Drawing Vectors #

Vectors are the lines and shapes of your design: the outlines that toolpaths follow and that 3D shapes are built from. This chapter describes every tool in the Create Vectors section of the Drawing tab, with the options in its form.

How the drawing tools work #

Click a tool in the Create Vectors section (or choose it from the Vectors menu) and its form opens in the panel. You can then draw in the 2D view with the mouse, or type exact sizes in the form and click Create.

• The pointer becomes a crosshair while a drawing tool is active. Points snap to the grid, to other vectors and to guide lines when snapping is on (see Grid and snapping).
• You can draw in the 3D view too: the shape lands on the material surface. Hold Alt there to orbit instead.
• A tool stays active so you can draw several shapes in a row. Press Esc, click Close, or click Select to put it away.
• New vectors go on the active layer (see The Layers tab) and are selected, ready for the next command.
• Every new vector can be undone with Ctrl+Z.

The palette's buttons wrap onto as many rows as the panel's width needs.

Size and position fields #

The shape forms share a few fields. Lengths are in the job's units, and every field accepts formulas such as x/2 (half the material width; see Typing numbers and formulas).

Width and Height #

The size of the shape, or of the selection, in the job's units. In the Rectangle and Ellipse forms they set the shape's size; in the Scale form and in Vector Properties they set the selection's new size; in the Text form Height is the height of the capital letters.

Radius #

The distance from the centre to the outline: for a circle its radius, for a polygon the distance from the centre to each corner. In the Fillet form it is the radius of the rounded corners.

X and Y #

A position measured from the job origin (the XY datum). In a shape form, X and Y under Centre / anchor position say where the shape is created when you click Create: its centre, or the point picked on the anchor grid.

The anchor grid #

The 3 x 3 grid of small squares picks a point of a shape's box: a corner, the middle of a side, or the centre. Click a square to choose it; the chosen square is highlighted.

In the Rectangle and Ellipse forms it chooses which point of the shape sits at X and Y. The Move, Scale and Rotate forms use the same grid for the point that is placed, stays put or is turned about.

Rectangle #

Draws a rectangle or square, with sharp or rounded corners. Drag from one corner to the opposite one in the 2D view, or enter the size and click Create.

• Hold Shift while dragging for a square.
• Hold Alt to drag from the centre outwards.
• Width and Height set the size for Create.
• Corner radius rounds all four corners, for the shapes you drag and for those you create. Leave it at 0 for sharp corners.
• X, Y and the anchor grid place the rectangle when you click Create.

Corner radius #

Rounds the rectangle's four corners with arcs of this radius. 0 gives sharp corners. The value is used both for rectangles you drag and those you create from the form.

Circle #

Draws a circle. Press where the centre should be and drag out to the radius, or enter the size and click Create.

Enter either the Radius or the Diameter: changing one updates the other. X and Y are the centre when you click Create.

Diameter #

The width of the circle across its centre: twice the radius. Type whichever you know; Carvio keeps the two in step.

Ellipse #

Draws an ellipse (an oval). Drag a box in the 2D view and the ellipse fills it, or enter the size and click Create.

Hold Shift while dragging for a circle, and Alt to drag from the centre. Width and Height are the ellipse's full width and height; X, Y and the anchor grid place it when you click Create.

Polygon #

Draws a regular polygon: a triangle, square, hexagon and so on, with all sides equal. Press at the centre and drag out to a corner; the direction you drag turns the polygon.

Sides #

How many sides (and corners) the polygon has, from 3 to 100. 6 gives a hexagon.

Radius is the distance from the centre to each corner. X and Y are the centre when you click Create.

Star #

Draws a star. Press at the centre and drag out to the tip of a point; the direction you drag turns the star.

Points #

How many points the star has, from 3 to 100.

Outer radius #

The distance from the centre to the tip of each point.

Inner radius #

How deep the notches between the points go, as a percentage of the outer radius. A small value gives thin, spiky points; a large one gives a fat star that is nearly a polygon.

Polyline #

Draws a chain of straight lines, open or closed. Click to place each point in turn.

• Click the first point again to close the shape.
• Double-click, or press Enter, to finish an open polyline.
• Backspace removes the last point.
• Esc drops the polyline you are drawing.

A line follows the pointer from the last point so you can see the next segment before you click.

Bezier #

Draws smooth curves with the pen tool. Click to add a corner node; press and drag to add a smooth node and pull out its handles, which bend the curve.

• Click the first node again to close the curve.
• Double-click, or press Enter, to finish an open curve.
• Backspace removes the last node; Esc drops the whole curve.

The handles of each node are shown while you draw. You can reshape the curve afterwards with node editing.

Arc #

Draws a circular arc through three points. Click the start of the arc, then its end, then a third point that the arc passes through.

The third click sets how much the arc bulges and to which side. If the three points lie on a straight line, a straight line is drawn instead. The Arc tool has no form.

Text #

Creates text from any font installed on your computer. Type the text, choose a font and size, then click in the 2D view where it should go (or click Create to place it at the centre of the material).

Text stays editable: double-click a text in the view (or right-click it and choose Edit Text...) to open its form again. While you edit a text, every change shows at once; click Done when you have finished.

Text box #

Type the text in the Text box. Toolpaths, welding and modeling all work on the letters' outlines.

Font #

The font family. Type in the list to search it; the fonts you used most recently are at the top. While you edit a text, resting on a font in the open list shows the text in that font before you choose it.

