Saturday 30 December 2017

Canvas - Manipulating Basic Shapes - Process Functions Explained - Weld, Divide, Remove Overlap, Subtract - and how to use them

Manipulating Basic Shapes - Process Functions Explained - Weld, Divide, Remove Overlap, Subtract - and how to use them

One of the trickiest things in Canvas is to get to grips with how the Process Functions work, particularly working out which ones I need to achieve my desired result. At least for me....
This blog post covers Process Overlap (the bottom section) and the Order section (above Process Overlap on the right)


There's FOUR Process Functions in Canvas (in the Machine there's only ONE, which is Weld) - left to right the icons are:


Weld

Divide

Remove Overlap

Subtract

Ok great. There's 4 different functions - why do I need them?

What might I use them for?
 
They all do different things, and when you are trying to work out how to make 'holes' in a motif, either for layering or because you want a 'lacey' or papercut effect ie you don't just want a shape with a solid outline.

What do I mean by layering? Well, imagine you want to make something in HTV (heat transfer) Vinyl, depending on what you are applying it to, you may want layers of vinyl one on top of the other, or you may want to have a single layer of vinyl.

You may want layers to make a darker colour on top stand out because the layer underneath is pale (against) a dark shirt. Or you may want each colour to sit on the sit and just the edges dovetail, or you may want to minimise the use of the amount of vinyl and time by using the least amount of vinyl and cuts.

Below there's three different underneath and on top layers - all three give the same result as the bottom left, a red circle with a blue cross, BUT they all use different amounts of vinyl, and layers, in different orders:

The first one is a red circle and a blue cross as individual elements. the red is on the bottom and you manually put the blue cross in the right place when assembling. This has one layer where the red is, and two layers where the blue cross is on top.

The second one is a blue circle underneath and a red circle with a cross shaped hole in it on top so the blue shows through. This is the most 'bulky' layering, all the vinyl has two layers.

The third one is the red circle with the hole at the bottom, then the blue cross dovetails in the hole. This is the least bulky (but hardest to leave no gaps or edges showing of the background tshirt) as there's a single layer of two shapes. Both individual shapes are on the tshirt, not more vinyl.

All of them end up looking like the bottom right final image.



In terms of technical names, when you are doing applique with fabric (sewing cut out shapes onto a background) the layers is plain Applique, the single layer is Inlay Applique. So if you don't understand what I mean by these, it's worth googling to see how these are done in sewing, same idea, just with vinyl you don't do any sewing, you use a heat press or the preglued backing instead.

To get the layers in exactly the right place, you need to create Registration Marks. I'm not covering that in this post, but will eventually.

What else? Well you use them to make complex shapes like the various bauble mini projects I've blogged about in this series, as well as making 3D scenic light boxes, frames, pop up cards, all sorts of different reasons.
 
So. Off we go.

What does this post cover?
This post covers three areas, the first shows what each process function does just using two basic circles of different sizes, the second shows what each function does using a single circle and a basic word and the third is about how you can use functions one after another to build up a more complex motif (as well as what happens if you DON'T use the functions!)

Where to find these functions!

Open a New Project in Canvas, up above the Menu Bar at the top are three Tabs - Project, Edit and View.

Open the View Tab - down at the bottom is a section called Process Overlap with 4 icons. In order from left to right these are Weld, Divide, Remove Overlap and Subtract. If you hover your cursor over each one it gives you a little label telling you what it is. Also in the View Tab is the Order Section where you can highlight one shape on the page and move it to the back or front - imagine file index cards, ABCDE, if you highlight C you can bring it to the front CABDE or the back ABDEC, or move it one up or one down so ACBDE or ABDCE. Have a play with it by using two or three overlapping circles that you've made different colours so you can see what's happening when you use each of the four choices.

