Did you ever want to make a sign with a simple Font, it looks right on the screen, but after you finish cutting, and pick up your piece, you find out that you lost the inside of "A", "B", "O", "D" "P"... frustrated?
Well, you are not alone, "stencil" style font is the solution, but what if there is a specific font you like, but it does not come with a stencil style font, don't worry, with a little elbow grease, it can be done.
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Step 1
Let's make a simple "HELLO" sign.
Step 1: Create an oval shape by inserting a circular shape, by not holding the shift key, you would be able to create an oval
Step 2: Insert a text, let's just use the default xTool font
Step 3: Resize the font to fit the oval, select both the font and the oval shape, then align with "Horizontal align Center" and "Vertical align Center"
Step 4: While both are still selected, go to "Combine", and use "Subtract"
Step 5: You would end up with an oval shape with the "Hello" cut out, it seems fine in the software, but after laser cutting it, you will find out that the center of the "O" fall off, and you end up having a big hole left. That is because that piece is not connected to anything.
Step 2
So here is the solution, you just need to connect that piece to the oval base
Step 1: Insert a small rectangle, and ideally, use a width close to the width of the font, and make sure the rectangle overlaps the inside circle and the oval shape.
Step 2: Select the oval shape, the inside circle of the "O" and the "Rectangle", fo to "Combine", and use "Unite" to weld them together
Step 3: I set the result to "Engrave", so you can see it better, now the center of the "O" is connected to the rest of the oval.
(you can always add another rectangle to the other side of the "O")
Step 3
Basically, you can do this with any font you like, but sometimes, adding a circular shape might work better, here is an example with a script font.
Step 1: Insert the text, change the "Typeface" and "Size", then use "Weld" to weld the connecting letters to one piece
Step 2: Since it is a script font, with all the curve lines, it will look better to insert circular shapes instead, so I use oval and crescent shapes.
Step 3: Select everything and go to "Combine", and use "Subtract" to make the cutout
Here is the result (Again, I switch to Engrave, just for better visual), all the closed portions are broken apart
You probably notice that in the first example, I use "Unite", because it was done after I cut out the text from the shape, I was trying to connect the circle inside of the "O" to the oval.
But for the second example, I used "Subtract", it is because I was cutting out those added shapes from the text.
No data
Let's make a simple "HELLO" sign.
Step 1: Create an oval shape by inserting a circular shape, by not holding the shift key, you would be able to create an oval
Step 2: Insert a text, let's just use the default xTool font
Step 3: Resize the font to fit the oval, select both the font and the oval shape, then align with "Horizontal align Center" and "Vertical align Center"
Step 4: While both are still selected, go to "Combine", and use "Subtract"
Step 5: You would end up with an oval shape with the "Hello" cut out, it seems fine in the software, but after laser cutting it, you will find out that the center of the "O" fall off, and you end up having a big hole left. That is because that piece is not connected to anything.
So here is the solution, you just need to connect that piece to the oval base
Step 1: Insert a small rectangle, and ideally, use a width close to the width of the font, and make sure the rectangle overlaps the inside circle and the oval shape.
Step 2: Select the oval shape, the inside circle of the "O" and the "Rectangle", fo to "Combine", and use "Unite" to weld them together
Step 3: I set the result to "Engrave", so you can see it better, now the center of the "O" is connected to the rest of the oval.
(you can always add another rectangle to the other side of the "O")
Basically, you can do this with any font you like, but sometimes, adding a circular shape might work better, here is an example with a script font.
Step 1: Insert the text, change the "Typeface" and "Size", then use "Weld" to weld the connecting letters to one piece
Step 2: Since it is a script font, with all the curve lines, it will look better to insert circular shapes instead, so I use oval and crescent shapes.
Step 3: Select everything and go to "Combine", and use "Subtract" to make the cutout
Here is the result (Again, I switch to Engrave, just for better visual), all the closed portions are broken apart
You probably notice that in the first example, I use "Unite", because it was done after I cut out the text from the shape, I was trying to connect the circle inside of the "O" to the oval.
But for the second example, I used "Subtract", it is because I was cutting out those added shapes from the text.
Either way works.