Filling objects created in autocad and imported as a DXF

[bbanna]

I created some text in autocad. I wrote it out as a .dxf file and imported it into Inkskape. Now I want to fill the text with a color. The fill routine fills the O, R and A in completely, not leaving the open spaces where they should be.

How do I fix this or is it not fixable?

Brian

[brynn]

Welcome to the forum!

There could be a couple of different reasons for that, and I'm not sure which one might be happening.  First, select the text, and look at the status bar (bottom of window in the middle).  If it says "Group of.....", try opening Object menu > Fill and Stroke, and click this button:   :eofr: .  If it's fixed, good news!

If not fixed, then you might need to do Object menu > Ungroup, before you can try to fix.  And you might need to do that a few times.  Instead of using the menu, there's a button on the command bar, that looks like this: 

Click as many times as you need, until the status bar says "No more groups to ungroup".  If you click that a few times, but the status bar is still reporting some groups, you might need to use a special extension which will ungroup them all at once.  Unless you have the current development version, you'll probably need to install the extension.  But let's hope it goes quickly, or that you don't need to ungroup at all.

After everything is ungrouped, or if it doesn't report a group in the first place, try selecting all the text and do Path menu > Combine. If it still isn't fixed, you might need to do some node editing.

I'm curious why you didn't create the text originally in Inkscape?  Typically if one needs a DXF file, they don't need any fill, because they're going to use the paths for cutting.

So if you don't need them for cutting/plotting, it might be easier to create the text fresh in Inkscape, than to node edit the text - especially if it's a large amount of text.

Anyway, let us know what happens 

[bbanna]

brynn,

Thank you VERY much. The problem is solved.

I created the text in Autocad not as text, but shapes that look like text. I can work in autocad much faster than I can in Inkscape. I am still a on a very steep learning curve. Each time I use it, I learn more.

When I imported the dxf file into Inkscape, the internal donuts were shapes as well. For instance with the letter O, it would see the outside drawing as one shape and completely fill it and the inside drawing as another shape and completely fill it. After ungrouping EVERYTHING, I simply performed a object>difference and got my O back.

Thank you very much for helping. I really appreciate it.

Brian

[brynn]

Ah yes, Difference does work in this case.  Combining would do the same thing.  Combining would introduce less potential randomness, by retaining all the original nodes.  Whenever you use something like Union, Intersection, Difference, and some other things, Inkscape places any needed new nodes in seemingly random places.  To Inkscape, they aren't random, because Inkscape does internal calculations.  But to the user, they seem to be random and don't make much sense.  For example, Inkscape will often place cusp/corner nodes where clearly it should be a smooth node.  So if you need precision, like often is needed for cutting/plotting, you might find combining is a better choice.

But in any case, it looks like you're well on your way up the curve!