Hello,
Have done a few projects on my new glowforge with success… but have a couple friends wanting work done, and it involves separating the black print from the files they sent, into a workable format. Using inkscape, and wondering if I can somehow separate the dark print into its own file somehow… pretty well versed in autocad, but just stepping into the world of inkscape etc. Any help is appreciated, thanks!
Might have trouble separating the black out of the white the way it uploaded 
(sorry, bad joke).
Depending on how the svg is saved, the forum software may strip out some code as a security measure.
Can you zip the file and upload?
Yea sorry wasnt sure if the file even uploaded. Will compress it and try to re upload. Also dont need anyone to do it for me, needing to learn how to it as I feel it’s gonna be a pretty frequent request. Im sure I could print it out and use trace function, but yea… trying to learn!
heres the zip
ahaha, also just realized the joke lol
What is your ultimate goal with the file? Just engraving or need to engrave and cut out a shape?
If it is just engraving you can use any pixel manipulating program you like (MS Paint for example)
Check the matrix in the Glowforge Tips and Tricks category for Inkscape help if you’re looking to do more.
Specifically look at inkscape trace function. Even if you don’t use it here you will eventually and you’ll be glad you know about it.
Just wanting to engrave this one, test run to see how it would look.
The bitmap trace? Or different function? Have had good results with several other projects with that, just having a hard time with this one, not sure why
Oops thought I replied to you seperately. But yea, this is a friends painting. Asked her if I could use to practice with and would love to be able to send her a print engraved on a sheet of baltic birch
Would one of these work? There’s a transparent png and a svg vector version.
Can’t get my zip file to load so doing it individually.
Edited to add: Sorry, I didn’t see that you were asking how to do it yourself. I have Corel so the commands may be called something different and it might not help you, but here’s a very general idea of what I did. I opened the file in photopaint (rastor program) and used the adjustment tool > color pick tool to change the dark background to white. Then I did a tonal adjustment and darkened the black and brightened the white even more. This left some of the lighter tones very orange-ish looking so I converted it to black and white using the “line art” option. Lastly I used an eraser to get rid of all the little black marks scattered around the white background and saved as a transparent png. To make the vector version, I loaded it into coreldraw and traced the png I just made. When it was done, I selected the whole thing and used the “create boundary” tool to make an outline
Yea, will work perfect. Care to explain the process?
Sorry, I was adding a description as you spoke. Let me know if you want me to remove the files.
Downloaded both images, that might be a good idea just 'cuz they arent mine to share. Very much appreciate them tho, would love to learn to seperate things as a I have a couple similar things I’m working on
You’re welcome and I think it’s a good idea to remove them too. Share the results if you burn one, would love to see how it turns out. It’s tough to translate commands between different programs but let me know if you need more detail or something. The best place to start for drawings like this is with tone adjustments and contrast to narrow down the range of colors. Then you can convert to black and white. Good luck!
So cool, never considered that. Thanks so much, I have a lot to learn, but will be sure to post results
What you need is Gimp before Inkscape as you cannot get a clean vector from the “trace” function of Inkscape. If you “posterize” the design in Gimp and then clear the white and brown by selecting them and calling “clear” in “edit” you could then have a clean Png to bring back to Inkscape where a “trace bitmap” would work out very much better and there would be many places you could go from there.
thanks for the help! just installed gimp, think I got the brown separated using the exposure tool, will see how this test goes!
This topic was automatically closed 32 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.