I have a file where there are a few different elements - all are the same color… but in the GFUI they come up as different “layers” where it asks me if I want to engrave, cut, etc.
The problem is that I want to be able to engrave all the layers - and print it so that it starts at the bottom and does everything in one pass - as opposed to engraving the first grouping, then going back to the bottom of the art and engraving the next, etc. I think this is slowing down my prints…
It possible to “flatten” things in Illustrator before making it an svg?
We can’t do anything to affect which parts of the engraving the GFUI decides to do first - it determines it’s own motion plan for the most efficient movements based on how you have the items spaced out on the material.
It’s not quicker for the machine to run back and forth across the whole length of the bed if it is just engraving something small at either end. It will just engrave one small object on the right, and then move to the other one on the left to engrave it separately.
If that’s what you’re concerned about - that is predetermined for us. You should be able to set all of the settings for the whole batch of vector engraves at one time though, if they all have the same Fill color.
If there are separate raster images or bitmaps embedded in the file, each of those will be handled individually.
Would you by chance have the objects both with a fill color and stroke color? Curious as to why it’s making separate operations for the objects.
If it truly is an object that you want to engrave all at once and it is a vector, remove all the stroke definitions of the object and combine them all. That should make it one engrave. Mind you, it will only allow you one setting and will come in as one operation that gets set.
There is a way to engrave several; parts at once, and that is to make them the same object in a Boolean union or similar. to ensure that they will be in the same layer in the GFUI I select the several parts and while selected set them all to a random color for both the edge AND the fill (even if I am turning the fill off afterwards) If you copy/paste inside the GFUI all the new parts will be on the same layers (and settings) the parts you copied were set, but they would be done as separate objects. If you drag in another copy of the design you are using, even though the colors are the same as the original, everything will be on separate layers.
if you are engraving an image, every one will be on its own layer regardless.
