I wanted to share what I made from a blueprint plan of the 2016 version of Dr. Who (Capaldi) Tardis. I reduced all measurements to 1/16th scale and laid out all of the parts and pieces into multiple SVG files that would allow it to be cut on 2 sheets of MDF so it can be painted, and optionally add windows on white acrylic. I have it listed on Etsy and sold 4 files in 3 months time. The files have instructions built into the plans but without pictures (not sure they are needed). The parts are color coded as
“Black” for cutouts,
“Blue” for engraving, and
“Red” for scoring.
However, one of the people who bought the files said the files imported into the Glowforge app as ALL cutouts.
My query to the community is what should the colors be in Inkscape to make sure the files import properly? Also, concerned I am charging the wrong price for the files, the finished product, and for a commercial license.
I’m so new, I have no idea about color coding. In Illustrator, I just use three random colors to differentiate cut/score/engrave, but maybe there IS some convention to follow if you are selling files. Hope a more experienced forger can help.
Many who have shops list it in the profile section of parameters.
Then when people click on the avatar picture, the shop link is exposed.
Click on Janee’s image above for an example.
Any vector will come into the GFUI as cutting vectors. They will however use the color to put each of the colors in a different layer so each layer can have separate settings of cut score or engrave, and if there are different settings for different groups of engraving you can add another color and that can be on a fourth layer.
Thanks for this. It’ll help. I was hoping to answer the import question for color coding to determine which color works best to automatically set score, cut, and engrave steps. I suppose that testing is something I should do on my own. I was hoping for a Glowforge Rule that could help make it easier to pre-determine those steps for me.
I was aware of the coloring being used to break up the import into steps. Just didn’t know what color gave you which step (cut, score, engrave). I also think it is possible that coloring could be used to set speed and power. Is that possible?
Colors separates things by kind, but not more as you would not want the lines cut and engraved to have only one possible setting. The GFUI sets each color of vectors into a different layer so you can assign a different process to each layer. However, the user still has to set the parameters in each case and even if you specify a type of material, they may choose something with different settings, and you do not want to be held responsible for that anyway.
I agree that colors can separate different vectors into steps. I also understand that colors have no bearing on power or speed. Just wondering. I will continue to define in my SVG files that I sell to indicate the breakdown of steps by color. I have seen people’s direction refer to “red” as cut and “blue” as score in their files. I was just looking for a “rule” that Glowforge supports. I appreciate the dialog and the positive comments on my design specifically. I made another sale on this file since posting this thread. It was not my primary goal, and not sure it was generated from this thread, but if so then it was worth it.
That is for them to use those settings. Usually, that is all the settings needed, but as they come in to the GFUI they will default to cut if only the PG material is called out (like on the pasted computer mark)
If it was actually automatic, folk would not need to call it out
That’s beautifully done! As far as price for files - there is so much variation there is definitely no “correct” answer. It looks like a lot of folks have both your person use and commercial versions in their carts, so hopefully you sell well!