Starting to panic

[SandyMc]

I am very new. I have SCAL Pro 3 and Inkscape. I am trying to "clean up" an svg file I have and am having little luck navigating around YouTube and forums for the answers. I will try to upload the file. My question is: there is a barbell looking shape near the center bottom of this file and I am trying to get it to join together and cut as outlined rather than all the little segmented lines. Can someone please tell me how to get rid of the extra cut lines through either SCAL or Inkscape? This is due Friday and I'm hoping to get it done in time for a customer. Please help!

[HeatherM]

You have some open Paths in that area. Since the fill looks correct and you're working in Inkscape, the easiest fix is to use Path/Union on it. Inkscape will essentially convert the fill to a shape. If the fill was strange looking you would need to use the node tool to close the Path. HTH

[newbiecat]

Hi
took a quick look only at the bottom half and discovered you have a series of un-joined lines

here is an svg with two layers - the pink is your original file showing where the issue was

on the other layer is one solution - however you will be able to edit the nodes and change it to how you want it to look

good luck hope this is in time

Pandora

h barbell 2.svg

(83.29 KiB) Downloaded 259 times

use shift +ctrl + l to see the layers in Inkscape

[SandyMc]

Thank you so much for your reply. I've been at this all day and am still obviously lost. I have tried to select the problem area and I get the message at the bottom of Inkscape saying "Group of 1 object in root. Click selection to toggle to scale/rotation handles." With that selected I have tried Path/Union and am not seeing any change at all to the file. I would ask again for more help and further clarification. I am very much in the dark right now, but hope to get better each day. I guess asking questions is the best way to learn. Hopefully someday I will be good at this and able to help other people.

[SandyMc]

Newbiecat - Thank you! I didn't see your reply before replying to HeatherM. The issue really is I don't want all those cut lines, I want it to cut as one outline. I hope that makes sense.

I DID find the same font in a Make the Cut file and it seems to be what I want. I wish I knew how to convert a Make the Cut file to Sure Cuts a Lot. My other option is to buy Make the Cut software, but really can't afford to do that at this time. I am attaching a screen shot of what it looks like as one outline.

[HeatherM]

Sandy,

Sorry that I missed the Group in the file, I must have bumped Control at some point so that the Path was selected instead of the whole Group. All you need to do in this case is right click and select Ungroup and then you can use Path/Union. You can only use Path/Union on Paths, not groups or images.

I have a couple of Inkscape Path menu tutorials that might help you get started with Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

[papasue]

The font used if Regal, free download from daFont.com and others font sites.

It might be easier to start with the H in the font, ungroup and move the pieces around where you want them attached and then path/union. Or split it if you want the split and then move the pieces around.

Just another idea to help get it done on time.

[SandyMc]

Thank you for all your help. I am not getting it to work and I know I am doing myself a big disservice for trying under pressure to learn a hard program. You all are very talented and have probably been working with this program for years.

I am going to try to find a set of tutorials, or maybe a local class to learn this, but today is not the day.

Again, I appreciate you trying to help me so, so much! It is wonderful to have a forum where I can ask questions and get timely answers.

Sandy

[newbiecat]

Hi
at work now and dont have access to inkscape or I would have a crack now during lunch but I can try this evening.

Just to clarify - do you want all of the bits with the barbell to cut as one as per the look of your original file ?

As Susan said you cannot use Path /union on a group so must ungroup it - also the fact that you have lines that are not joined can cause an issue. If you open my file and then use node editor - 2nd button on left hand tool bar click on the separated parts and then click and drag the nodes until they overlap - then you can use Path / union on the shape and it should get closer to want you want

If tha doesnt work, I can try to do that tonight when I get in but it wont be until about 8pm London , UK time if that is any help


regards
Pandora

[SandyMc]

I was going to download the regal alphabet and redo the split, I've watched several videos explaining how and taken notes, but every file I can find to download has those cutouts in that "barbell" section. Because time is wasting away and I can't get it to cooperate in Inkscape, I am going to have to switch to the alphabet available from the Make a Cut forum and download that software. I really shouldn't spend that money right now, but in order to get on with my life I'm going to have to. I have already spent so many hours on this, and while I'm aware that I will learn more by fixing it, I am also not doing other things I should be doing because I am focusing on this one thing and getting more and more frustrated.

Newbiecat - I really appreciate your offer to fix it more. But I am just going to resort to the easy way out and learn more about Inkscape later. Yes, I wanted it to look like the screen shot I included with my one post. Those cutouts looked dippy to me and were hard to weed and transfer. Because it was completely cutting out sections instead of leaving parts of it to be weeded and parts to stay with the vinyl monogram.

So thank you one and all. I am hoping to one day look back at this and laugh at myself. I'm sure I will.