Hi, I am still a newbie here, but I am starting to take commissions. I am working on a wedding cake topper and really liked how it looked in Inkscape. But when I printed it I discovered what I don’t know.
I put score lines in for the lines within the drawing that are not being cut. When I printed I found out that it is only a thin line. I have searched the tips and tricks and couldn’t find anything telling me how to change these lines to engrave without engraving the whole inside design. Maybe I am not searching the right words? It seems to have something to do with changing to engrave or drawing with shapes but I am lost.
Any suggestions? I am attaching a photo of the project. The blue lines are the problem. Thanks for any advice!
If I understand, defocusing may be the effect you are looking for. The beam is convergent to the point of focus, then it diverges, so focusing above the surface will make the lines thicker. Testing is called for.
You can use the forum search function for ‘defocusing’ to see what others have done.
This is not doable in the GFUI, it requires your graphics software. The way to make internal lines fat is either the defocused scoring that @PrintToLaser mentioned (plus that’s going to be way faster) or to go in and select the lines, and make them into boxes the thickness you’re going for.
For that you can make a copy of all your blue lines
If they’re straight lines you may be able to highlight them and click Path > Offset and it’ll change it into a box - then remove the stroke and add a fill.
For the lines that are too complicated that won’t look right so instead you make a 2nd copy of just the line you’re working on, put it next to the original, select both and join the end nodes with a segment - then remove the stroke and add a fill.
BTW, a quick trick - if you’re ever unsure of what exactly the GFUI is going to see - in Inkscape go under View > Display Mode > Outline
That shows you just the lines. If you’re expecting something to be a box, and in that view it’s a line - then the GFUI will see it as a line.
Oh! and somebody else pointed out there is a function to change the stroke width, and then convert with Path > Stroke to Path - that’s faster as long as the output works for you
Some great suggestions here. Our recommendation for this issue would be in line with something similar to what @deirdebeth has recommended.
For the most accurate and repeatable results it’d be best to adjust the design so that the width of these lines is more in line with what you’re looking for.
I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any questions.
