I’m tearing my hair out here. I make a ruler. It is full of tick lines THAT ARE TOO THIN.
I’ve tried offset. That takes to warnings that the lines arent closed. When I ask it to show me there is nothing to show. Go figure…
Ive tried making a thicker stroke in AI then importing that. The lines are the same thickness.
How the hell do you change a line to a fill anyway? The software hates it when I do that.
Offset is a moving target. I does make things thicker but it engraves in dots where fill is nice and smooth. Besides I like the outline after a nice fill and lines don’t do that?
If my concern does not make sense it’s because I don’t know what question to ask or what is going wrong. I wish there were someone I could talk to instead of sitting here typing like a freaking caveman.
Offset is a closed shape and do what you want.
You could post your .lbrn file.
To make line after fill in the Cut/Layer settings you have to use a sub-layer, first-sub layer fill second sub-layer line.
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You can also draw a little rectangle and use the Array tool to draw your ruler. Ruler test.lbrn2 (7.9 KB)
I don’t have Adobe Illustrator, but I can give you a pointer in Inkscape-ese that you may be able to translate to AI.
Let’s say I have a design in Inkscape made out of a bunch of open path segments that I want to turn into closed shapes that I can fill in LightBurn. All I have to do in Inkscape is to set the “Stroke style” to something appropriately chunky, then go to the Path menu and select Stroke to Path. That takes the current “Stroke paint” and “Stroke style” and basically renders it into a filled shape that matches the dimensions. Save that and import it into LightBurn, and you’ve got your closed shapes with their dimensionality intact.
(As I understand it, LightBurn imports the paths as lines without regard to the stroke style, so changing the stroke style doesn’t change the imported result. Converting the stroke to a path, however, and it’s now a closed shape ready to fill.)
Note: A quick Google seems to say the equivalent in Illustrator may be Object / Path / Outline Stroke.
A line is just a 1 dimensional object. It has no “thickness”. What shows up from your laser is just your laser’s “kerf”, i.e. the “thickness” of your laser.
If you want something wider, you will need to make it two dimensional and then fill and/or outline. I think you want each of your “ticks” to be narrow boxes.
That did the trick! This helps me a great deal as I have sought a solution for the longest time, how to thicken my lines or at least use fill instead of lines.
This is what works " in Illustrator may be `Object / Path / Outline Stroke."
Thank you so very much for this response.
Highest regards,
Wes
That’s exactly what it is. Therefore, they are the easiest to defocus the laser to achieve the desired effect of wider lines.
I have made some rulers this way.
Thanks for responding. Good to know that Offset is a closed shape. Also, I needed the reminder of the importance of the order fill first, line second.
The answer that got me out of this pickle was to use Object > Path > Outline Stroke and then export that into Lightburn. It will then be a fill.
Thank you for tossing me a life raft!
Wes
Offset is a closed shape and do what you want.