Hello, I created this drawing on Inkscape where I cloned a hexagon to create a honeycomb pattern. My goal is to have the honeycomb grill outlined by a frame. When I used the ‘Clip’ tool, Glowforge converts the clip back into a path, which restores the extra honeycomb that I cut away on Inkscape. Is there an alternative solution to cut the honeycomb pattern within an object?
Here’s a picture of my goal:
Here’s what’s happening on Glowforge:
Any and all help is appreciated! Thanks.
I don’t know the exact Inkscape terms, but you could probably make a duplicate of that inner frame path, select the new frame path and the honeycomb design, and then use one of the Boolean operations.
And I don’t think that picture is exactly what you want, as there is an inner perimeter that is going to cut all that honeycomb away. So after you do the Boolean, don’t forget to delete the inner perimeter if it’s still there.
Clip paths from Inkscape and the GFUI don’t play well together. A quick search of the forum will reveal several solutions more articulate than I can provide. Also, like cynd11 said, you are going to want to score or eliminate that inner perimeter line or you will have a big hole in your project.
There is a correct way to do it - which a search for clip path should get you, or there is the cheater way I do it, which is drop it into a raster program, delete the parts you don’t want, then drop it back into Inkscape and “trace a bitmap”
and yeah, what @cynd11 said - make sure your honeycomb tray is fully connected. If you want that line scored you can make it a different colour and score it instead of cutting 
Unlink clones. Convert Hexagon shapes to paths.
Combine all hexagons.
Use the Boolean Path Commands.
Make a copy of the inner cut line that you want to put around the honeycomb.
Cntrl + D for duplicate.
Send that to the bottom (important for deciding which path operation to use)
Path > Difference.
Clipping paths and masks don’t work with SVGs in the Glowforge. You have to think of them as pure paths or vectors with no hidden overlays.
If you want to keep a score to give an outline around the edge of the honeycomb, make sure that you keep a copy of the original outline path and make it a different color from the cuts.
Here is an example with the outline for the score shifted a bit and blue to show you the extra line.
Something like this:
Fixed so that the cutouts don’t drop out and it is attached appropriately around the edge.
This still isn’t correct because it isn’t attached at the edges of the honeycomb correctly round the outline. As it is, it would cut out the whole inse as one piece. If I can get to it latter, I’ll get those edges right. You would want to do a cut path to ensure you have open ends to connect.
I’m sure @evansd2 can tell you the exact steps. I always have to play with booelans a bit to get what I want.
It can be a difficult one to advise on, depending on what’s needing to be done and unless you are very thorough, because z-order can make a difference in certain cases.
There are lots of ways to do it, but without seeing the actual SVG in question I can’t really back you into any one solution.
Everyone else’s advice is pretty spot-on, those are all the sorts of things you’ll need to do, but like @jbmanning5 said, specific advice is tough without the source art to poke and prod.
That is for sure. I’ve been playing with these and getting the cutout path correct without leaving it is hard. Using Cut Path works but breaks up the inside shapes. It does however leave the correct edge for keeping the material connected.
I’ve been working on Cut Path to prep a file for the pass through.
There’s several different ways to get to the same end and here’s how I’d do it. The trick is you have to have two shapes that are both closed paths for them to combine correctly. I use Coreldraw and the commands are pretty universal, but probably go by different names in other programs. (Thanks for the file @marmak3261 !)
Finished SVG
Will this work?
Thanks for the help everyone! I’m going to try the path method first. I’ll report back on the results.
Thanks for the suggestions, everyone! I’ll move this post to Everything Else, so the conversation can continue there.
Welp it can definitely be done.
I actually built mine up from hexagon paths and then did stroke to path/Union, then filleted the corners to make it better to inlay. If I were just doing a grille I wouldn’t have bothered with the filleting.
Anyhoo, lots of ways to skin this cat.
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