HELP SEPERATING IN INKSCAPE

[akhall3]

My question is when you seperate pieces of an image, how do you save each piece as a different image so that when you go to cut it out your not wasting paper cutting everything on all the different paper ? For instance , I have an apple, I have seperated the apple from the stem and the leave, so how do I get the stem and leave in its own seperate so I can only cut the apple on red paper, the stem on brown paper and the leave on green ?? I hope this makes sense ! haha

[HeatherM]

Why do you need to? Just move the pieces far enough apart that you can put the different colors of paper on the same mat. I love that I can now cut all of my pieces all at once (usually) instead of loading the mat several times.

[JustAnsa]

I know what you mean...but I dont know if this is the RIGHT way..but
what I do is open it in inkskape and then ungroup and delele all the other pieces except for say the red apple, then save it has apple.svg, then I undo hisotry and then delete all except for the stem, and save it as stem.svg , then I undo history and delete all pieces except for the green leaf, and save it as green leaf.svg.
Does that make sense...and is this how everyone else does it?
ansa

[papasue]

I just look at the design on the SCAL mat screen paying attention to the inch markers.

I then take my literal mat and layout the colored pieces of paper to the same places and cut.

Here's a picture and yes I am a "blue painter tape" user. it is so much easier than hoping that all the pieces stick down.

You can also import several .svg files onto the same SCAL mat. it works best if you want both SCAL files (.scut) and Inkscape files (.svg) to start with the .scut since you open them and then import the .svg files. Then move them around as needed. Sometimes you do need to go into inkscape and move the pieces farther apart, depending on how the designer place them in Inkscape.

I hope this makes sense and am sure others have different ways to do it.

[JustAnsa]

Susan,

I understand that your way is good when your have 3 different things to cut...but what do you do when you open a file and there is say...........an egg shell, a bird wing, a bird, a beak and eyes...and they are all close together?

[firstcut]

You have to open them in Inkscape and ungroup them and/or break them apart. Then you select the ones of the same color (click on first one, shift click on the rest) and drag them to a separate part of the mat. Or you can save them to different files, or different layers, depending on what you feel more comfortable with. It is always easiest to put them on the same mat if possible because then they stay the proper size in relation to each other without having to resize each color set separately.

[papasue]

Thanks Kay, I'll let you handle the question from here on.

I think I know the file she is referring to:

Perhaps the designer could be contacted and she can pitch in her two cents worth.

[firstcut]

Thanks Susan. I get it now.
Ansa, if that is the file you are talking about then you can do it as in Susan's photo because the pieces are already pulled apart and separated by color. If you think you would be more comfortable moving them further apart, then you could still do so with the instructions I gave.

[papasue]

One more thing. The pieces are "grouped" so in order to separate them you need to select them all (it is one box) and then do an Object>ungroup. Click off an then on each piece. Then you can move the yellow pieces on the right side, the mat in the middle and the egg on the right side. You don't need to regroup them. Then just lay out the paper on the mat as I suggested and your good. You might have to go back and forth between SCAL and Inkscape trying your layout until you get the right size for you.

And oh, I'd delete the eyes and just draw them in or use a hold punch. Unless you make your design really big the eyes won't cut anyway.

EXAMPLE:
Just go into Inkscape and line up your pieces like the second photo. Then import the .svg into SCAL and using the screen mat layout your paper making sure the pieces are correctly oriented on the mat running the correct direction on the Cricut Mat. This is the hardest part.

I've done what I can, I hope this helps.



Hope this helps. Let us know how it turns out.

[akhall3]

WOW thanks so much to all of you for the great information!! YOu have helped so much !