One final thing to note before we start is that COLOURS exist in Canvas ONLY to help you work out what's happening with your design. Every design that goes to the machine instantly loses colour - the machine is only interested in what it needs to cut and what it needs to leave alone. So, it is up to the USER to make sure they are putting the right colour material on the cutting mat for the right cut motif (rather like with a Big Shot - a metal die can cut only the colour of card you actually put through the machine).

That said, if you use the colours in Canvas you want to use in real life, it can act as an aide-memoire for your final assembling of the design.

SECTION ONE - WHAT EACH FUNCTION DOES

1. SETTING UP YOUR TEST EXAMPLE SHAPES:

Firstly let's start from the beginning. Log into Canvas, and pull up a NEW Project.

From the left hand menu margin, open Basic Shapes scroll down to find the circle and then drag two circles onto the mat.
Or click for them to come onto the mat in the top left, one click per circle. Or click once then right click the circle on the mat and click duplicate in the splash screen that comes up.
Then resize one of the circles by either using your mouse with one of the corner blue dots (when you've clicked to pick the shape) and pull outwards to make it bigger. Or right click and choose properties and change the size in the Size section at the top. Don't use the middle blue dots if using your mouse, nor unclick Aspect Ratio in the Properties box, otherwise you'll end up with an Elipse (see later blog post on deliberately making your circle an elipse with the Complex Bauble post).
Colour the smaller circle Red and the bigger circle Blue; by right clicking one circle, choosing Properties and in the Colour Section, pick a colour from the picklist. You don't need to close the Properties box just leave it open and choose the other circle to change that colour.
Finally, move the red circle so that it overlaps the blue circle. This is the standard starting position for messing around with each of the Functions to see what they do.
Don't worry about this stage which circle shows on top of the other, you can play around with the order to see if the order matters as we go along. But if you want to replicate mine, best to have the red circle on top. So with the red circle chosen, click the Edit Tab, and the first icon in the Order Section (bring to front) OR if you choose the blue circle, use the last icon in the section (send to back).

So that it looks like this:

To highlight both shapes so that you can perform the Process Function, click the Edit Tab and in the Edit Section, click the first icon, Select All

(obviously you don't do this if you have more than one lot of motifs on the screen, in that case, you hold your cursor and mouse button and move the mouse until both shapes are surrounded by a dotted blue line).
This is what the shapes you want to perform a function on need to look like - blue dotted line around all you want to include in the action

Also, don't forget there's an UNDO arrow in the menu bar at the top, just underneath the Edit Tab. So if you get muddled you can always go back to where you started!

Time to experiment!  Off we go....




2. WELD - Turns multiple shapes into a single shape in a SINGLE LAYER. It ADDS to shapes. It doesn't matter what order the shapes are in, any overlaps are absorbed into the final shape, which in that individual Weld operation, gives a SOLID shape (though used in conjunction with other functions it does leave holes you already made, see below). Very useful for adding to a basic shape, for example bobbles on a circle or letters around the outside of a shape or flourishes around a frame.

Highlight the shapes as above, go to the Edit Tab and click Weld in the Process Overlap section.
Because the RED circle is ON TOP weld makes a single solid red shape, and leaves nothing behind. The blue is absorbed into and is now part of the red shape.
Move the shape around with your cursor. You had TWO shapes, you now only have ONE. This Weld function ADDS shapes together.

If you use the Undo button on the menu bar to go back to your starting point, and change the Order so the BLUE shape is on top, and weld, the welded shape turns blue. So with Weld, the shape that is ON TOP is the one that other shapes are added to in creating the single final shape. (this matters when you are doing one process function after another to make a complex shape). Remember to keep an eye on the order your shapes are in!

Now use the undo button to take your shapes back to your starting point, OR delete them and create two new circles, one bigger than the other, the smaller one is red and the bigger one is blue. And make sure the Red one is on top and that you have selected all.

