Inkscape Union Difficulties

[acourtjester]

Well rokcrler I did learn from your tutorial I had used a different approach to separate nodes to break a line/shape. I used a 2 step method. Thanks now only one step.

break at node.jpg (45.12 KiB) Viewed 1013 times

[ROKCRLER]

Tom... if you liked that one, you should try this one

[acourtjester]

that was the 2 step one I used I would add a node then break the 2 apart to separate a line.

[adbuch]

See if this makes sense.


I dont recall exactly what i did yesterday, but today i noticed a bunch of groupings, so you'll see me fumbling around to ungroup some... such is life.

Rokcrler, thanks for your video.
I just spent several hours following along with your video, and here is my result.

But when I save as dxf r14 and open with Design Edge, it looks like this.

My SV with problems.svg

(85 KiB) Downloaded 58 times

When I open my svg with CorelDraw, it looks like this.

Any ideas where I went wrong?
Thanks,
David

[adbuch]

I was wondering if something was wrong with the Inkscape export, so I tried to save your svg file from Inkscape as dxf and was not able to do it. Any ideas why I could not save it?
Thanks,
David

[adbuch]

When I open your svg with CorelDraw, it looks like this.

I also opened it with LightBurn.

Much better than mine, and the extra circle is easy to delete - which is what I expect Rick did when he cut his part.
Any ideas why the extra circle is there?

Thanks,
David

[adbuch]

I am also wondering how the OP Rick came up with his supplied file that you fixed and did the demo video on. I assume that he did an auto trace of his original image, and then somehow got off track when he was attempting to edit it.

I haven't followed along with Tom's video yet, I will do that tomorrow and see if I can come out any better.

But yes - I need to spend lots of time watching the Youtube videos to really learn the ins and outs of Inkscape.

David

[ROKCRLER]

David.. i too had the multiple circles, and multiple outlines in the letters a few times.
I usually select the object and ungroup several times and thats when i noticed the wonky file.

Here i ungrouped the file and broke it down to only the 6 parts needed. then differenced the two circles, combined the letters, edited nodes on the swoops and converted to path then unioned like in the video. With this one, i had to work in outline a bit to get only the objects i needed.

SV1.JPG (72.13 KiB) Viewed 1001 times

SV2.JPG (97.96 KiB) Viewed 1001 times

[acourtjester]

Well if you trace with edge detection you will get an outside and a inside line for each edge of the drawing. If you use Brightness cutoff you only get one line for the edge. In the attached image the right side is brightness cutoff and left side is edge detection. I still like to used no fill verses outline. This was taken from a screenshot of the PDF not the actual file. Edge detection just adds more thing to be removed to make a cut file.

[adbuch]

I am also wondering how the OP Rick came up with his supplied file that you fixed and did the demo video on. I assume that he did an auto trace of his original image, and then somehow got off track when he was attempting to edit it.

I haven't followed along with Tom's video yet, I will do that tomorrow and see if I can come out any better.

But yes - I need to spend lots of time watching the Youtube videos to really learn the ins and outs of Inkscape.

David

Thanks for the tip. What I was saying is that the file you posted that the OP used for cutting had that extra circle, and when I opened your file with Inkscape I was not able to save as dxf. If you could post the result of your recent explanation, I will take a look
Thanks,
David

[adbuch]

Tom - I didn't trace. I was using the original file the OP was having problems with and following Rokcrler's video to try to duplicate. I expect I did something wrong and didn't follow all of his steps correctly. The thing that baffles me is why the OP didn't just do an auto trace from his pdf.

Here is how I would have done it, as I posted earlier. I realize this has nothing to do with editing the messed up file posted by the OP, but here it is anyway.

The entire process takes maybe a minute or so to do.

Screen shot his pdf and save as jpeg
Import to Inkscape and trace bitmap -brightness cutoff is the default
Save as svg or dxf.

No further editing required.

Jpeg to trace

sv.jpg (28.47 KiB) Viewed 995 times

Saved as dxf and opened with DE to check

sv from pdf.dxf

(36.17 KiB) Downloaded 59 times

sv from pdf.svg

(7.1 KiB) Downloaded 54 times

[ROKCRLER]

Well if you trace with edge detection you will get an outside and a inside line for each edge of the drawing. If you use Brightness cutoff you only get one line for the edge. In the attached image the right side is brightness cutoff and left side is edge detection. I still like to used no fill verses outline. This was taken from a screenshot of the PDF not the actual file. Edge detection just adds more thing to be removed to make a cut file.

Excellent tip Tom... I use your method when tracing bitmap, however, the original file shared i just jumped into it.

[ROKCRLER]

David.. i too got the same error saving as dxf. I ended up importing the SVG to QCad and saving as DXF12, not sure why, unless the original file were working with is in fact wonky.
Here is the file i originally posted saved as dxf12

[acourtjester]

times 2 on the wonky original file, Hopefully the OP will have learned how to do it so he does not have any future problems.
Seeing different types of problems we learn from each other, plus as there are more than one way to skin a cat.
Sometimes it is better to back away from what was started and attack some other way.

[adbuch]

David.. i too got the same error saving as dxf. I ended up importing the SVG to QCad and saving as DXF12, not sure why, unless the original file were working with is in fact wonky.
Here is the file i originally posted saved as dxf12

Thanks! I opened your dxf12 and it looks fine.
David

[adbuch]

times 2 on the wonky original file, Hopefully the OP will have learned how to do it so he does not have any future problems.
Seeing different types of problems we learn from each other, plus as there are more than one way to skin a cat.
Sometimes it is better to back away from what was started and attack some other way.

Thanks Tom. I'm wondering if perhaps the OP Rick used several different programs to come up with his file and thus corrupted it.
Lots of messing around here for something that could have been done in a minute or so. But as you say, "more than one way to skin a cat".
Plus this offers a chance for Inkscape beginners like me to try something more challenging.

David

[adbuch]

David.. i too had the multiple circles, and multiple outlines in the letters a few times.
I usually select the object and ungroup several times and thats when i noticed the wonky file.

Here i ungrouped the file and broke it down to only the 6 parts needed. then differenced the two circles, combined the letters, edited nodes on the swoops and converted to path then unioned like in the video. With this one, i had to work in outline a bit to get only the objects i needed.

SV1.JPG
SV2.JPG
SV3.JPG
SV4.JPG

Thanks Rokcrler!! I didn't realize that there were multiple levels of grouped pieces. I had to ungroup about 5 times to see most of them, and then ungroup and break apart the extra letters so they would all show up in Normal display mode. Once I had all the extra parts dragged off to the side, your process worked great.

I need to do some studying up to see what the difference is between Stroke to Path and Object to Path. I'm pretty sure it is Object to Path for converting text. I am guessing that Stroke to Path converts the line (single line in outline mode view) to a line width determined by the Stroke width setting. But maybe I am wrong on that.

[adbuch]

I tried importing the OP supplied pdf into Inkscape to see what would happen.

[ROKCRLER]

See if this makes sense.
Object to path creates either inside or outside cut
Stroke to path creates both inside and outside cuts

[adbuch]

See if this makes sense.
Object to path creates either inside or outside cut
Stroke to path creates both inside and outside cuts

[adbuch]

I found this video which is helping me to understand these concepts of Object to Path vs. Stroke to Path.
David

[Rickzink]

Great videos and info. Thanks for the education. Sorry for the delayed response and update....I got sidetracked by an awesome vacation!!!

I was able to work on those files following both of the suggestions I previously received on here. It worked both ways.

I really appreciate all the support and assistance.

Thanks!!!!