GFUI finding

Yesterday I was helping out my 9 year old for her California Missions project. I was helping her to create a scale model of Mission Santa Inés out on my GF Pro. We started out sketching out the various elements in Fusion 360 to get an idea about how it might look, then moved the 2D drawing over to Adobe Illustrator (not the cloud version). From there we had to scale down in the GFUI. It all came together this morning before school, with painted cardboard standing in for the roofs due to time constraints. I hope it survives school today so I can share a few picks of the model.
What I discovered, and maybe this has been brought up in this forum already, has to do with overlapping vector art. It seems that “filled” elements get knocked-out where there is overlap, as in doesn’t engrave at the overlap. I was thinking that these areas would just have double the engrave depth, maybe a little less actually. Also, the working (cutting) area 11+" X 19.5" doesn’t seem to be the case? When I import everything along the peripheral is grayed out in the GFUI.
I was able to get a few pics of the mission project:

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Sounds like a cool project! Hope you can get some pictures!

Yes, overlapping elements will basically knock each other out. In Illustrator, you can use the pathfinder options to combine those elements. There are several reasons for this.

As for the working area… cuts should be right at 11x19.5" (actually a hair under 11) - if you are engraving, that area will shrink a bit as the head needs room to decelerate. The faster the engrave speed, the more room it needs to slow down (so the more the area will shrink).

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Thanks for the informative reply!
So, in the case of GF knocking out interesting and overlapping vector elements, was this intentional? I mean, it seems like this behavior would be helpful, similar to the compound function in AI? Sorry if that is the incorrect term, I’ve had a long week.
I do remember the constraint relative to engraving, where the useable area is reduced due to hardware limitations and physics (always getting in the way).
Have a great weekend!

This is only sort of related… my 8th great grandmother was baptized by Fr Serra! My aunt did the genealogy and documented it. :slight_smile:

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Looks like an A+ grade coming up

Wonderful project, beautifully executed! Be sure to update us on how it went.

It is amazing to discover how we are all connected.

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Nicely done! :grinning:

It was received well… although, the hand made projects were well done too.

Thank you, Jules!

No way would I have guessed that this was a last-minute venture. There’s nothing like bonding over a project!

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Recently, I had a quick meeting with my kids teacher. After the meeting I asked her if I should take the Mission Model home. She replied that it would be nice if it could stay for “open house” event (soon). Since there seemed to be a lot of interest in it. So, it is still there, and will remain for a little while longer. I plan to attend the event as usual.

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