c2

HOME
ABOUT
EMAIL
BLOG

New! SHOP

CUTTING FILES (free)
DIGITAL FILES (free)
GALLERIES
OTHER
LINKS

Step-by-Step DIY
(to make a good file in Inkscape)

It may look like a lot of steps, it may seem like too much trouble, but once you learn how,
it's really easy. Trust me! I don't do stuff that isn't easy. There may be a better way
to do it, there may be a better tutorial on how to do it out there, I don't know. This is just
how I do it. This does not teach you everything you need to know to use Inkscape.
If you already know how to use Inkscape, this just shows you my step-by-step process
on how I create a file. I hope you find this helpful.
~Mary

latest update:

27 May 2009

	Step 1: Choose your image This page of frames is from Dover. I chose the frame I wanted to work with, and used my graphics program to crop to just this frame.
	Step 2: Clean up your image I used my favorite graphics program to color all the grayed areas black and drew in some white areas that I wanted to leave as openings. I use a very, very old version of Ulead software that came with one of my printers over the years...but you can use whatever you have, even if it is just Microsoft Paint! I like to get my image into just black and white with no shades of gray if possible. If you happen to have a Wacom tablet, it is perfect for this step. You can customize the image now if you wish or later. I do it both ways depending on the file.
	Step 3: Import your image into Inkscape I set my grid settings to .25 inch with guidelines at every 4. I sized my frame and positioned it so that the center section fit as closely to the gridlines as I could get them. The most important thing was sizing it so that the top middle was on a gridline. I almost always draw with my grid on. I love to make my files as symmetrical as possible. I only use my snapping for certain times, though. Otherwise it's a mess to try to draw!
	Step 4: Autotrace your image I can't teach you how to do this exactly - I use an older version of Inkscape that I am comfortable with. In mine, I click PATH>Trace Bitmap and then I click PATH>Simplify to reduce the number of nodes. I think some of the newer versions of Inkscape don't let you see the picture as you trace it...I'm not really sure. If you know how to use Inkscape at all then you know how to get to this point. Way too many people stop at this point and I haven't even really gotten started yet! Just autotracing is not good enough if you are going to share your file.
	Step 5: Break image into pieces Now I select PATH>Break Apart to break my image into pieces. You can skip this step and divide your image in half without breaking it apart, but I like to choose which parts look better. For instance, I might have something on the left side that looks better than its opposite on the right side, so I would flip it and move it over and delete the bad one. We're getting ready to break the image in half. Notice I start with the top center node selected as shown in the photo.
	Step 6: Break image in half I select each node along my center line and break the lines in half all the way down. If I have to move my nodes over to be on that center gridline I do. The photo shows the button I use.
	Step 7: Adjust nodes as necessary See in the photo where the arrow is pointing to a node that is a little sharp instead of being smooth? I go from node to node and adjust any that need smoothing, delete any that can be deleted without drastically changing my shape, and moving some if I need to. This part is trial and error - you can always hit the undo button! After a while you learn what shapes need which nodes to be placed where and it becomes almost automatic. If your image has a lot of nodes (if it was a jagged-edged file to begin with) it may take you longer to go through and delete the unnecessary nodes. When I have to do this I go around clockwise and delete every other node and then I do it again if I need to. Then I go in and do my smoothing.
	This node can be fixed two ways. I can move it down a little to where it makes a point and adjust the node handles to fix my curves on each side of it (what I did) or I can click the little node button thing that looks like this to smooth it: This handy button is one of my MOST used and the secret to why my files cut more smoothly than some. This step takes the longest of any of them but it is worth it.
	Step 8: Put pieces back together Quick and easy - use your mouse to select them all and click PATH>Combine. Note how there are two tiny ovals above and to the right of the arrow that are not split down the middle. These are my alignment shapes that I learned the hard way to always include. You'll see why in the next step.
	Step 9: Duplicate Use your duplicate button then your flip horizontally button to make the other half of your frame. Use those little ovals to align it exactly.
	Step 9: Join the halves together I break apart the half I just added and delete the pieces that were my alignment tools that were doubled. Then I select the whole image, combine it, and start joining it back together. You can see in the photo that the nodes down the middle are not one but two separate ones. You use your mouse to draw a little box around the two that need to be combined and click the button shown by the pink arrow. Once you get used to breaking apart lines and joining them back together you will be able to create so much easier!
	Step 10: Fixing it to this point Now that my image is all one piece again, I change my view to normal and I can see that some of my inside pieces look like they are missing. I select my image, go down to the bottom of my screen where the fill color is, click it, and the box with the colorwheel pops up. Yours might not show the wheel but you can change it to where it does - it doesn't really matter. What is important is that the little buttons where the right arrow is pointing (that look like mouse ears) are what tell you if your image is showing the filled parts correctly. Click on the left mouse ear button and your missing parts will reappear. This is especially important to do if you are saving your files as an i-eps and someone needs to use it in the KNK software. If this step is not done those shapes really WILL be missing. Also, if you have your line color set it will be a pain to convert in KNK. I never use my line color - just my fill.
