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Print Thick or Stylized Strokes

What is a stylized stroke?

When creating a vector design, many programs have the option to adjust the thickness of a path or apply stylized strokes to paths. Using stylized strokes is an easy way to create beautiful line-work in designs. In the following example, several different styles have been applied to the same line:

4 thick, stylized, wavy strokes created in Illustrator

Designs containing thick strokes or stroke styles might not load as expected in the Glowforge app.

There are two ways to ensure your design comes out the way you intended:

Converting Strokes to a Bitmap 

For some stroke styles, converting the stroke to an outline might not be a good option as it would create objects which are very complex or have a high number of nodes. This could lead to slowing the upload and processing time for your design. The following are examples of stroke styles which might not work well as an outline:

2 thick, stylized, wavy strokes created in Illustrator 

Taking a closer look at the example on the left, when it’s outlined it results in a very complex design with many individual nodes:

a thick, stylized, wavy strokes created in Illustrator

For paths using styles similar to these, convert to a bitmap by rasterizing them. A guide to rasterizing vector objects can be found here.

Converting Strokes to an Outline 

For strokes that you want to engrave with a specific thickness and simple shape, convert them to outlines using Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape.

 

In Inkscape:

  • Click the selection tool Screenshot of the Inkscape selection tool, and then select the stroke(s) you want to outline.

  • In the menu bar, click Path > Stroke to Path.
    Screenshot of the menu in Inkscape
  • If you now switch to an outline view by clicking Menu Bar > View > Display Mode > Outline you’ll see that your stroke now has a closed path around it.
    Screenshot of an outlined path in Inkscape

 

In Adobe Illustrator:

  • Click the Selection Tool Screenshot of the Illustrator selection tool, and then select the stroke(s) you want to outline.

  • In the menu bar, click Object > Path > Outline Stroke
    Screenshot of the menu in Adobe Illustrator

  • If you now switch to the outline view by clicking Menu Bar > View > Outline you’ll see that your strokes now have a closed path around them.
    Screenshot of outlined paths in Illustrator

 

Once you’ve outlined a stroke in Inkscape or Adobe Illustrator, you’ll no longer be able to edit its thickness or style.

Once this is saved as an SVG and uploaded into the app, the stroke now appears as an outline which can easily be cut, engraved or scored:

Screenshot of an outlined path imported into the Glowforge App workspace

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