I have a Herringbone file that I want to score - not engrave. When I set it to score (or cut), it makes 2 lines. I only want there to be 1 line that scores. I’ve been trying to modify the file (I use Inkscape) but can’t figure it out. I’ve been looking online for answers and can’t seem to find much other than using the Break Apart option but that isn’t working either. I’m at a loss! Does anyone know what I need to do? ?
Welcome to the forum.
You have an inside line and an outside line in your design rather than a single line. Sometimes it is as easy as setting your stroke to center. Lots of discussions here. Hopefully one will help you.
https://community.glowforge.com/search?q=avoiding%20double%20lines
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Thank you!! I will see if I can do that and read through the link you included 
The key thing to understand is the difference between a stroke and a path. I’m using Inkscape terminology here.
The Glowforge only understands paths. A stroke is a “style” applied to a path - line thickness, color, dashes, etc. None of that matters to the Glowforge.
So if you have a “thick” line (a stroke) it can be engraved by outlining it with paths (stroke to path), and filling in the gap between them, like coloring between the lines.
Here’s a 2mm, dashed stroke.
If sounds like that is what you have. In Inkscape, use Outline view to see the paths (it drops all style/fill).
Here’s what the GF sees, and you will see in Outline view:
… but here’s what happens if you convert that dashed, 2mm-wide stroke to path:
Does that make sense? If the dashes were not there, you’d have this:
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Yes! That’s exactly what’s happening with the design. It looks like your bottom picture.
It’s really hard to suggest the simplest solution without seeing the file you started with.
There are some ways to automate the process, which is likely the only option to getting it where you want it with a complex design. It really depends on the nature of what you have to work with.
If you purchased the design, you can’t share it publicly, but a herringbone is not exactly an unusual design. Google returns 44 million images.
I did purchase it from Etsy. It came with an SVG file and PNG file. Works great for cutting and engraving but I really want to be able to score. I’ve also downloaded a jpeg images from Noun Project and was trying to use one of those as well but continue getting the double line. I will try again when I get home today. I can upload one of the free images I tried if that would help? Thanks!
That would be useful.
An enclosed path CVG would be a little more tricky to “reverse engineer” to single-line paths, but a PNG could be easily traced, using the ‘centerline’ feature.
Attached are the files I downloaded from the Noun Project. I do have an SVG and PNG from there. I also have a jpeg file I downloaded from Creative Fabrica if that’s better??
Drag the PNG into Inkscape, select it, choose Trace Bitmap, turn off “smooth corners” and choose Centerline Trace. Click OK, then drag the resulting vector away from the underlying bitmap/raster, which you can then delete.
There is a slight rounding on the corners because of the way the strokes in the original image were defined, but it should be good enough for scoring.
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eflyguy - That totally worked! I used the PNG file that I purchased and it came out a little less rounded. Thanks so much for your help! I was racking my brain all evening yesterday
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