Trace function: why is it recognizing the line as a form?

[campwalkercrafts]

I am trying to use the trace function to cut something I drew on paper.
The glowforge is not cutting on the line, but cutting on the both sides of the line as if the line itself is a form. Does this make sense? For example, if I trace a triangle and press cut, I should just be getting a negative shape of a triangle on the material and a positive shape of a triangle. Right? but in addition to that, i am getting positive line shape of a triangle too. Any advice is welcome. Please help!

[evansd2]

Hey welcome!

Unfortunately that’s how it’s supposed to work. It assumes everything, even lines, are shapes to be engraved.

What you’re after is what’s called a “centerline trace” and can be done in standalone vector editors like inkscape, illustrator and affinity designer.

There are a number of threads with more info about this topic, you can find them with a quick search:

https://community.glowforge.com/search?q=Centerline%20trace

Good luck!

[rappee25407]

Welcome to the forum @campwalkercrafts. I have two suggestions as this happened to me too. (1) When using the Trace function it is important that the object you drew is a closed figure. Make sure the ends of the line meet, expand the picture to 200% and make sure. (2) make sure you are only clicking on one side of the object when it asks you what you want to cut out. I hope this fixes the issue for you.