Iām very much a newbie with inkscape(version .92 in my case), but why do you have a 'background ā ?
And why is it set to transparent ?
All documents have a background. Setting it to transparent, in my case, allows me to see the vectors. Many people do design work with Inkscape and related software, so for instance if you were making a big poster of the sky at night, you would want the background to be black so you could see the bright stars you design and place on the background. Or, maybe you want a blue sky on a nice day.
Have fun with Inkscape!!! Its good entertainment!!!
Wow! Really? This is fascinating. No one ever came up with this beforeā¦at least to me. There should be a way to do it in AD, thoughā¦thatās a PITA to have to do it the long way like that. I will try it out. Thanks!
Hrmā¦ Not sure when Iāll have time to work on this, but it shouldnāt be too hard to write an Automator script for OSX that you could drop an SVG into that would programmatically strip out those tags and save it out.
Iāll be sure to share it here when/if I get it working. Iāll be pretty motivated in March ā work isnāt renewing my Adobe CC subscription, so Iāll be dependent on AD and [shudder] Inkscape.
When my Glowforge first arrived (August 2017), I had to do this pretty regularly, but I honestly canāt remember the last time I needed to. Something must have changed in my AD workflow, but Iām not sure what it is.
There are a few ways to end up with clipping paths. Some of them have easy ways to get rid of the clipping path and others donāt. Some of the clipping paths are only created on export to SVG; theyāre not actually there while the file is open in AD. In some of those cases you can then re-open the SVG in AD and delete the clipping path, but it may well re-appear when you re-export to SVG.
In experimenting with this I ran across a few bugs in AD where sometimes it doesnāt import clipping paths correctly from SVG files, even SVG files that were created in AD. (It looks like theyāre aware of this though, so hopefully they fix it soon.)
Perhaps it will come back to you and you can share it! I know Iām not the only one using AD that would like to know this. I also got my machine in Aug.'17. I had a PRU before that. I do know one thing for certain, it used to be that anytime a āclipping pathā error would show up in the UI, you couldnāt proceed any further. At least now, you can just ignore it and move forward.
Oh yeah! That would be deluxeā¦and you would be my knight in shining, lasered armor!
I even searched the Affinity website and used the *ahemā¦help feature in app. and there were no results at all for clip path or clipping pathā¦like it didnāt even recognize the term.
Hi Tim,
it took me a few minutes to wake up enough to realise why I found your description of your workspace so different to mine.
I think it comes down to how we approach our work.
Having got the laser before I started to use inkscape, I tend to think only in cutting lines, because I havenāt yet thought about what I might do with engraves.
My prime need is to concentrate on controlling the shape of the components of my fans, both sticks and inlays.
When Iāve got that under control, I can start thinking about surface decoration !
Consequently, I havenāt yet started using layers/gradients/filters etc so Iām still very much a flatlander.
John
OK, I have been reading in the forums for the last month, and I have no idea what the software requirements are for using my Glowforge, when it comes. (Later this month? I just got my proofgrade shipment.) Can someone point me to the place where software is discussed for the new user? Or is there a wonderful manual that comes with the printer that makes everything clear?!
Suggested order of study is outlined below :
Whatās āthe Matrixā?
At the top of the forum page, under All Categories, youāll find Glowforge Tips and Tricks.
Regarding what software, basically youāll need a photoediting program to convert pictures into something the GF can accept, as engraves, and a drawing program (think lines not pictures) that it will accept as cuts.
The links in that writeup take you directly to it. Basically itās a series of spreadsheets that list links to all the tutorials, by category.
Very nice compilation of information and tutorials.
I have a question about the ornament project you demonstrated in the āHow to get Perfect Alignmentā tutorial:
The raster graphic you used appears to have a white fill background, and in other places people talk about fills causing engraving. If the entire graphic is a rectangle, is white being identified as āignoredā before creation? Otherwise the entire rectangle shape would be engraved?
Am I misunderstanding something about how raster graphics file get handled, or is the topic of āfillsā limited to vector SVGs and PDFs?
Last questions for tonight:
Raster graphics can contain a huge number of colors, caused by blending from one color to another. Do bitmap (raster) files uploaded to the GF app need to be a certain color depth (shallowness?) in order to select colors for sequencing by the Glowforge? Otherwise there can be an awful lot of āgreenā colors or āredā colors, et ceteraā¦
Thanks for all your work,
I hope I can contribute meaningfully once I get started, too.
(Eyeing that UI webdesign job for the interface on the GF website, from afar)
Robert
Great question! Raster graphics are treated differently from vector engraves. (Those are rasterized versions of a vector image that I created a few years ago for a party. It was all I had handy and didnāt want to troll the internet for images.)
In raster images, white is always ignored. Itās only white vector fill that is treated as any other fill color.
Thanks @Xabbess and @bdm1! Iām seeing this too, and Iāll pass on the feedback.
Since thereās great conversation here, Iām going to leave this thread open for now. For future reference, itās most effective to create a new post for each new question.
Guilty as Charged, Rita.
Iāll try to try to do better. I canāt promise Iāll try, but Iāll try to tryā¦