Iām assuming youād like to go from what youāre showing there to a few lines in the middle and a solid outline, so Iāll show how to do this. Start with what you have: (Iāve highlighted one shape with node editing so you can see how itās built:
Select everything then āBreak Apartā to turn it into a bunch of disconnected shapes:
Select All, then Edit > Delete Duplicates to remove the overlapping parts:
Now, select the top, bottom, and sides, and use Edit > Auto Join to connect them into a single outline:
Then select the middle parts and join them too. You might want to put the inside lines on their own layer, just to guarantee that they cut first. Single lines sometimes get treated as āoutsideā because they donāt have an inside at all.
The approach you have demonstrated appears to be ideal / best practice. How would you compare this approach to the alternative route of overlapping the objects and leveraging the optimization setting of Remove Overlapping Lines?
I have really enjoyed having that optimization setting feature and find myself using it more often now.
That will work, but ultimately this produces a more predictable and smoother resulting cut. The overlap removal happens after path ordering, and still progresses āobject by objectā, whereas what Iāve done here is fuse them into single, continuous shapes that will plan more efficiently.
I managed to cut my stuff, much less laser time butā¦
I started over again with one shape. I used the array and generated five shapes x 2 y and mirrored it. Selected all, edit nodes, break apart. Removed 13 duplicates. Selected blue lines (different layer) and joined but it does not join.
Selected the complete outline (black lines), it joins the bottom half circles an the two vertical lines on the side but the top half circles does not want to join.
I use Windows 7 Professional and Lightburn Version 0.9.14
I attach the file. I do not know if I do something wrong.Terminal cover 2.lbrn (26.2 KB)
Whenever you get a chance - no hurry - I did my cutting as is