	Step 11: Decide! Stop or keep going? If I wanted to stop right now, I could add my inner cut out to make the frame and be done. Since this was a Dover clipart image, though, that means that a whole bunch of other people could have made this same exact file - plus it looks like it needs something to me - so I keep going.
	Step 12: Trial and error I think the sides of the frame look funny so I made some rectangles and filled them with white and placed them to cover up the sides to see how it looked. I don't really like it so I delete those rectangles and try something else. Those rectangles would not have deleted the sides - I just did that to see if that is what I wanted to do. This is something else I learned the hard way - to visualize it before I do it. It saves me a lot of "undo" time now. Now would be a good time to make a duplicate copy of your image and set it over to the side of your page just in case you make too many changes and want to start over from this point. Learned that the hard way, too! Oh! And save your file!!! Save every so often!
	Step 13: More trial and error I duplicated my frame and flipped it vertically - then slid it down to where it looks like this in the photo. I like it! This is what I want to work for. If I select both pieces and do a UNION now, though, I am going to get a kabillion little nodes piled on top of each other. I know now how to avoid some of that.
	Step 14: Prepping to do the union See all the nodes highlighted in blue? I boxed around them with my mouse to select them all at once, then I clicked delete and they are gone. I did the same thing for the top half because this is still in two parts.
	Step 15: More prepping to do the union This is one of those things that just comes with experience... but I know if I'm careful about where the overlapped pieces are I will have less nodes to fix later. I just move the handles on the right nodes to make these arc overlaps, being very careful that they don't go outside my edges (which they did until I fixed them).
	Step 16: PATH> Union I love this step. It does create overlapping nodes, though, so be sure to zoom in and delete all those that are unnecessary again.
	Step 17: Adjusting to my grid again I'm getting ready to put in my center opening for my frame so I have to move my image over so that the lines where the arrows are pointing are actually on a line.
	Step 18: Snapping in my rounded rectangle I go to my document settings and click my snapping on, then I draw my rectangle and it pops perfectly into place. It will have two squares and a circle on three of the corners. Use your mouse and move the circle down and to the left to make your rounded corners. Don't forget to go back and turn your snapping off again or it will mess you up later.
	Step 19: Tweaking Again, I could stop at the step above but I like to go the extra minute, so to speak. See where the arrow is pointing? My lines are not exactly on a gridline and they probably wouldn't show up when I cut this file, but why not make it right? It only takes seconds.
	Step 20: More tweaking I just move those wonky nodes over to a gridline and now they are straight. While I'm zoomed in I can see that some pieces of my file look wrong to me...so I play around and change some shapes.
	Step 21: More tweaking These points had like 5 or 6 nodes stacked up on top of each other! You can tell when this happens because the nodes will look funny. Just keep deleting down until it disappears altogether then hit one undo to put one node back. This is another thing that helps a file cut smoothly.
	Step 22: More tweaking I didn't like the little ovals at the top so I deleted them. I changed the circular shape to more of an oval. I outset the very top inside piece and the two lower ones to make them bigger. You can see the difference between the left newer one and the older right one by looking at the bottom arrow. That old right shape looks squinched or something and didn't suit the free flowing style of the rest of the frame to me.
	Step 23: More tweaking This particular part of the file has bugged me since the beginning so I change it for the third time. Now I think it looks okay.
	Step 24: Considering the changes... Since I changed so many things, it is faster and easier to just go around and delete all the inner shapes on the top right and on the bottom half. (You might have to break apart your image first.)
	Step 25: Duplicate and flip - twice I combine all the parts, duplicate, flip horizontally. Break apart, delete the overlapped pieces, and do this again to get the bottom half. It only takes seconds to do - just don't forget to delete those extra, overlapped parts!
	Step 26: Done! If I had not been making this tutorial, I would probably have kept tweaking b/c I like to do it - but I stopped here. It's good - I can tell that there are not any places that I'll have trouble cutting. I go around one last time with my view set to normal and zoom in to make sure there are no nodes that went wonky somewhere. It does happen so always check!
	Step 27: Save it I hope you've been saving this file along the way as something...but now you can save the final versions with your initials on the end so everyone knows that this is a file that you made. If you are sharing, be considerate and save in these file versions: As an Inkscape SVG in case you ever want to change anything As an I-EPS for Mac Users and to import into the KNK software As a DXF to load into the robomaster software to make the GSD I also EXPORT as BMP to make my PNG files later in PSE6
	the finished file you can download this free file from the CUT/frames page

This tutorial is available to download as a PDF file