I've been struggling trying to cut out text against a path image - when I try to use Path Difference, the selected paths (text and image) just disappear and I'm confused why that's happening.

When I first tested it, I created a plain text and performed the path difference function against the scroll image (converted to path) I wanted to use and it worked.

When I was finalizing it already with more text and I was ready to cut them out using path difference, it the text selected disappeared and I was so confused because the test worked out fine and I didn't do anything differently.

So I converted the text to path by using Object to Path, ungrouped them, combined them and made sure the status message shows that they're a path.
After all the letters were combined, I selected this path and the scroll image as the 2nd path. Then I clicked Path Difference and both disappeared.

This same thing happens even if I try the function with one phrase at a time.

How do I address this please?

The most likely cause of the problem is the z-order of your items. The object you want to cut out must be on top of the one you want it cut from. If both objects have a solid fill it's usually pretty obvious, but if they're translucent or with no fill at all, it can be easy to get them in the wrong order.

Hi Xav,

Thanks for the reply. Even if I choose first the text that I want to cut out and make sure that it's on top, the 2 paths still disappear.
Please see the screencast video I made for reference ---> https://screencast.com/t/tmB5udg7f1

Let me know what you think.

Thanks so much!

worked for me... The screencast unfortunately covers up vital info from the bottom left. can you upload the file?
One thing to do when objects disappear is to switch to outline mode to see if they are still there, only unpainted (no stroke or fill)

edit I looked again, the problem is that the target path is clipped, not sure how you managed that, probably by importing from outside Inkscape? When paths are clipped in Inkscape it always creates a group. Select it, release the clip, clean up the resulting mess and continue.

Your other object that worked is also a clipped path so who knows why... Path direction is possibly playing a part in why one works but not the other. as I said having the file means we can tell you in minutes what we can without the file spend hours guessing at.

Just FYI you should also check for path closure as that is a frequent cause of unpredictable difference operations.

You're right! I released the clip and it worked already!!!! I realized that the other worked because I did Path Difference first before I clipped whereas for the cloud, I clipped first before I did path difference. Thanks so much for the help, Druban!!!