Hi all! This is my first post, so please bare with me.

I've been using inkscape to create basic images that I use on my cutting software. I'm wanting to create an image that starts with a basic shape. Then filling the shape with a pattern. I have that part down. What I can't seem to find a tutorial for is how to turn that into a cut file (SVG) to use on my cutting software, where it will cut out the pattern inside the shape.

I have done this several times, but when in the process, I have only been able to save a bitmap copy, then trace the bitmap. It makes the pattern inside look sloppy and uneven.

Is there an easy fix for this?

THANK YOU!!

Yes, you'd need to turn the pattern (which isn't really a path) into paths. That's what you've been doing by tracing the bitmap.

Depending on the contents of the pattern, you could use the EggBot Hatch extension or the Gcode area fill extension for creating hatches / lines that fill a shape.

Or, if you have a custom pattern that is not a hatch, you could use tiled clones to tile your pattern tile, then unlink them all, and depending on the 'cohesion' of the pattern (i.e. does it consist of single, disconnected shapes, or of shapes that should better be unioned to limit the amount of up+down of the blade) do some further editing, and remove everything that is outside the filled shape by using boolean operations.

If you need more specific advice, please post an example of a pattern and shape.

Select the object with the pattern, then Object menu > Patterns > Pattern to Object. That will change the pattern to objects. However, you still might need to use Path menu > Object to Path. The status bar can help you know whether that would be needed. Also note that depending on the origins of the pattern, when you convert back to object, it might not be in or even nearby to the object. So you might have to move it back over to the object.