Load shape A and shape B
A is the base; B is placed over it with the millimetre sliders. Both can be SVG, DXF, CMX or typed text.
Boolean & shape · 11 tools
Boolean and shape operations
Weld, subtract, intersect, divide and knock out shapes so a design becomes one clean cut path instead of a pile of overlaps.
A plotter or laser has no concept of one shape on top of another. If a circle overlaps a square, the machine cuts the whole circle and the whole square, and the overlapping region is cut twice with a scrap left in the middle. Boolean operations turn stacked shapes into the single outline the machine actually needs: a weld for joined letters, a subtraction for a knockout sign, an intersection for a clipped pattern.
Design software offers these operations, but usually on the whole document at once and with surprises on compound paths. These tools take two shapes, show both outlines while you position the second in millimetres, and return one clean compound path with holes preserved. The path-level tools alongside them combine, break apart and de-duplicate without changing any geometry.
Try it here
Weld / Union
Merge overlapping shapes into one outline.
How a boolean & shape job runs
Pick the operation
Weld / Union joins everything. Difference cuts B out of A. Intersection keeps only the overlap. XOR keeps everything except the overlap. Divide returns every region as its own shape so you can colour or cut them separately.
Check holes and islands
The preview shows the result with inner contours; a knocked-out letter O leaves its counter as an island that the Knockout Tool can bridge or drop.
Export as one compound path
The result carries the real size of the inputs and exports to SVG, DXF and PLT as closed polygons ready for offsets, nesting or cutting.
All boolean & shape tools
11 tools · Weld, subtract, intersect and divide shapes.Weld / UnionMerge overlapping shapes into one outline.Difference / SubtractCut one shape out of another.IntersectionKeep only where two shapes overlap.XORKeep everything except the overlap.Divide ShapesSplit two shapes into their separate regions.Combine PathsCombine into one compound path with holes.Break Apart PathsSeparate a compound path into individual shapes.Merge Overlapping ShapesWeld everything that touches.Remove Overlapping LinesStop double cuts where shapes share edges.Knockout ToolKnock a design out of a background shape.Compound Path CreatorMake holes by combining inner and outer shapes.
On the machine
Compound paths
A letter with a hole is one path with two contours. Compound Path Creator builds that structure from separate shapes, and Break Apart Paths undoes it when you need the pieces individually, for example to cut the counter in a contrasting colour.
Overlapping lines on lasers
Where two parts share an edge, the laser cuts that edge twice and burns it. Remove Overlapping Lines merges coincident segments so shared edges cut once; on a sheet of tiles it can halve the cut time.
Knockout signs
A backing plate with the letters removed is Difference with the plate as A and the lettering as B. Keep the plate 20 to 30 mm larger than the text on every side so the frame stays rigid after the letters are gone.
Precision
Operations run on integer coordinates at micron scale, so slivers thinner than 0.01 mm are removed rather than exported as invisible fragments that stall the blade.
What usually goes wrong
- Welding text in the design software and getting a filled blob because the letters were still live text. Convert or retype first.
- Subtracting a shape that is not fully closed; the operation ignores open paths. Close them in the vector tools first.
- Cutting overlapping shapes as they are. Merge Overlapping Shapes exists precisely so the machine sees one outline.
- Forgetting the counters. Difference on the letter B leaves two loose islands inside the plate; decide whether they are bridged, dropped or cut as separate pieces.
- Dividing a design and losing track of which region is which. Export Divide results with layer names so the pieces stay identifiable in the nesting tool.
Common questions
Which operation makes a two-colour layered sign?
Cut the full lettering in the top colour, then Difference the lettering from a backing shape for the bottom layer, or use the Offset tools for a backing that follows the letters at a fixed distance.
Can I run a boolean on more than two shapes?
Weld and Merge Overlapping Shapes work on everything loaded at once. The two-shape operations (Difference, Intersection, XOR) are deliberately pairwise so the result is predictable; chain them for more complex work.
What happens to text?
Typed text is shaped and converted to outlines before the operation, so an Arabic phrase can be knocked out of a plate in one step.
Why did my result lose a small detail?
Fragments below the minimum feature size are dropped so they do not become uncuttable specks. Raise the size in the resizer first if a detail is intentional.