I need help!!!!!

[comancherose]

I am trying to follow the tutorial "making a frame and welding a letter or number to it" which is on this website. I am working in inkscape and I have gone through the entire thing several times. Everything on my screen looks exactly like the tutorial, except the very last one. I opened the file in scal and my preview shows that everything will cut out as separate pieces. What am I doing wrong? Why can I not get one piece to cut consisting of the frame and numbers? I am very new to SCAL and inscape. Any suggestions are appreciated!!!

[papasue]

Maybe I can help.

Tutorials written for Inkscape .46 may not work if you are using Inkscape .47. This maybe your problem.

If you can tell me which tutorial you are using and which version of Inkscape you are using that would help in figuring out what is going on.

Also, if you can post or send me, via PM, the .svg file I'll take a look.

[comancherose]

I have inkscape .47. I'm not sure about the tutorial but it's one of the three on the Craft Edge website. Not sure of the version. I bet that is my problem. I have followed the directions exactly with no success.

[missiethegal]

The bottom line on inkscape holds invaluable info about what types of objects are on your page... when I was going through the tutorial just now at the point where you got stuck when I Selected All (Ctl+A), it read...

"3 objects of types Group, Path in layer Layer 1"

so hopefully if that is what yours says, this is the method to fix it...


I think what happens on the newest version of Inkscape (.47) is that after you complete the tutorial step "Path>Object to Path" the numbers/letters you created form a Group. This didn't happen in the older version. Inkscape can't "Union" groups so we must "Ungroup" them first...


So for Inkscape to combine (union) them to the frame, you have to make sure both numbers/letters are selected ("Select All" worked just fine) and go to Object>Ungroup. Once the groups are gone you are now able to continue on with the Path>Union step and then transfer it into SCAL Should be easy peasy, sounds like the tutorial needs an update!


Another trick to keep in mine is to go up to "Edit" and see what "Undo" says next to it... if you selected Union but it didn't do anything, it won't say "Undo: Union," but "Undo"+the previous step you did. Unfortunately Inkscape doesn't alert you if you aren't able to do an action (like Union) so you can go crazy following directions and not have a clue what is going wrong!!!

[papasue]

Good answer missie.

There was a discussion when Ink .47 came out about rectangles and text differences between .46 and .47 here. Perhaps this will help too.

http://forums.surecutsalot.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=9248

[comancherose]

Following your directions, I have finally got this to work. Thanks so much for your help. I feel confident I will be able to learn this program with this kind of support. I am in way over my head here. Thanks again.

[missiethegal]

Following your directions, I have finally got this to work. Thanks so much for your help. I feel confident I will be able to learn this program with this kind of support. I am in way over my head here. Thanks again.

We've all been there, believe me!!! Glad you finally were able to master the tutorial
That tutorial is a little confusing since there are a lot of shortcuts that are hard to follow for newbies (and of course even more frustrating when they don't work like they say they will!!!). Luckily, with the newest edition of SCAL2, you can do lots of stuff like this without even having to open inkscape, yippee!!

Welcome, and never hesitate to ask questions

melissa