Cut Them All

I have a die layout which in the end will be sawn through.
It's a PCM which is double the height of the product die.
I want to make a suitable copy for bond figures. So I need
to cut -everything- along where the saw kerf will be.

The only way I know to cut / chop is the Edit>Selection>
Subtract, Others From First. But what I really want is the
flip side: "subtract, last from others" and I want it to cut
all layers (you may see that using the Subtract, Others
From First, will be quite tedious, layer by layer, polygon
by polygon as only "First" gets cut).

Is there a way I do not know about, to do this, more
efficiently?

If not, can we get a "kill 'em all!" cutter, maybe one
that draws its own cutter-shape and then applies it to
all of the selected-set?

Comments

  • Hi Jim,

    you mean some "blank-out" operation?

    I like the clip tool (Edit/Utilities) in "ruler-driven" mode for this purpose.

    Here is my layout and the rulers ("box" type so they are easier to place):

    This is the clip tool setup:

    And this is what I get:

    :)

    Matthias

  • Thanks, Matthias,

    This would do the job. I was unaware of this tool.

    Now I note that the operation is yet another, but "orthogonal"
    "flip side" of the traditional "chop" function (separate as polygon
    object from intersecting parent and select all within - to move
    or delete or copy-to-buffer, at artist's discretion; delete is not
    forced).

    This Clip command keeps what's inside I see from the result.
    So that's inverse of "chop", on the plane of insies/outsies.
    I'll have to experiment with the logic of intersecting box rulers
    (another neat style tip, I'll have to try as well).

    The Subtract command is the inverse of "chop" in the dimension
    of actors & objects - "chop" separates and selects all from one.
    Subtract others from first, has many actors (possible) but affects
    only one.

    It's funny how many ways you can slice a simple task.

    But this does round out my hand nicely and I thank you.

  • "It's funny how many ways you can slice a simple task." ... lovely :)

    Intersecting rulers should produce a single rectangular clip cell each. If they overlay - well, then the clip cells overlap. That's not wrong per se, but ugly. I think it's better to avoid this.

    Instead of rulers you can use shapes on a specific layer - but beware: the clips are made using the individual shape's bounding boxes. So better just use rectangles. Polygons won't give what you expect - just one clip at the bounding box of each polygon.

    Matthias

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