Why does my text disappear when I import the file?
Live text in a file is not a shape: it is a reference to a font, plus the characters. When the laser software does not have that font, it substitutes another or drops the text entirely. Converting text to outlines turns each letter into a path, so what you saw is what arrives, on any computer and any machine.
Written by the maker who builds MakerWizardChecked against the app's own code on
How to convert
- Inkscape: select the text, then Path → Object to Path.
- Illustrator: select the text, then Type → Create Outlines.
- Affinity Designer: Layer → Convert to Curves.
- Anything MakerWizard sets, in names, products or the editor, is outlined before it is exported; there is nothing to remember.
Keep an editable copy
Outlining is one-way: afterwards the words cannot be edited or spell-checked. Save the version with live text, export the outlined one.
Script fonts need welding too
In joined-up lettering the letters overlap. Outlined but not welded, each overlap is its own closed path: engraved it shows seams, cut it burns the same line twice. Welding merges the letters into one outline first.
The tool for this job
- Laser SVG validatorFind what ruins a cut before the laser does: live text, open paths, parts hanging by a thread, details thinner than the beam.Free
- Names on blanksPaste the names from your orders, pick a blank and a font, and get one sheet with a cut outline and an engraved name for every piece.3 names free