Exasperating problem with jigsaw shapes

[Brian Lawler]

Hi all,

I am a relatively new Expression/SCAL user, and in general I am happy with the product (SCAL). I am using the machine for prototyping labels and package designs for the printing industry. My experiments have been successful so far.

I am an advanced Illustrator user, and I have drawn a jigsaw puzzle in Illustrator, which I then saved as an SVG file, and placed in SCAL to cut. When I cut, the software cuts lines that are not in my Illustrator SVG file. It makes it impossible for me to make my puzzle.

Here is an example (simulated):

Sample jigsaw puzzle

Jigsaw puzzle 4.png (6.48 KiB) Viewed 1266 times

Above is the puzzle as drawn. The horizontal and vertical lines are independently drawn (I did not draw these as pieces).

When I cut, the results are a mess. This is an example (simulated in red are the kinds of errors I am getting):

Errors

Jigsaw puzzle 4 errors.png (6.94 KiB) Viewed 1263 times

I thought that perhaps the interpretation of the SVG with both horizontal and vertical lines was the cause, so I tried cutting just the vertical lines, and it did similar things, cutting across the little bumps after cutting them correctly.

I am using SVG 1.1 without any additional settings when saving from Illustrator. If I reopen the file in Illustrator (from SVG) it does not have these errors in it, so I don't think that Illustrator is the cause.

I would appreciate solutions from anyone. This seems to me to be a simple project, but it's just not working.

Thank you,

Brian Lawler

[HeatherM]

Best guess without having the svg is that you used lines rather than closed shapes. You need to connect the lines together so that they are closed shapes. HTH

[Brian Lawler]

Heather's solution is what I needed.

How dumb I was! I didn't realize that SCAL will not cut lines (though it has in some of my other designs).

It likes shapes, which simply defined are enclosed sets of lines.

So, here's the answer: I connected the ends of the vertical lines to create a series of shapes (solids, essentially) and that cut beautifully. I did every other end together to make a serpentine pattern, which cut quite fast. At the end I connected the top right to the lower-left to make the outer box.

Weeding the parts is a lot of work, but I have succeeded, thanks for your help.

Brian