Cut lines in inkscape

[dougwolfson]

If you have an image you want to etch, is there an easy way to put a cut line around the image in inkscape that follows the shape of the image in inkscape?

[Jules]

Yeah, you can use the Auto-Trace to create a vector of it, then break it apart and just keep the outside cutline. (I believe it’s Path > Trace Bitmap in Inkscape.)

https://inkscape.org/en/doc/tutorials/tracing/tutorial-tracing.en.html

[YawString]

This technique can work well for images as well as vectors…

Using Inkscape Fill for Cutlines

Here is a quick tip for the Inkscape users out there. Say you have a complex object, or group of objects, that you want to create a vector cut path around. A quick way to do that is draw a rectangle around the object and use the fill command (clicking inside the rectangle but not the object)… [s1] [s2] This will create a new object with a hole cut in it. You then can use Path → Break Apart and delete the two leftover rectangles. [s3] Giving you a nice cut outline to your object. [s4] I…

I just made this cutline using it…

I did need to play with the fill thresholds a bit…

I added padding to the outside line using Path->Outset and the inside lines using Path->Inset

[dougwolfson]

Thank you! This is great!