Group items for cutting and moving

It would be nice on easel if you could group particular items so that they can be treated as a single object. The problem that I am having at the moment is if I try to import an svg from inkscape with multiple curves and lines even when they are grouped on inkscape they are still treated as separate parts, each individual line is a different part. This makes it impossible to do say an outside pass or an inside pass as each part is not joined. this also means that the tool path is really inefficient, randomly skipping from one line to the next.
Donā€™t know if this would be possible!
thanks.

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+1 I would like to see grouping also.

I think that Edit: Combine will do what you want.
(Note: the command is only visible when multiple objects are selected.)
Merging multiple objects together into one object.
I do not see any way to ā€œun-groupā€ objects once they are combined, except via Undo.
That could be annoying, having to undo tone of other work just to split them apart againā€¦

I have no idea how the objects are ā€œmergedā€ or if programing wise it is any different than grouping.
But the ability to slip combined objects would be a nice feature down the road.

Thanks,
Is that already a feature? I canā€™t seem to see it on easel at the moment?

Try selecting 2 or more objects at once (hold down the Shift key while clicking) then go to the Edit Menu. The option will not appear if no object, or only one object is selected.

Iā€™m going to revive this post and fully support the notion of a ā€œGroupā€ and ā€œUngroupā€ command under the edit menu. This would help soooo much to align objects.

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I tried to design a board with a rabbet cut into each end of the board. The width and depth of the cut is 1/2 the thickness of the board. If I added 2 small rectangles for the rabbets, all is ok. The perimeter of the board is a cut to full depth. Great. Everything looked exactly as I wanted it. When I ā€˜combinedā€™ all the cuts, the piece turned black and the entire piece was shown as cut away. Just as if I did a fill to the entire depth of the piece. The combine command assumed that all was to be cut the same as the perimeter. Why? Iā€™m not understanding how combine works vs group.

I totally agree, I am trying to so some alignment holes for a 3 part assembly, If I flip horizontally the part do not flip correctly. Grouping and ungroup function would fix this and super useful for those of us unskilled at stuff like this.

Iā€™m new to the partyā€¦ Did we (the Easel user community) ever get a Group/Ungroup function in Easel? I can not find if we did.

Kindof, Select 2 or more design elements and then right click and Combine . . . OR Edit>Combine . . . OR Press Ctrl+J to combine them . . Which can sort of be like ā€œgroupingā€ but itā€™s still not quite the sameā€¦

As to uncombine select the combined design elements and go to the Lego Button on the left where the Apps are located and use either (thereā€™s 2 similarly named and similarly, yet slightly different functioning apps) the ā€œShape Exploderā€ or the ā€œXploderā€ app to separate the combined design as needed. Sometimes these apps re-assign depths seemingly at random so you may have a field day at times to correct for the depths of the resulting multiple design elements.

This as close to ā€œgroupā€ and ā€œungroupā€ as Easel has come so far.

Thanks for the reply Seth,

Iā€™ve started looking for an alternative to Easel. Seems like itā€™s designed to be used by an absolute beginner with no experience working with any type of graphic, 3D printing, or CNC software. The lack of such a basic function as Group/Ungroup makes me wish I could get a refund on my 3-year Easel Pro subscription, which accompanied the X-carve.

Iā€™m not actually an employee of inventables so I get to be blunt when I wantā€¦ offense not intended, Iā€™m just gunna lay it all out there

Well thats not gunna happen, because of the terms of sale and it was a package deal, & there is no ala carte xcarve without the easel pro included to determine what value the software was discounted by in your package deal, so the easel pro 3 years might as well be thought of as free and have no monetary value assigned to it as such you shouldnt feel bound to continue using itā€¦

If the software doesnt suite your needs, then you might want to check out the other options on the marketā€¦ however Iā€™d suggest using a trial if available before spending $ on something that you may be unsatisfied with.

Carveco has the layer grouping function youre looking for and is $15/month after this trialā€¦ and it does 3d relief carving as well.

No offense taken at allā€¦ My comment about ā€œwishingā€ for a refund was more rhetorical than anything I actually thought would ever happen.

There is a lot of good CNC software out there (both free and paid). Iā€™m sure Iā€™ll find something that fits my needs better (been using the free version of Carbide Create quite a bit actually, and I like it so far)

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Just be aware thay version 7 will require one to pay for either pro version or to be an owner of record of a shapeoko or nomad in order to get the gcode fileā€¦

So youā€™re going to have to keep version 6 in order to continue to use it for free.

Theres more explanation as to why on their forum, but basically they were getting calls for help with the software from non-paying users and they donā€™t want to deal with helping those users, so they are adding a pay wallnof sorts.

So my point is, do not uograde to version 7 or you wont be able to get the gcode file!!