to doing both an engrave and a score:
Create the shapes. Give them a Fill Color and no stroke color.
Duplicate the shapes, right on top of the originals. For the duplicates, give them NO fill color, and a different Stroke color.
When you save the file as an SVG, you will get two sets of operations, one that will let you engrave the shapes, and one that will let you set a Score around them, once you change it from a Cut.
When you are scoring around an engrave, you need to duplicate the object. The object you want engraved is filled, but no path around it defined in a color. Then the duplicated object is not filled and just has a path of any color that you choose. You can’t just put a colored path around a different colored fill. It defaults to cut.
Make sure the two objects are on top of each other exactly. So in your case your text looks like it will engrave then score, and then the flowers engrave then score although I can’t tell but it looks like the floral decoration score is not the whole design of the flowers.
If the engraved area you want to score is vector (which I’m pretty sure it is), then you can run the job as it shows in the interface, then when it is done, don’t move anything on the bed. Just go into the GUI and change that engrave to score and set everything else to ignore. Then re-run the print.
That seems odd that you have to make duplicates.
It might have been that the outline you added on the shape/text wasn’t hairline width and thats why it wasnt picked up by the gui… ??
Corel produces true vectors that are not segmented or broken in anyway…unless you purposely break them apart
The stroke, regardless of weight, is just interpreted as hairline (as long as it’s a stroke).
The duplication is to have two different operations in the UI. The first object being filled text paths will come in as an engrave and then the second object with a stroke can be assigned a cut or score.
This is the text with a fill and then a duplicate with no fill/red stroke
You can see two operations on the left - one for an engrave (the object with the fill) and one that actually comes in as a cut, but I changed it to score.
If you send it up with just the fill, or just the stroke, you can only do one operation at a time. But, you could just subsequently run the job again, without moving anything, and select “convert to score”. Personally, I’d prefer having 2 objects and running it one job - and then I’m relying on just my design software and one “print” rather than asking GF to convert it to a score and then having to “print” again.
Hmmm thats too bad. I’m use to sending files to my Universal lasers straight from Corel and having it interpret exactly as drawn, filled, outlined etc.
BTW…we dont call it a stroke in Corel…just an outline…
I have a lot of Corel Draw experience but no laser experience. I would have expected @smcgathyfay’s explanation to be accurate. If not, it sure sounds like @Jules’s solution will work.
It has more to do with how the Glowforge software interprets what it sees than what you do in Corel. It always defaults colored strokes (outlines) to a cut. That can be manually changed to a Score, or switched to an engrave…BUT, if the shape is not closed, there will be strange results on the engraving.
So the easiest way to do it is to set engraves to have no outline color, and then just duplicate the shape and give that one an outline with no fill color, which can be easily converted into a score.
Then you get both operations appearing at the same time in the file when you open it, and you don’t have to engrave first, finish the job, and then switch the engrave to a score and run it again. It’s a huge time saver.
I guess if you start doing it the Glowforge way then you’ll get used to it…lol. Its just a different process since it needs to be saved as an svg…we all knew this from the beginning…lol
I was just spolied and used to doing it a different way for 16 years.
I have been using Corel Draw for web design, print design, screen printing, vinyl printer/cutter, CNC, and dye sublimation for a long time. Each has their own requirements. Using it with Glowforge will just be one more set of rules. I may be getting old but I’m still teachable.
I have been making and not posting, but this is the finished project that this question was about. Here is a picture of the cutting board that I was working on.
