Line art drawn in Illustrator comes in as filled

Everything Else
1

I’ve done a drawing as line art in Illustrator, but when I bring it into GF, it comes in as filled. The only way I can see it as line art is if I convert it to raster art in Photoshop.

What am I missing? What am I doing wrong? (I’ve been using Illustrator since it came out, so, I’m pretty good withit).

2

Remove any white fill color. (Just set it to Null fill.)

3

I’ve done that,

4

Have you removed any clipping masks?

5

Paths that are engraved will be filled, always. An open path will be closed and filled, too.

To not fill, you need to use cut or score. Or you need to use filled paths and engrave.

6

Use the second arrow selection tool in Illustrator, the one which can select individual points.

Click inside of the graphic on a white area. If something highlights, press delete. Repeat in other areas as necessary.

7

Sounds like you’re trying to engrave open paths, instead of cutting or scoring them. Presumably because you have a thicker stroke? The Glowforge ignores the stroke and cuts/scores the centerline. It also tries to close your open paths, if you try to engrave an open path. You need to expand the strokes so they are filled, closed shapes.

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8

Here are the rules I follow when using vector artwork with the Glowforge:

  1. The Glowforge ignores stroke width. Always. When cutting/scoring it will follow the line that defines the path (i.e., what you see in Outline mode in illustrator).
  2. Cut/Score operations follow your paths (ignoring any stroke width/pattern) and ignore fills. Both closed and open paths work.
  3. Engrave operations ignore strokes entirely and always fill your shapes. (The color of the fill doesn’t matter. White will still be engraved. Even if there is no fill, it interior of the shape will still be engraved.)
  4. If a path is open, the Glowforge software will close it (by connecting the beginning and end of the path) when engraving (because you can’t fill an open path), which may lead to undesirable results.
  5. If you want to engrave the area defined by a path’s stroke, you need to use the “Outline Stroke” command to turn the stoke into a (filled, unstroked) closed path before sending it to the Glowforge.
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9

Might be easier to figure out what is going on if you can upload the file so someone can take a look at it. (It helps to Zip it before uploading here, because of things that Discourse does to it.)

Otherwise we’re just guessing.

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10

If you have fill that is a color the GFUI is supposed to ignore, will it ignore the fill and cut the color that is supposed to be cut?

11

OK, Thanks - converting all my paths to outlines solved the issue (hy, it’s my first time using the GF besides making the ruller)

Thanks for the help folks!

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