Carvio finds the fonts installed on your computer; a font you install while Carvio is running shows up the next time you open the Text form.

Bold and Italic #

Use the bold or italic face of the font. If the family has no such face installed, Carvio uses the closest one it has and says so.

Align #

How lines of text line up with the point you clicked: Left, Centre or Right. On a curve, it chooses where the text starts along the curve.

Char spacing #

The space between letters, as a percentage of normal. 100% is the font's own spacing; larger values spread the letters out.

Line spacing #

The space between lines of text, as a percentage of normal. 100% is the font's own spacing.

Weld overlapping letters #

Merges letters that touch or overlap (as in many script fonts) into one outline, so toolpaths and 3D shapes do not see the overlaps. The text itself stays editable.

Text on a curve #

Text can follow a vector, such as an arc or a circle, instead of a straight line. Select the vector first, open the Text tool, then click Fit to selected vector; click Straight text to go back to a straight line.

Offset from curve moves the text's baseline away from the curve, to the left of the curve's direction for positive values. Use Align to choose where along the curve the text begins. If the text runs the wrong way, use Reverse on the curve and fit the text again.

Offset from curve #

The distance between the curve and the baseline of the text. Positive values move the text to the left of the curve's direction, negative values to the right.

Text to Vectors #

Text to Vectors in the Edit Objects section (or Vectors > Convert Text to Vectors) turns the selected text into ordinary vectors. After that you can node-edit the letters, but you can no longer change the wording or the font.

Trace Image #

Fits closed vectors around the dark (or light) areas of an image, so you can cut a logo or a silhouette from a picture. Select an image in the 2D view first, then click Trace Image.

Import the image with File > Import Image... or paste one (see Images). While the form is open, the traced outlines are previewed in green over the image and update as you change the options. The form shows how many closed vectors the trace will make. Click Apply to create them.

Threshold #

The brightness, from 0 to 100, that divides dark from light. Pixels darker than this are traced. Raise it to take in more of the grey areas, lower it to trace only the darkest parts.

Trace light areas instead of dark #

Traces the light parts of the image instead of the dark ones, for example white lettering on a dark background.

Smooth jagged pixel edges #

Softens the staircase edges of the pixels before tracing, so curves come out smooth. Turn it off for crisp pixel art.

Corner fit #

How closely the vectors follow the pixels, from 0.1 to 3 pixels. Higher values give smoother, simpler vectors with fewer nodes; lower values follow small details and corners more closely.

Ignore specks below #

Areas smaller than this many square pixels are left out, so dust and noise in the image do not become tiny vectors.

Fit arcs #

Replaces runs of short lines with arcs where they fit. The vectors are smoother and the G-code made from them is smaller.

Group the traced vectors #

Puts all the traced vectors into one group, so they are easy to select and move together.

Dim the image to see the traced lines #

Shows the image faintly while the form is open, so the green preview stands out.

Delete the image afterwards #

Removes the image when you click Apply, leaving only the traced vectors.

Measure #

Measures the distance and angle between two points. Click the first point, then the second.

The form shows the Distance, the distances along X and Y (dX and dY) and the Angle; the status bar shows them too. Click again to start a new measurement. Snapping helps you measure exactly from corners and nodes. Measure does not change your design.

Dimension #

Adds measurement annotations to the drawing: dimension lines with arrows and the measured value as text. They are ordinary vectors, grouped together, so you can print them on a drawing or even engrave them.

Type #

What the dimension measures:

The form shows how many of the needed points you have clicked.

Text height #

The height of the dimension's lettering.

Arrow size #

The length of the arrowheads at the ends of the dimension line.

Decimals #

How many decimal places the measured value shows, from 0 to 6.

Note text #

The text of a Note dimension.

Select #

Select puts away the drawing tool and returns to the normal Select mode, where clicking picks objects. Esc does the same. See Selecting objects.

The other Drawing tab buttons #

Besides Create Vectors, the Drawing tab has these sections. Transform Vectors and Edit Objects are described in Editing vectors.

File Operations #

Buttons for the most used File menu commands: New, Open, Save, Import, Export and Job Setup. See The File menu.

New #

Starts a new job: the Job Setup dialog opens first (Ctrl+N).

Open #

Opens a saved project (Ctrl+O).

Save #

Saves the project (Ctrl+S); the first time it asks for a file name.

Import #

Imports vectors, an image, a 3D model, a clip or another project's drawing (Ctrl+I). See Importing.

Export #

Saves the job's vectors as an SVG or DXF file. See Exporting vectors.

Job Setup #

Opens the Job Setup dialog: material size, origin and Z zero (F4). See The Job Setup dialog.

2D View Control #

Zoom buttons and the switches for the grid, snapping and rulers, plus the Grid spacing. See Grid and snapping.

Zoom Extents #

Zooms the 2D view to show the material and every vector (F).

Zoom Material #

Zooms the 2D view to fit the material.

Zoom Select #

Zooms the 2D view to the selected objects.

Grid #

Shows or hides the grid lines in the 2D view.

Snap Grid #

Turns snapping to the grid on or off. Points then round to the Grid spacing.

Snap Objects #

Turns snapping to objects on or off: the nodes, midpoints, centres and crossings of vectors, the material's corners and centre, the origin and guide lines.

Rulers #

Shows or hides the rulers along the top and left of the 2D view. Drag out of a ruler to add a guide line; see Rulers and guide lines.