Enlarging letter/object as background

[Double S Farms]

One of our students is working on a project that needs a letter (in this case a capital M) in the foreground and a larger capital M behind it. Will cut as two pieces and bolt/weld together with spacers between. What I would call a shadow box effect. Working in Torchmate CAD Ver. 9. We are unable to get a set distance all around the smaller letter by enlarging the original letter. Have run into this kind of thing before. Would appreciate assistance in learning how to do this correctly. Hoping to attach a dxf file to illustrate what is happening.

Enlarged letter test.dxf

(8.69 KiB) Downloaded 49 times

Enlarged letter test.dxf

(8.69 KiB) Downloaded 49 times

[plasmanewbie]

Not familiar with TM CAD but I was able to whip this up in Corel DRAW pretty quick.

Is this what your looking for?

EnlargedM.dxf

(39.53 KiB) Downloaded 45 times

EnlargedM.dxf

(39.53 KiB) Downloaded 45 times

[ben de lappe]

I'm still using v7.1 however certain v9 also has the Stroke/Fill Tool. If you select the line/profile you wish to enlarge then select the stroke/fill tool then select "line style" it will allow you to thicken that profile to the desired size. Even allows one to enter an exact value. Just the way I do it, not saying best or only method. Hope it helps.

[Double S Farms]

Ben, thank you so much for the super fast reply. That looks exactly like what we were trying to get. We need to work with it a bit and make sure we understand. May need to get back with you with questions after that. We certainly appreciate your help!

[Double S Farms]

plasmanewbie, your file is just what we need for the current project. Going to combine it with Ben's directions for Torchmate (since we don't have Corel) and hopefully come up with the same thing you did. Thanks so much for your assistance with this.

[acourtjester]

You can do that in Inkscape by setting a set value to enlarge or reduce by using the CTRL key plus the ( for enlarge or )for deduce. you got to the edit menu then click preference then click on steps. you can change the value/amount there for each time you hit the key combo.
When you have a path highlight it then click on the path menu then on linked offset, it puts a single node on the path. You click on the combo key for what you want to change the path to. You can repete to make many stepped changes.

m1.JPG (25.58 KiB) Viewed 991 times

m1.JPG (25.58 KiB) Viewed 991 times

m3.JPG (36.88 KiB) Viewed 991 times

m3.JPG (36.88 KiB) Viewed 991 times

m4.JPG (56.91 KiB) Viewed 991 times

m4.JPG (56.91 KiB) Viewed 991 times

[ben de lappe]

Ben, thank you so much for the super fast reply. That looks exactly like what we were trying to get. We need to work with it a bit and make sure we understand. May need to get back with you with questions after that. We certainly appreciate your help!

Absolutely no problem and I hope it helps. Regardless, one of my favorite tools and I use it for a few applications. As you state work with it/play around as that's exactly the way I learned, totally self taught and learning more daily. Feel free to ask anything you need. If I can't help others surely can.

[plasmanewbie]

plasmanewbie, your file is just what we need for the current project. Going to combine it with Ben's directions for Torchmate (since we don't have Corel) and hopefully come up with the same thing you did. Thanks so much for your assistance with this.

Happy to help. At least you can get the project underway and fiddle with TM cad when you can

[Double S Farms]

acourtjester, thank you for your response to my inquiry and my apologies for the tardy reply. Have been out of town and away from the computer. I am in need of some tutoring. Rather than taking up forum space, am going to send you a message in the hopes you can provide further information. Thank you again, Rod Sanders

[ben de lappe]

One thing of note Double S, if you intend to use TM cad. The actions I described above have different effects depending on the line type selected. By that I mean when selecting a line that's an open path, has an obvious start point and end point it'll increase the thickness of that line to the desired dimension. If the line selected is a closed path with no obvious start/stop point it'll increase the size as a whole to the desired dimension such as the outside of a letter. Whichever route you take you'll get it, just takes practice.

[acourtjester]

the attached video shows how to do it in Inkscape
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

[Double S Farms]

acourtjester,
With the help of video, believe I have it! Thanks so much for taking the time to do this. Going to be a real help to me in the future I know.
Regards, Rod Sanders

[Double S Farms]

Ben,
Thanks for the additional information on selecting line type. I'm going to experiment with this and may need to get back to you for additional advice.
Regards, Rod Sanders

[acourtjester]

Happy to help I looked back at my post above and can see where I threw you off (CTRL key plus the ( for enlarge or )for reduce), bad choice of words. I should have said CTRL and the ( to reduce, or ) to enlarge.

[ben de lappe]

Ben,
Thanks for the additional information on selecting line type. I'm going to experiment with this and may need to get back to you for additional advice.
Regards, Rod Sanders