What am I doing wrong? (SVG export problem)

[Dampsquid]

Hi - The attached Designer file was created on an iPad.  The 'text' was drawn with the pencil tool using the rope stabiliser.  I then exported the file as an SVG to a CNC tool.  The problem is the 'islands' in the P, O, & D.  The P and D are OK - when the CNC tool is told the 'letter' is a pocket cut it wants to cut the letter correctly.  In the case of the 'O'  however, the centre hole/island is ignored.  The tool wants to cut the entire silhouette of the 'O'.

I imported the SVG into another vector tool on the iPad and it sees things the same way as the CNC tool.  Ditto in Illustrator.  So the problem appears to be in Designer.  I have redrawn the shape from scratch a couple of times hoping to kick it into proper behaviour.  No dice.  (Actually I did have the same problem initially with the D, but re-drawing that made the problem go away.  I also redrew it using the pen tool instead of the pencil.  Alas, the O remains stubborn after hours of playing around with this! 

To draw these, I first drew the outline, then the 'island' and then used the geometry subtract tool to cut out the hole. 

If anyone can offer any insight - that would be great, because at this point I'm tearing my hair out.

Thanks!  Bob 

ThePoshShed-3107-1.svg

ThePoshShed3107-1.afdesign

[Paul Mudditt]

Removed my comment.

[Dampsquid]

The colour is incidental... I probably did that to make drawing the new shape over the old easier to see.  On the topic of multiple shapes, the one unchecked is the older, and wasn't exported in the SVG.

Thanks for looking though

[Move Along People]

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[Dampsquid]

3 minutes ago, haakoo said:

You need to cut the inner part of the O from the outer part of the O

How?  I selected both and used the subtract tool to cut the centre out from the silhouette.  And now the entity is a single thing in the layers view...  Is there some other way?

To add: in Designer, when applying a fill, it looks good.  

Thanks!

[Move Along People]

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[Move Along People]

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[Dampsquid]

10 minutes ago, haakoo said:

Click the O > geometry > divide (now you have two curves)
Make the smaller part topmost object >select both objects > geometry > substract
Now the inner part is cut from the outer part.
Re-saved your file with history enabled

ThePoshShed3107-1.afdesign

OK, so I did that... and it worked!!  But... wouldn't dividing the shape simply put it back as was originally when the two shapes were first drawn?

So I did another quick test.  I used the pencil tool to create two shapes, one within the perimeter of the other as it is for the letter 'o'.  I then used subtract, which made one curve and exported it.  In the other app applying a fill ignores the inner shape again.  So next I used divide on the result of the previous subtract, re-subtracrted and exported.  This should be the same as you have outlined, and given it just worked with the real 'o' you'd think it would work with this new test document too... but no.  The other app still ignores the inner geometry.

Something very weird is going on.  If someone at Affinity is reading this.. I'm mystified...and quite happy to record a video of what I'm doing...

[Dampsquid]

1 minute ago, haakoo said:

Sorry,but there's really something wrong with the export of svg files in ADesigner.
I opened the exported svg in another editor and the subtracted parts of the O are combined to one shape again leaving no hole in the O

ah ha! It's not just me!  

[Move Along People]

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[MikeW]

Does your CNC software expect a named spot color?

[Dampsquid]

5 minutes ago, MikeW said:

Does your CNC software expect a named spot color?

Nope. While some colour / fill combos have meaning if present, it'll accept anything and let me set the cut type on-tool.  So, this isn't the problem here.

Thanks though.

[MikeW]

Serif needs to look at how this failed. Though the outer/inner portions seem to be a single curve, they are not.

It may be fixable. I did using a different software and CutStudio sees it as valid. Would you like me to upload it?

Also, does your software accept pdfs?

[Dampsquid]

1 hour ago, MikeW said:

Serif needs to look at how this failed. Though the outer/inner portions seem to be a single curve, they are not.

It may be fixable. I did using a different software and CutStudio sees it as valid. Would you like me to upload it?

Also, does your software accept pdfs?

Thanks MikeW for the offer, I managed to fix it in Illustrator in the end - so at least this project can now be cut.  I'm more worried about next time, as access to Illustrator isn't always possible.  How can you tell they're not a single curve - is that by looking at the SVG output?  Oh, and no, the tool accepts SVG only.