Need help with Vectors

[shawnn82]

Guys, ive been trying to design a bunch of text with circles inside them. FOr example, an outline of the letter M with an overal size of 10"L x 10"W, I would like to fill this with 0.25" circles. Is there any way i could do this without manually adjusting and positioning each circle within the outlines of the Letter M ? I use both Partworks v2 and CorelDraw x4
Thanks!

[navigator7]

Are the circles going to be carved?

[shawnn82]

Yes, they will have christmas LED lights goin into them, They do not have to be tightly spaced.

[shawnn82]

The circles will basically be drilled holes.

[eaglesplsh]

Using Partworks you can use the "Copy Vectors in Linear Array" tool to make a grid pattern of holes. Then you can use the "Keep Overlap of Vectors" tool to erase all the extra holes that don't fall within the boundary of your letter.

Using this method, you may have to manually erase partial holes that form where hole vectors overlap the letter vector. Depending on how you cut the holes, it may not be necessary, as Partworks may skip over these partial holes if the bit can't fit inside them.

[dana_swift]

There is an easier way..

I checked this in Aspire, it should work with Partworks..

1) Make the letter "M" using the text tool at the correct size.

2) Convert the text to vector.

3) Select the vectors of the letter M

4) Use the "Copy along Vectors" tool. (Edit vectors tools second row sixth from left.) Select copy circles and the diameter of the hole you wish to make, then enter the distance between them. Its probably a good idea to select "Force even spacing". That works in the linear sense not in the 2D sense.

5) edit out circles that have 2D spacing issues.


Hope that helped!

Merry Christmas!
Vectric Rocks..

D

[adrianm]

Another way of doing it is to use the nest vector command.

Create the M and convert to vectors, draw one circle inside the M.

Select the M first (important) and then the circle and choose the Nest Vectors command.

Make sure you check the "First Vector is nest boundary" box and set the other values as appropriate.

It might take a few tries to get the effect that you want but it's dead easy to reset and try some other parameters.

[shawnn82]

Thanks everyone! Couldnt have done it without your help! Turned out to be a whole lot easier than doin each circle manually! you guys rock!