Same pattern, differnt results

I downloaded this pattern from the internet, imported it into pattern editor to clean it up and saved it in the pattern library. I crated a new board and placed the pattern on the board. I did this in 2 different sizes as picture frames. The issue is, in the larger frame, I am unable to do a cut path on two of the hearts were as on the smaller one, I was able to cut them all out. Does anyone have any idea why? I have attached a photo of each frame as well as the MPC's.

Any help would be appreciated. Also, if you see anything I can do differently or better, please let me know. I am still learning.

Thanks,

Chris

Sometimes the outline pattern tool doesn't work. There have been a few work arounds but I have found it's just easier to use the line tools to trace over the existing path and create the cutout from that.

Thanks Steve. That worked great. Learning something everyday

Chris

Hi Chris,

A little "trick" I learned awhile back. If you change the size of a "troublesome" ptn a little, then use the outline tool, you often will achieve closed vectors that you can assign a CutPath to. You sort of discovered this because your smaller version outlined the hearts just fine, yet two of the hearts on the larger version are not closed vectors, so won't accept the CutPath.

For example, I found that if I select your ptn and type 9.73" in the width field to enlarge your ptn a little, the outlines of all the hearts can now be assigned a CutPath.

Unfortunately, sometimes you have to spend a little time experimenting what size enlargement or reduction will work. I first typed the number 9.6 in the width field and then used the outline tool. The upper left heart failed to have a useable outline. I then typed incrementally larger until I found that 9.73 size worked. (I did not type smaller numbers than 9.6, but eventually you would find a number that would make good heart outlines).

I don't know why this works, but it does. So, as long as the item is not "size critical" you can use this hack to find a size that's close to what you want, but might be a little larger or a little smaller.

There is another trick that works sometimes (but did NOT on your particular ptn). That is to select the ptn and apply a one-degree rotation, then use the outline tool. Sometimes that will force the outlines to come out right, sometimes it doesn't.

Michael t -- using your trick, once you achieved a closed vector and created a cutout, couldn't you enlarge both the original pattern and the cutout back to the original size if it was size critical?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gwhiz

Michael t -- using your trick, once you achieved a closed vector and created a cutout, couldn't you enlarge both the original pattern and the cutout back to the original size if it was size critical?

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Every time I've tried that, everything goes real wacky! So, no, I don't think so.

Thanks for the tip Michael. I never even thought about trying that. As for the size, i was not trying any size in particular, I just enlarged the pattern and had this issue. I will give it a try the next time I have something like this.

As for what gwhiz had asked, I also tried to enlarge the pattern with the cut outs and it did not enlarge everything. Had to undo and remove all of the cutouts and then enlarge.

Thanks for the tips everyone.

Chris