Hi! I am going insane. Last week I downloaded a file for a simple SVG. It cut beautifully but then I decided to re cut and add text. So I typed 2 words, converted them to outline, added a small path offset (I wanted some lines slightly thicker) and united the words together. Then I united that to the top of the design (that I’ve cut without problems before). Everything looks great. Zoomed in, no errant paths or anything. Double checked the layers panel too. I even have witnesses ( this is making me crazy!).
Then I close the file and upload it to cut on the GF. But the GF program is now showing extra marks on the letters that weren’t there before! I did cut once, before I noticed the marks, and the marks appear on the finished project as well. So I reopen the file in Illustrator (thinking I must not have noticed them before) but now my design has the same extra marks. They absolutely weren’t there before. I’ve recreated this twice now, starting from scratch each time. Each time the graphic is clean and perfect until I load it to the glowforge. WHAT IS HAPPENING?
Problem number 2 - the Y in the photos- I want that outer line of the loop scored (inner circle will be cut). However I want to score a single line, not an outline. I tried swapping stroke and fill. I tried moving stroke to inside line and outside and inner line. It still results in 2 lines. I even recreated the score line using the pen tool, but that convers it to two lines as well. Any tips for that?
Thank you so much for any advice at all. I’m sure there’s a simple solution that I’m just not seeing (past just throwing the entire workshop and business away).
The hole in the “y” needs to be a different object from the rest and a different color. Fill or outline may set a default but any vector object can be anything, but if it the same color they will be seen as the same thing.
As to the glitches, I strongly suspect that they are nodes pointing a different way. The will show up in Inkscape (and the GFUI) but not in all programs
Thanks everyone! Oddly, I found the solution although I don’t understand it. When AI saves as an SVG, it automatically saves it as SVG 1.1. I’ve only been working with AI for the past couple of years, and never saved anything as 1.0. But since I was experimenting every which way with this file, I recreated everything exactly again, but this time saved it as SVG 1.0. AI popped up with a warning about 1.0 being a depreciated file and it (?) will be removed in the future. I ignored this warning and it worked. It loaded just fine into GF. And it didn’t distort the letters when I reopened the new file.
As far as the descender loop in the “y” - I don’t think I explained that very well. The actual closed path inside this loop, will be cut out. I have no issues with that. But the outer line will be scored. That’s the line that cuts and displays with an inside path and an outside path, resulting in a double score line. Both of these functions- the score line and the cut out loop, exist as separate pieces and are only grouped with the rest of the file. I can manipulate both separately.
For those that stumble upon this question in the future: To create a single score line when GF wants to score a double line/ outline instead:
On Adobe Illustrator- Lock the layer containing your shape. Draw over the shape you want scored using the pen tool (If you don’t know how to use the pen tool, look up a video. I used a Udemy course to learn Adobe Illustrator). Use the direct select tool and manipulate the anchor points and handles to get it just right if needed. Use Object>Path>Simplify if it’s a little messy. Smooth tool works too. Then you can take this new shape and place it where the old double lined paths were. This worked for me
I strongly urge you to change this to 5. Rounding all of the coordinates to 1 decimal place will cause issues with shapes getting distorted.
While you’re at it, it would be a good idea to embed images rather than link, or you won’t be able to use files with images in them. I can’t see the other settings, but make sure Responsive is off.
I wanted to let you know that I copied my project to a new file and let it save as an SVG 1.1 again, but changed the decimal places to 5 like you said. This is the real solution! 1.0 worked for me, but wouldn’t have held out in the long run since it was degraded. I appreciate this so much!
What Chris said was good advice. I had some file with a lot of points and settled on 3 as my sweet spot.
OI also tried to re-create the example you had using Cuttle. The Weld and Score modifier was almost perfect, but any of the letters that overlapped were scored too. I ended up using masks to isolated the shapes. The result is that the test is sill editable, but you have to manually move the masks.
this is making me crazy!).