3. DIVIDE - Separates the overlap between multiple shapes leaving nothing behind in a SINGLE LAYER. The original shapes have 'holes' where the overlap was. This is useful if you want to do SINGLE layers where the edges butt up against each other, the Inlay Applique technique mentioned above. The shapes remain solid, but their outlines are changed, and you end up with MORE shapes, the function DIVIDES shapes. Because it makes three shapes out of two, you can choose whether the overlap stays empty or is of a different colour.

 At your starting point (follow point 1 above) - both shapes are highlighted.
Then Edit Tab, Process Overlap, choose the second icon, Divide.
The result is pretty much the same at first glance as weld, except when you look closer where the two shapes overlapped, it has made a third shape, outlined in black.

Get your cursor and separate the three parts.

As with weld, play with the order to see what happens, basically the same thing, but only the colour changes. If you had the blue on top, then you would get the SAME result except the colour of the final shape would be blue.

4. REMOVE OVERLAPPED - This function TAKES AWAY the overlapped portion of the BOTTOM LAYER so that you still have two shapes, that look overlapped, but which are actually TWO LAYERS. This is very useful for when you don't want your vinyl (or anything else) to have bulky layers and also, if there are orphan shapes for example the negative space in the B or E or O of text, it keeps them as part of one shape. Whereas Divide makes them into lots of individual shapes (see below in the Boy word section for this).


Back to the Original starting point as above of a smaller red circle on top of a larger blue circle, both surrounded with a dotted blue line.

 Open the Edit Tab, and choose the third icon in Process Function called Remove Overlapped.

 The result looks like nothing has happened, but what it actually does is leaves the top layer (red) intact, and takes away the portion of the bottom layer (blue) that is underneath. Move the shapes apart and you see that the difference between Remove Overlapped and Divide is that you still have two shapes and only one of them changes, whereas Divide gives you three shapes and both the originals are altered.

If you have a fiddle around with Order, and bring the Blue circle to the top, then it is the BLUE circle that will remain WHOLE and the Red circle that will lose the overlap. So for this one, Order is crucial to your design!!!

Once you've finished fiddling around to see what it does, go back to your starting point as you did before.

5. SUBTRACT - Subtract REMOVES the OVERLAP of one shape from another by leaving you with just ONE shape. It TAKES AWAY everything that is NOT the bottom layer. This is incredibly useful if you want to make frames or holes or 'lace' effects. Or just to easily change the inside or outside of a shape.

So starting point again. One smaller red circle, one bigger blue circle. The red circle as the top layer. Both highlighted wtih blue dotted lines as above.
Open the Edit Tab, choose the fourth and final icon Subtract.
And because the RED circle is on top, that is the shape that is DELETED. And the red circle disappears, leaving only the blue circle with the shape of the overlap removed.

If the red layer is on the bottom and the blue layer on the top, then the blue layer disappears and there's only a red circle with the overlap chunk missing. So with this one the Order of layers matters.

That's it, you now know the basics of what Process Functions and Ordering of layers does.

I decided not to include it in this blog post, but have a go with each function with three circles, changing the layers each time to see how the individual functions behave.

Ok so, great, lovely walkthrough. Doesn't look too impressive, each one does things, but so what? Ah well, the beauty is that you choose different functions depending on what you want to acheive and also, you can COMBINE process functions one after another and make all the different layers you need exactly for your design.

 SECTION TWO - Deciding what layers you want

Let's make this practical - see how it works in the real world of wanting to produce something.

For example. Say you wanted to have a t-shirt with a vinyl motif that is the word 'boy' inside a circle. Let's assume you want a blue circle and a yellow word. What happens if you do each of the Process Functions?

This is your starting point:
Put a circle on your mat from basic shapes, make it a reasonable size and colour it blue.

Then click the back arrow next to basic shapes and open the Logo area, and find the word boy

and put that on the mat and turn it yellow.
Then put the yellow boy as the top layer (using order if necessary) on top of the blue circle
and highlight all so they are both surrounded by blue dotted lines.
That's your starting point for each of the four process functions.


