Flatten

The Flatten modifier lets you draw what you want to see, and it creates cut paths for each color.

• Same color shapes are welded together
• White shapes are subtracted as holes
• Non-hairline strokes are converted to solid shapes

This way you can create cut paths in a single step instead of having to use a complex combination of Boolean Union, Boolean Difference and Outline Stroke. It’s also useful to create the cut paths needed to produce pieces for an "inlay" style assembly.

How to use

Create your composition with shapes that have a fill or a non-hairline stroke. Shapes with a hairline stroke will be ignored. Select all your shapes and go to Modify > Flatten

Select distribute to see the result more clearly.

Options

• Background Color - Defines which color Flatten treats as empty space. It defaults to white, but can be set to any color that fits your workflow.
• Stroke Result - Converts all fills to strokes in the result, inheriting the original fill color. This is useful when exporting your shapes for cutting as commonly laser software uses filled shapes for engraving.
• Distribute - Spaces out each colored layered separately.