Holes

Holes or ‘voids’ can be added to artwork for stitch types that use them such as Fills.

In order to be able to add a hole to a shape it must not only appear closed, but actually be closed. You can tell by looking at the ‘Close outline’ button on the Tool Pane when the object is selected. If the button appears depressed, the shape is closed. If not, you can click the button to close the shape.

Not all stitch types allow holes. When it is allowed, the ‘Add Hole’ button on the Tool Pane will be enabled. You can push this button and then begin drawing the hole. Right click to complete your drawing as with any drawing operation. To add another one, simply click the button again. There are no limits to the number of voided areas (holes) that can be on a shape.

The hotkey for adding a hole to the currently selected object is ‘o’.

If you have drawn several objects, or used path operations to create them and you want to combine holes from multiple objects, select all the objects and use the menu Create->Outline ->Combine Holes.

Holes can be removed by selecting a node on the hole and using the right-click pop-up menu entry, “Delete Hole.” To remove all holes from an object at once use the menu ‘Create->Delete Holes’.

Similarly you can separate the hole into a new object, as an outline, with the right-click pop-up menu entry, “Separate Hole.”

If you have multiple objects with original art that has holes, but you would like to separate them out as individual objects, use the menu Create->Outline->Separate Holes.