2.1 Weld - unsurprisingly, given Weld adds shapes together, you end up with a yellow circle. Both shapes have been turned into one, a circle. Nope not the one to choose for this project! Because you've lost the boy word!


2.2 Divide - the second icon along.
Well, we know this one makes MORE shapes within a single layer. So what this one does, is turn everything yellow and each individual shape is separate. This makes it clear that the machine is making both shapes into a SINGLE layer of, well, confetti! (it's easier to see using a word that it is with the two circles above).

 Use your cursor to move each bit away, you get Boy as a word, you get the outline of the word in the circle and you have the holes from the B and the O as separate shapes. Which are now all out of relation to each other.
Gah! Dammit! what you actually want is for the B and the O holes to stay in relationship with the circle. So, if you use Remove Overlap - you are going to have to be super careful to ONLY take the boy word out, leave the B and O shapes and the yellow circle where they are, highlight those B and O insides and the yellow circle ONLY and group them. Which leaves you with a bit of faffing that really you don't need. So yeah, if you had to you could use it, but really? too much hassle....


2.3 Remove Overlap - Ah now then, in the example above, they stayed different colours, two layers. oooo.... this has potential...

 And the result, oh, looks like nothing has changed!
Get your cursor, and move the blue, oh look! the insides of the B and the O stay in relation to each other. Hurrah! Yes this is what you need for the project. REMEMBER though that when you are using vinyl, the ONLY way the lost orphan bits of the insides of the B and the O stay in relation to the main blue circle is if you use transfer tape. If you are cutting fabric or paper, then you will need to manually place the orphan bits in the right place by hand. So it's useful for resizing in the machine without messing up, but only really useful with vinyl in practical terms when assembling the final cut image on your background.
You now have TWO shapes, one you can cut in blue and one you can cut in yellow. Or whatever colours you choose. REMEMBER YOU CONTROL the colours on the MAT!!!! The machine doesn't care about colours and when you take the file into the machine, the colours won't show up.

For completeness, the final function:

2.4 Subtract - could be useful if you actually only want ONE layer with the boy as negative space.
so afterwards it removes the yellow cos yellow is the top layer
and all you are left with is the blue circle with the boy word cut out of it. Move it around with your cursor. Why bother doing subtract instead of remove overlapped? because the machine automatically takes the yellow boy word I don't want away. With remove overlapped I have to delete the extra yellow boy word myself (yeah I'm lazy).

Ok so back to our fictitious vinyl motif for the t-shirt. What options are there:

Different process functions produce different cutting files depending on what YOU want:

Option 1 - If you want to have the circle with the boy as negative space - a single layer of one colour of vinyl - use Subtract.


Option 2 - If you want to have the circle with boy as negative space as one colour and the boy word as another colour so you have a two colour motif that have no overlap of layers when assembled as cut motifs - use Remove Overlap.





Option 3 - But what if you want to have a blue circle with no negative space, and to layer the yellow boy word on top? Well, then you don't need Process Overlap at all! All you need to do is save them as two separate shapes on the mat. You don't need to colour them at all. You the user are responsible for taking the two separate cut shapes, and applying them by eye in the right place on your tshirt. To cut them, you put a piece of blue vinyl and a piece of yellow vinyl on the mat, do background scan and then move the shapes in the machine screen so they fit on the right colours.


BEWARE!!! If you Group a set of images in Canvas, you can't then ungroup them later in the machine. So if you think you may want to change the relationship to each other, move the boy to a different place within the circle DO NOT group it in Canvas. Just save it. and Group and Ungroup in the machine itself as you see fit.

Just remember that if you are wanting to resize more than one element in relationship to each other, you need to temporarily group them so that they grow or shrink together.

