Will eliminating "background" save my time?

[Jules]

Remove the white fill color inside the rectangle. (Just set it to none.) The Glowforge interface treats any vector Fill color as something to be engraved, even white fill color.

If you don’t want to cut the rectangle after removing the fill, convert it to a Score in the GFUI.

Here’s a little writeup that helps with setting up vector files for the Glowforge interface:

Glowforge Interface - Vector Files Made Easy

It’s soooooo easy to create files easily in programs like Illustrator, Inkscape, CorelDraw and Affinity Designer if you understand what the Glowforge interface sees when it looks at your file. (Think of this as a last batch of Tips and Tricks, then I’ll quit bugging you.) I’m going to demo in Illustrator again, but the same things will be done in whatever program you choose to use for your designs. If you have questions about specifics for other kinds of drawing and modeling software, …