Craft Edge

In previous versions of SCAL (sometime before 2.038) one could create layers in Inkscape and these would be interpreted as folders in SCAL. This was very useful for arranging objects. For example, if you had a tree with leaves and a trunk, you could put the leaves in one layer/folder and the trunk in another. Then when you cut you could show or hide the part(s) you were cutting for a given type of paper.

This has changed. SCAL now "flattens" the groups and puts every path in its own layer and the SVG file is treated as one folder.

This significantly degrades SCAL's interaction with SVG files.

This flattening can be partially worked around in Inkscape by "Combine"ing all of the paths you want in one layer. Then in SCAL you can "Object->Break Apart" the combined path to interact with individual shapes/objects.

- Jasen.

Maybe write to tech support about it,....

http://craftedge.com/support/support.html

Can't the individual items be grouped as one would want the layers to be and then they suddenly are in folders for the layers.

I just opened a .svg and like you say...all the parts were in one folder...I selected the ones I wanted to cut together and grouped and they moved out of the one folder and into another of their own.

Maybe I am not understanding the issue.

gj1 wrote:Can't the individual items be grouped as one would want the layers to be and then they suddenly are in folders for the layers.

Some files can have so many pieces that it is very difficult to do that. Maureen had one the other day and she said there were something like 80 layers, way too tedious and a PITA to merge or group them all in SCAL.

I agree, each Path on its own layer is Not an improvement.

I wonder if that was deliberate or a by product of some other program improvement.

I have expressed my displeasure about this new "feature" as well. Having each new thing on a new layer is a real pain, especially since it is so hard to zoom in to a particular place on the mat and select a small piece. Todd hasn't responded as to whether this was on purpose or a by product.

talanhart wrote:I wonder if that was deliberate or a by product of some other program improvement.

I vaguely recall an issue with the latest version of Inkscape being "group happy" and making lots & lots of nested groups. You had to be careful to ungroup everything before saving it for SCAL as I recall. Perhaps flattening everything was a "fix" for this issue.

Glad to see I'm not the only one who feels whiny about this change. One of my big concerns is that this change breaks SVG files designed to work with older SCUT 2.0x versions.

- Jasen.

I agree, I don't like this change.

The layers from a SVG should still be grouped into subfolders when imported, so if they are not, it is something we will need to fix in the program.

So please do not try to modify the SVG files to accommodate the layer/folder issue as we will try to fix this shortly.

Nope, they are all importing into separate layers in one folder with no sub-folders.