Option 4 - If I wanted to layer them? One final alternative would be to have two circles the same size, one is just a plain yellow circle the other is the blue circle with boy as negative space. So you would Subtract boy from the blue circle and leave the yellow circle the same. You'd cut them out on the machine, and manually put the yellow circle first, then the blue circle on top - it gives the same effect as the Divide one above, except it's two layers instead of one layer.
 You'd end up with the yellow underneath and the blue on top and the holes in the blue would show the yellow underneath. perhaps easier to see if we make the yellow circle a little bigger than the blue one so it shows it's matted and layered. So when assembled it would look like this image below:
So cool! So many options from something so simple!
SECTION THREE - USING MULTIPLE PROCESS FUNCTIONS

Ok so, all that above is using ONE function to get what you want. How about several functions one after another?

Well the blog post in this series about making a Complex Bauble uses Weld and then Subtract to make a hanging hole. We can do this with the blue and yellow boy also.

Look: Take your subtracted boy circle.

Make another circle quite small, colour it green, overlap it with the blue circle
and WELD.
It turns into a single layer, so the main circle now has a bobble on it. All green.

Now before, we saw that weld turns everything into a single layer and it LOST the boy in the first example, but that was because we just put the boy layer over the blue circle. However because we did SUBTRACT the boy word first, Canvas sees that blue circle with word in negative space as a single layer when performing functions later on.

If you then decided to make that bobble on the main circle into a hanging hole, you could get another circle a bit smaller, colour it red. Position it in the middle of the bobble
and SUBTRACT. You end up with effectively a 2D bauble shape with a hanging hole that you can string up, that has holes in it, negative space, the word boy.

Cool huh! I know Canvas is limited compared to other programmes. But to my mind, that makes it easier to learn!

Ok so, in case you aren't convinced. Start with a big yellow circle, the word boy in green and a small circle in blue. In my case, the word boy is the top layer.
 Offset the boy word so you can see what's happening to it. And just weld, don't subtract. Yeah, it turns it into a single green layer that's no use to man or beast! Look! Total disaster! I'm sure with a bit of playing around you (and I) will be able to NOT make disasters but exactly what we want (especially with the undo button facility that can undo the last few actions as long as you've not saved in between).


That should convince you that using MULTIPLE process functions one at a time (the order doesn't seem to matter) is how you get shapes to be exactly how you want them!

No idea what the next post is, I think I've done these in the wrong order... I'll update for link to the next post when I do it.

3 comments:

  1. I am thoroughly enjoying your Canvas explanations and tutorials. I belong to several (FB) groups for the Scan-n-Cut. I exclusively use Canvas .. it does what I want it to do, which is not terribly complicated stuff.

    But even if my project *is* complicated (shaped words ... letters/words on a curve), I can still do that in Canvas, although I need to do the manipulation manually.

    Your tutorials are exceptionally clear and detailed! Truly, much MUCH better than any of the FB groups. If those groups allowed me to post your blog URL, I certainly would!

    I am looking forward to your future blogs with great anticipation. I like your logical, detailed, CLEAR and explicit explanations. *Well done!* :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. *blushing* well thankyou!

      I write them for my own benefit really! Cos once written I can just find them and know what to do step by step. So it seems sensible to keep them online, in which case might as well share them!!!

      Yes I can understand why people who run groups don't want linkies. they need policing for spam, and also some groups are run by people as marketing for their biz.

      However, I can understand that, and my blog does get picked up by google so people find their way here...

      Delete
  2. This is a very good explanation. Can you tell me what it means when I get error "operation not allowed. The selected objects include open paths or self intersecting paths (E92001)" I am trying to remove overlap of an offset of some text so that I will have a slight outline of the tshirt fabric showing through the svg background around my text. The background svg is a plain black shape. The text is a name with the letters welded together except for the capital first letter of the name. I tried it with another background and non-cursive lettering last night and it worked. I cannot get this to work.

    ReplyDelete

Slideshow of all cards/ projects posted so far....

The tricky subject of ideas...

Feel free to use my work as a springboard for your own work for non-commerical use only: please credit me on your blog.

Music

temporarily unavailable