Hi Guys (Yes - that includes ladies also.)
I was trying to prepare some text for a V-carve, and was having trouble getting rid of the overlapping sections. Evidently, when placing a text object, the letters come in as one complete vector, not separate, vectors (one letter each). Because this is so, you cannot get the Boolean function to work. You must have at least two vectors to create a Boolean. Also you cannot “Ungroup” a text object, again, because the word is one vector and not a series of letter vectors comprising the word. Additionally, I found I could not trim the lines either.
Here is a series of steps. I came up with to get the job done. Hope this helps someone.
First, zoom in real close so you can see what you are doing.
Select the line tool, then click exactly on the node where the lines of the letters cross each other.
Draw your line around the parts of the letter you want to get rid of. Again make sure you click exactly on the node where the letter lines intersect.
Finally, return to where you started.
You should now have a complete closed polygon vector. Hold down your shift, key and click on any nearby letter. You should now have two selected vectors. Noticed that the Boolean panel is now available on the left side.
Select the second button from the left inside the Boolean panel, the “Boolean Union” button. The section of lines that will disappear should be now highlighted in red.
Your letters should be now neatly blended together, ready for your V-carve. This method is a bit of a pain, because you have to do each instance of overlapping, but it seems to work very well.
If anyone knows an easier way to do this please let me know. Perhaps I’m not realizing something that I should. Thanks; take care.
