So I am new to Glowforge and to illustrator. I am slowly learning both but what I can’t figure out in illustrator is change font so I can engraved it on a project. I know in inkscape is says to choose path then object to path and that it should print. How do I do this in illustrator I can’t seem to find it. Thanks in advance for your help.
select the text, then from the top menu, select:
Type > Create Outlines
you may want to look over this tutorial as well:
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Thank you so much! All of this is new to me, I’m learning little by little each day!
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I normally don’t manually create the outlines. If you do so as part of your AI file, you can’t edit it later without remaking it. So I let AI take care of it when saving as the SVG I intend to import to glowforge. Use the ‘save as copy’, select SVG and when the options menu comes up, make sure the font option is ‘convert to outline’.
This gives you outlines in your SVG to engrave and preserves it as text in the AI file for future edits.
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I am in the habit of using Illustrator layers to store original, editable art and a ready-to-cut version.
When I want to cut something, I make a new file, copy the ready-to-cut assets in, and save as SVG. I discard this the SVG cut file when I am done.
I also find that I never use the app Home page archive of projects. The way that the projects automatically update just drives me nuts; I am always experimenting and making changes, and so I want Save and Save As as I am accustomed to in my design software.
I very rarely make the same thing twice so this works for me. If I was manufacturing things, I would keep a stash of ready-to-cut SVGs or take advantage of the app’s auto-save thing. But for how I work, it doesn’t help.
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Alternatively, you can select your font with the selection tool, right-click and hit the “create outlines” from that menu.
I recommend the link that jbv shared, Jules has made some awesome tutorials. If you’ve got the time, I’d suggest skimming through the https://community.glowforge.com/c/glowforge-tips-and-tricks section of the forum. It had a lot of useful info!
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The one time you absolutely have to manually create outlines rather than during saving is if you are making compound paths with words (like I did for my chocolate mold project)
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Thanks for the help everyone! I’m going to close this thread - if you have any other questions, feel free to post a new topic or reach out to support@glowforge.com