Foreground and Background Distinction

I have a Star in the foreground and a darker field in the background. Each time the star outline is scored, the background (darker field) lasers right over my foreground image. It seems to me that either the Glowforge is not capable of distinguishing the difference or the software is not providing the proper layers. Is the Glowforge just a great cutter and a terrible shader.

The Glowforge does not recognize layers.

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Then I have a Glowforge for sale with less than an hour use on it.

Actually, anything of this nature can be done if you prepare the file properly. Have you worked through the online manual “First Three Prints” tutorial? If so, you would understand that the Glowforge software uses colors rather than layers to distinguish separate operations.

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The Glowforge distinguishes among file elements by color. Simply set your file up with different colors rather than layers and you will be fine.

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I get the differentiation between objects in Glowforge, but how can I get the engrave function to skip over what would be my non-engraved foreground image. Is it a software / use of software issue?

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yup.

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It does not seem to recognize colors generated by the software.

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The answer depends on what software you are using. Basically you need to punch a hole in your background to correspond with the foreground object. Otherwise the operations will overlap.

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Exactly. How do I punch a hole?

What software are you using to create the file? Glowforge UI does not do this.

I have been working with Corel 2021, but have access to Fusion360 and all the Adobe products. I do not expect a lesson here, so if you could recommend the correct software I would greatly appreciate it.

If you have the Adobe suite, then Illustrator would be the best choice.

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Thank you Sir.

Switching to Illustrator will be helpful. Please note that the Glowforge interface does not recognize clip paths.

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I’m going to point you to the Matrix of tutorials in the Tips and Tricks section of this forum. Go to the 2D designing section and look for the tutorials on Compound Path and Pathfinder. Also, explore the use of the Shapebulder tool.

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Greatly appreciated, I am all over it.

When I get better at Glowforge I will certainly pay it forward.

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It can be done in Corel, I use it every day.

Bring the star to the foremost foreground.
Now select the background, hold the shift key and select the star.
Press command L.
You will now have a star hole in your background that you can engrave around .

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I’m not the best at CorelDraw, but I can usually figure it out. I started using in back in the 80’s so I have had a little experience, but didn’t use it for many years after they dropped the Mac version. They recently brought it back (with oh so many changes).

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions and I will be more than happy to help. I’m usually online several times a day and if I don’t know the answer, we will learn it together.

Oh, welcome to the forum. Don’t get discouraged we have all been where you are, excited and bewildered. But before you know it you will be making wonderful things and helping others too.

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I started Corel last week, lol

Thanks, and Go KC…

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