i've been using inksacpe for about 6 months , not sure if this is a beginer question or not , but here goes
i have drawn a
brick type pattern and i want to engrave the "mortar" so i need to make either holes on the background or cut the shapes out of the background infill , not sure how to do this , i tried selecting the outside box and one brick and differencing them but they both disappear
i tried infilling the background and cutting the bricks but again things disappear
i know i'm going about it wrong but not sure how to proceed
sorry if this is the wrong way to ask but i got stuck
Let' call the non-uniform shapes "stones", the formal shapes the "window" and the outer boundary the "perimeter".
If I understand correctly, you would like to laser engrave between the stones, within the perimeter, but probably not in the window area or the large rectangle below the window which we can call the "sill".
If this is the case:
I'd union the arched window boundary with the sill (or use copies of them) to be a single path object.
Then I would combine that new object with the perimeter to make a path object (with an arch+sill opening) which could be filled with a solid color.
Then I'd combine all the stones into a single object, than could be used to make openings in the above object... then the fill would only be between the stones, but not in the window area.
That said, there are areas where lines overlap that need to be corrected for the path operations (booleans) to work properly.
Objects currently have stroked paths, and those strokes might be used as engraved outlines or they could be removed so only the fill/engraving defines the stone areas,
The formal designs within the window are still open for discussion.
thank you , i think i understand how this is achieved , by combine , you mean ctrl k , can i do this in one go or do i have to combine 2 "stones " at a time?
how can i check that i have correctly made a path object , just fill with colour?
Fill is not a great indicator of a "closed" path object, which is what the stones, window opening, perimeter need to be. It can sometimes be tricky, and sometimes the best way to tell is if a path is closed is to run a boolean operation.
For grins, I tested the sample file and there were also some issues with duplicated nodes, which can cause issues. These are nodes in a path right on top of each other. They can be selected and joined (button in node toolbar) or one of the nodes can be deleted (but shape may wildly distort).
If I understand the goal properly, I think it can be done... a bit fiddly, but not massively difficult.
yes what you are showing is what i am trying to achieve , i tried to combine the window with the sill , but it didn't work as i thought it would , also how can you tell so quickly that there are duplicate nodes , i look at each part individually but don't see anything wrong ,
so i selected everything and picked the node tool, its hard to see but some of the nodes are smaller and dont have an outline when i move these , they are 2 on top of each other so if i select them and use the join button that gets rid of them , is this correct?
i will have to try again tomorrow , but i can't get it to work , i have bullioned the window and sill, combined with the outer edge but when i do the infill it is completely solid with an outline of the window , i did address all the ovelapping lines and i am currently trying to get rid of all the duplicate nodes ,
I run my Inkscape interface with the older theme, many users are more familiar with it.
to see the geometry of the path segments between the nodes, there is a button in the node tool controls at the top of the workspace, far right: "Show path outline"
is there a way to see duplicate paths? im checking my other parts and at some point i must have duplicated something and now all my brickwork is doubled , i can manually do it one by one , which will take some time or is there a better way?
so i thought i would have a go at fixing my floor ,it took a while but it worked , what i take from this is that i need to be more careful with the shapes i create and make sure they are good before moving on , i assumed that because i finished my line were i had started it that it would be joined together , apparently thats not always the case , but it worked in the end , thank you for your help it is very much appreciated
When drawing paths (e.g. with the Bezier pen), closing the path requires clicking on the first node when the node turns red. It usually works, but missing the spot is not uncommon.
Beginners' Questions infill question
Inkscape.org
i've been using inksacpe for about 6 months , not sure if this is a beginer question or not , but here goes
i have drawn a
brick type pattern and i want to engrave the "mortar" so i need to make either holes on the background or cut the shapes out of the background infill , not sure how to do this , i tried selecting the outside box and one brick and differencing them but they both disappear
i tried infilling the background and cutting the bricks but again things disappear
i know i'm going about it wrong but not sure how to proceed
sorry if this is the wrong way to ask but i got stuck
It's a bit of a wild guess, without seeing the Inkscape svg file.
Fee free to attach a sample file by dragging into the text area or using the paperclip button.
is this ok?
Yes indeed. :-)
Let' call the non-uniform shapes "stones", the formal shapes the "window" and the outer boundary the "perimeter".
If I understand correctly, you would like to laser engrave between the stones, within the perimeter, but probably not in the window area or the large rectangle below the window which we can call the "sill".
If this is the case:
That said, there are areas where lines overlap that need to be corrected for the path operations (booleans) to work properly.
Objects currently have stroked paths, and those strokes might be used as engraved outlines or they could be removed so only the fill/engraving defines the stone areas,
The formal designs within the window are still open for discussion.
thank you , i think i understand how this is achieved , by combine , you mean ctrl k , can i do this in one go or do i have to combine 2 "stones " at a time?
how can i check that i have correctly made a path object , just fill with colour?
thank you again for answering my noob questions
Combine can be used with many paths at once.
Fill is not a great indicator of a "closed" path object, which is what the stones, window opening, perimeter need to be. It can sometimes be tricky, and sometimes the best way to tell is if a path is closed is to run a boolean operation.
For grins, I tested the sample file and there were also some issues with duplicated nodes, which can cause issues. These are nodes in a path right on top of each other. They can be selected and joined (button in node toolbar) or one of the nodes can be deleted (but shape may wildly distort).
If I understand the goal properly, I think it can be done... a bit fiddly, but not massively difficult.
yes what you are showing is what i am trying to achieve , i tried to combine the window with the sill , but it didn't work as i thought it would , also how can you tell so quickly that there are duplicate nodes , i look at each part individually but don't see anything wrong ,
Duplicate nodes are like nits... sometime hard to see.
so i selected everything and picked the node tool, its hard to see but some of the nodes are smaller and dont have an outline when i move these , they are 2 on top of each other so if i select them and use the join button that gets rid of them , is this correct?
your program looks different than mine , same tools just different
i will have to try again tomorrow , but i can't get it to work , i have bullioned the window and sill, combined with the outer edge but when i do the infill it is completely solid with an outline of the window , i did address all the ovelapping lines and i am currently trying to get rid of all the duplicate nodes ,
am i missing something ? why is the infill solid?
The fill can be solid when the fill rule is not set to even/odd, or the sub-paths are not running counter directions to the outer path.
http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/Attributes-Fill-Stroke.html#Attributes-Fill-Rule
There may be other issues, like no-closed paths, but fill rule is most common.
I run my Inkscape interface with the older theme, many users are more familiar with it.
to see the geometry of the path segments between the nodes, there is a button in the node tool controls at the top of the workspace, far right: "Show path outline"
Yes. 👍
thank you , very informative and helpful,i am going to try again tomorrow
Sounds good.
As noted, it can be fiddly but it can be done.
good morning , i tried it again and it worked , thank so much for your help
Excellent! 👏
is there a way to see duplicate paths? im checking my other parts and at some point i must have duplicated something and now all my brickwork is doubled , i can manually do it one by one , which will take some time or is there a better way?
so i thought i would have a go at fixing my floor ,it took a while but it worked , what i take from this is that i need to be more careful with the shapes i create and make sure they are good before moving on , i assumed that because i finished my line were i had started it that it would be joined together , apparently thats not always the case , but it worked in the end , thank you for your help it is very much appreciated
When drawing paths (e.g. with the Bezier pen), closing the path requires clicking on the first node when the node turns red. It usually works, but missing the spot is not uncommon.
Glad to hear you got it sorted. 👍