OK, Kev, I have a workable file in SheetCam. I found an online SVG-to-DXF converter, then I needed to do a little cleanup of the DXF. In the SVG there is a spurious circle just inside the outer border of the rope outline. That is actually what was causing the inverted machining areas when I imported the original SVG into SheetCam. (When I loaded the SVG itself into SheetCam I got an error message about overlapping contours too, which I didn’t get from the translated DXF.)
I had to specify a .032" endmill to get in all the detail of the eagle. Not knowing your machining parameters, I used a .090" total depth, a .016" stepdown (50% of the cutter diameter), a 50% stepover at each level, and a cutting speed of 20 in/min. I have no idea if those are anywhere near appropriate. I simulated the cut in CutViewer (from which the above is a screenshot) and got a cutting time of 4-1/2 hours for the 159,000 line gcode file.
The toolpath is actually no less crazy than the one you show above. The eagle cuts first, but then the perimiter is a big moat with many islands to outline and clear out between. If you have cutviewer I can zip and attach the nc file and you can take a look at its progress yourself. (EDIT: no, I can’t. I forgot this board won’t accept zip attachments.)
Randy