Page Comparison

This lesson shows how to edit half of an object, delete the unedited half, mirror the object to create a completed object, then offset to create a matching second layer.

There are also instructions for an alternate version.

Place a one layer 4 x 5 #501 Heart template into the FrameShop editorDesign Editor.  

Bring into Trace via the Right-Click Menuor from the Cut Preview Screen.

Stay on the Trace and Draw Draw tab.  

Click the Edit radio button.

Move your cursor to the lower right side of the heart until the cursor turns into four arrows. 

Click and move the arc toward the left and up. See how the design changes as you move the point left/right and up/down.

Click to place the point.

Draw an axis line to use as the reference to mirror the new heart shape.

Click the Draw radio button.

Click the Line button. 

The cursor turns into a cross.

Right-click on the bottom point of the heart to snap to that point. 

Right-click on the top point of the heart to snap to that point.

Optionally, you could right Right-click on the bottom point and hold down the CTRL key to draw in Ortho modeMode. 

Click somewhere near the top of the heart to place the end point of the line. This is helpful if your design doesn't have parallel top/bottom points that can be snapped to.

The left side of the heart cannot be deleted until the heart is exploded into the individual entities that make up the heart.

Click the Edit radio button.

Click on the heart to select it; it will turn white.

Click the Explode button.

The design will turn gray. The heart is now exploded into the separate entities that can be edited individually.

If you click somewhere on the heart, only the individual arc/spline selected will be highlighted, showing that the heart is no longer a single object.

Select the left side of the heart so we can delete it and replace it with our newly edited version.

Hold down the CTRL key and click on each segment that makes up the left side of the heart. 

Click the Delete button.

The left half of the heart is deleted, leaving only the right half behind.

We want to join the segments so when we mirror the design, the whole object is mirrored instead of just the individual arcs.

Hold down the CTRL key and click on each segment that makes up the right side of the heart. 

Do not select the line which we will use for reference.

Click the Join button.

The individual arcs are now joined together and will act as a single object.

Mirror the heart half to create the other half of the heart.

Make sure the heart is still selected.

Click the Mirror button.

Right-click on the top point of the reference line.

Right-click on the bottom point of the reference line.

The heart has been mirrored using the center line as the axis point.

Delete the reference line since we don't need it anymore.

Click on the reference line.

Click the Delete Delete button.

The line is deleted.

Join the two halves together as one object.

Hold down the CTRL key and click the right half then the left half. 

Click the Join button.  

The two sides are joined and are now one object.

We're going to move the heart to make room for the second layer. It doesn't matter where we move it to since we'll be saving it as a CutArt, just as long as there is room on the screen for the second layer.

Make sure the heart is still selected.

Click and drag it to the center of the design bounds. 

Take care not to click and drag only one of the segment points of the heart itself which will change the shape of the heart. If you do, just click Undo.

Release the mouse to place it.

Now we'll Offset the heart to make a second layer.

Make sure the heart is still selected.

Change the Offset direction* to minus (-) by selecting it from the dropdown control.

Leave the Reveal value at .25".

*RULES:

• Enclosed objects:

  • Positive value offsets to the inside.

  • Negative value offsets to the outside.

• Arcs and Curves Greater than 180 Degrees

 use the same rules as for closed objects.

• For lines, imagine a line's start point to be the center of a circle. The plus offsets clockwise and minus offsets counterclockwise. 

Click the Offset Circuit Circuit button.  

The heart is offset to create the second layer.

Click Edit > Convert Arcs to Splines. The splines can be tangified with less distortion, which will give a smoother cutting path for the design.

Click on Edit > Tangify all Circuits. This makes each arc tangent to each other for smoother cutting.

Trace the CutArt.

Save the CutArt.

Load the CutArt.

Cut the CutArt.

Optionally, you can also bring the CutArt straight to the Cut Preview from Trace.

The heart design is completed.

You can achieve a different design by retaining the original left side of the heart and only editing the right side. 

Offset the heart to make the second layer.

Continue as described above.

You can see how much we changed the design when you compare it to the original version.