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Hello all I am creating a number that will have a black interior color and a black outline with a white space between them. The car that will be the substrate is white. How do i create an outline that is not in contact with the main part of the number? I dont want to layer black then white then black, just two black pieces? Thanks

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I'm not sure if there is a more direct way, but if you just create an outline and make it white, or any color, then create an outline of that and make it black, then just cut by color you'll have the result you're looking for.

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If you have VM Pro it's REALLY simple. Just select the number or object and go to Effects>Inlines/Outline and choose outlines or the appropriate one for what you want. It will instantly apply the option then while it's still selected you can modify the offset and line widths to get it to what you are looking for. Piece of cake. Done this way it should already be just the single color layer without a white layer in between. To check this simply make a square or other object and change the color to something different then send it to the back of the stack by using the "order" to back tool and you can then slide it in behind the number and see of it's visible between the inner and outer outlines. 

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Even faster. If you cant click on the white part, there is nothing there.

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14 hours ago, darcshadow said:

I'm not sure if there is a more direct way, but if you just create an outline and make it white, or any color, then create an outline of that and make it black, then just cut by color you'll have the result you're looking for.

when I do this it seems the bottom layer will be all black, therefore I have to cut a white piece for the middle layer. I would rather not do that, so was wondering if there was a way to get around that.

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You have to think how it will cut, not necessarily how it looks on the screen. For example, you could have one large black piece, then the white line. When you cut, if do not separate the cut by color you will have the desired result, you just weed out the "white" part. Or you could punch through the white so that the black is cut into two pieces and you don't need the white anymore. Looking at your design in outline mode/wireframe mode can help visualize how it will cut.

 If you have VM Pro, sounds like it's really easy though.

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9 hours ago, tracyracin said:

when I do this it seems the bottom layer will be all black, therefore I have to cut a white piece for the middle layer. I would rather not do that, so was wondering if there was a way to get around that.

What level of VM do you have? Did you miss my post on the outline/inline tool? It will be there or grayed out if you don't have the right version. Letter might have it Cut probably doesn't but I am not familiar with what each level of he program has. 

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2 minutes ago, Wildgoose said:

What level of VM do you have? Did you miss my post on the outline/inline tool? It will be there or grayed out if you don't have the right version. Letter might have it Cut probably doesn't but I am not familiar with what each level of he program has. 

I just have CUT right now, looking to upgrade soon

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2 hours ago, tracyracin said:

I just have CUT right now, looking to upgrade soon

I don't know what options Cut has so maybe hard to do with limited tools. They kind of do that on purpose as a sort of fish hook to get you to upgrade but I can tell you that VM is probably the best bang for the buck all around design and cut combo I have seen (pro version). I am on a mac so the platform causes issues for me and I am also very engrained in Adobe Illustrator for design so I probably will never make a change (old dog new trick etc...) but I have been really impressed with VM. In the meantime you can build it in Inkscape which is free and then just send it to VM as SVG. Inkscape is a pretty capable vector design program. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles that the upper versions of VM does but for free its a good option. I'm not very good with Inkscape (being an Illustrator guy as mentioned, Inkscape and CorelDraw seem backwards to my mind like a reverse polish calculator) so the details of how-to I can't help.

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One of the features of CoreDraw that I love is their contour tool, both the regular and the interactive one.  You set the steps, the width, hit apply then break apart.  It is better than other tools I have seen for this particular chore.  I know your asking about VM but if you do this often, it's worth a thought.

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2 hours ago, jessica said:

May I ask how you got it figured out ? having same problem.

reading the post above, wildgooses answer in the 3rd post answers this

 

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