Brand new GlowForge user. I am using Inkscape as my illustrator application. I am having difficult in figuring out how to create a score line an 1/8" or 1/4" wide with some depth to it. It doesn’t seem to matter how wide I make the line in Inkscape it still only makes the score one beam width wide.
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To get a line wider than the width of the laser beam, you need to be engraving, not scoring. So in your vector software (Inkscape) you would be creating a box or closed figure 1/8” or 1/4” wide and setting that to engrave in the Glowforge interface. More info and tutorials can be found in the Glowforge Tips and Tricks section of this forum.
Oh, and Welcome!
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In addition to what @cynd11 said, if your lines (more commonly referred to as “paths”) are exactly how you want them, you can change them to shapes like this:
Select the line(s) you want to engrave
Use the menu item Path->stroke to path
Your lines will now all be converted to shapes and should engrave like you expect.
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It helps if you think of a score as a cut that doesn’t go all the way through – so cuts and scores are single lines, and engraves are larger areas.
If you upload a vector shape with an outline, the GFUI will interpret it as a cut. (If you want it scored, you have to remember to change it. I have a lot of interesting bits lying around from forgetting that step!)
If you upload a vector shape with a fill, the GFUI will interpret it as an engrave.
If you upload a vector shape with a fill AND an outline, the GFUI will interpret it as an engrave.
If you upload a bitmap, aka raster image, the GFUI will interpret it as an engrave.
If you want your engrave to be deeper, the easiest way is to increase the number of passes.
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If you’re really intent on using score to achieve this, you can defocus the laser to get wider or narrower score lines. It will take a lot of experimentation though as the depth will decrease as you pull the lens out of focus.
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And unless you take out the crumb tray, your width will be limited to about 1mm, maybe less.
I’ll add one more to this… if you want to engrave a shape AND score the outline of the same shape, you need two overlapping objects, one with fill only and one with score only, and each set to a different color. Setting one object to have a stroke and fill, even if those two things are different colors, will still be interpreted as one object by the GFUI.
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what if your lines in illustrator are engraving as a shape and not the line itself? How do you change that?
You might be a candidate for centerline tracing. Search the forum for it.
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