Multilayer Drawings

There’s two main reasons to separate the SVG file in different layers.

1. Change of tool:

   Each layer of a drawing is sent independently to the plotter (c.f. Tutorial ). Each round can be used to switch tool.

2. Limit number of paths:

   Good Practice

   A path is a continuous stroke on the surface of the paper with a pen or other tool. Each path is separated by a movement in Z to lift the pen and to travel to the beginning of the next path. These movements in Z are expensive. (1) The gear gets used over time and could reach a point where the grip is lost and the pen can’t lift from the paper anymore. (2) The motor perfoming the Z movement overheats. To avoid this issue it is suggested to separate the SVG file into different layers with less paths. Between each layer, one can strengthen the Z gear and let the motor cool down.

Inkscape Save Option

In File > Save As... select Layers as Separate SVG (*.tar).

Important

For svg2plot to work, file and folder names can NOT contain space characters. Instead of a file like this.svg write the filename as camelCase.svg, snake_case.svg, kebab-case.svg or PascalCase.svg. Make use of these conventions when naming the different layers.

Hint

Tar is short for tarball. It is a collection of many files into one archive file. To get your files out of the tarball, right-click on your saved archive_file.tar and select Extract Here.