How to evenly split objects in Vectric (even 3D)
If you ever need to split up part or all of your 2D or 3D design in Vectric software, this video will show you how to do it. This will work with VCarve, Aspire, and Cut2D. The 3D part will only work in Aspire.
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Video Transcript:
How do I divide an object or vector into three equal parts? So, to split this up, this will work, like I said, in VCarve, Cut2D, or Aspire. What I like to do is draw a line. If you want to split it vertically, you're going to draw your line vertically. If you want to go horizontally, do horizontal. And I like to draw a line at the largest point.
So this widest point right here. I'll draw a line overhanging both sides. And you want to make sure the smart snapping is turned on. So your line stays nice and vertical, at 90 degrees, or 0 degrees if you're going horizontal. And then you're going to click another point at the bottom, and then right click to close.
Now, we're going to take this line, and use it to split up this design into 3 equal parts, or however many equal parts you want. So, first we need the line to start at the beginning of our design. So I'm going to select the line, I'm going to hold shift, and select the object second. It's important the order you select those in.
And then if you use your alignment tool and you want to align to the left outside or inside edge, doesn't matter, it'll go in the same spot. If you use inside or outside, you want that line to line up right there on the edge. And then you're going to click close. Now we're going to copy this line over to the other side.
And we can just double click on the line. Hold ctrl, holding ctrl makes a copy. And then just drag it to the right. Just place it anywhere. And then select that line, hold shift select the object again. Go back to the alignment tool. And this time you are going to align it to the right side. So now we have two reference lines on both sides.
So here is where the part comes in where you're going to split it up. So we have to decide how many sections we want. So he wanted to split this up into three equal sections. So I'm going to hold ctrl and double click on that first line and drag it. I'm just going to put it randomly anywhere and then hold ctrl and drag another one and just place it randomly anywhere.
And then we're going to align these up so they're perfectly even. But as you can see now we have one section, two sections, three sections. But these lines are not even yet. I can even move them so you can definitely tell they're not even. And then we're going to use the alignment tool one more time. So go back to align selected objects.
And you're going to select all of the lines that we're using to split this project up. That'd be all those lines there. And then at the bottom here where it says space selection, there's a button to space them evenly, either vertically or horizontally. In this case, we're going to go vertically, click that button.
And there you go. Now we have three equal sections. And there is an easy way to do that without doing that first step we did. Which actually I should show you that because that is easier. Let me delete these lines. So we know we need four lines at the end. So I could take these lines and just copy, holding control, and just drag them over.
So now I have four lines. And then I select all four of those lines. Hold shift, select the object that we want to center them in. Go back to the alignment tool. If you check this box that says inside last vector, and then click that button again to align them either vertically or horizontally. Click that, and oh, actually I forgot this, it will ignore the ends.
So we actually have to have two lines instead of four. So select the two, select your object, then center those. And there we go. We're back to one, two, three equal parts. So there's two different ways you can split those up. Alright, so now we have our lines showing there, but we still don't have this split up yet.
So now we have to cut this up, but in order to cut this up, we need to make a copy of it. Because if we start cutting it now, we're going to lose parts of it that we need to keep for the other parts. So what I like to do is make however many copies I need total. So I need one, two, three pieces. So I will make three copies of the shape.
And what I usually do is select the shape, double click on it, hold ctrl to make a copy, and drag it over here. That's one, one copy, and then I'll drag it one more time, there's another copy. So now we have three parts, and now we're going to cut all these up to leave us with three shapes total. In reality, we actually only need two of these, because I will show you if you use the scissor tool.
And this first one, make sure the checkbox is checked, so it rejoins the parts after they're trimmed. And now you're going to trim the overhangs, trim the bridge in between. And you'll see we only needed that one shape to make two parts. And now this second copy, we can trim the outside ones. And there you go, there's our third part.
And then this one we can keep if we want the full shape. So we don't really have to cut that one. Then click close. Now we can select this, double click on it, move it back here, and there we go. Now we have one, two, three equal parts that are now closed vectors. And we can now separate them if we needed to.
And that's how you would split a vector or object into equal parts. And you can do the same thing with 3D objects as well. It's a similar process, except in Aspire, you have the option to split components. So, for instance, let me bring in a piece of clip art. We'll make it larger. Select these three shapes.
I'm just going to move these over here. So let's say we wanted to split this into three equal parts horizontally this time. We would draw our vector line going straight across. I will make two copies of this. Just hold control and move it up. And now I'm going to hold shift, select those two lines, select the object.
I'm going to see if it lets us, I think I need a vector to make this work. Oh no, actually it did work. There we go. Okay. So we're, we spaced it evenly in between the shapes. So now we have three equal parts, and then it's a little bit different. In Aspire, you have the option to split components using a vector.
So if you select a component, hold shift, select the vectors, and then click that button looks like a pair of scissors and, oh, it only does one at a time. Forgot about that. So we have to select selective component. Hold, select one line, and then split it, and then select the remaining part, select the other line, and split.
And there we go, now we have one part up here, a second part here, and a third part down here. And then in the 3D view you can see that's now split into equal sections. So hopefully that helps, and that's how you would split components, or objects. And that's all for this quick tip, if that helped you out make sure you like and subscribe for more!
So this widest point right here. I'll draw a line overhanging both sides. And you want to make sure the smart snapping is turned on. So your line stays nice and vertical, at 90 degrees, or 0 degrees if you're going horizontal. And then you're going to click another point at the bottom, and then right click to close.
Now, we're going to take this line, and use it to split up this design into 3 equal parts, or however many equal parts you want. So, first we need the line to start at the beginning of our design. So I'm going to select the line, I'm going to hold shift, and select the object second. It's important the order you select those in.
And then if you use your alignment tool and you want to align to the left outside or inside edge, doesn't matter, it'll go in the same spot. If you use inside or outside, you want that line to line up right there on the edge. And then you're going to click close. Now we're going to copy this line over to the other side.
And we can just double click on the line. Hold ctrl, holding ctrl makes a copy. And then just drag it to the right. Just place it anywhere. And then select that line, hold shift select the object again. Go back to the alignment tool. And this time you are going to align it to the right side. So now we have two reference lines on both sides.
So here is where the part comes in where you're going to split it up. So we have to decide how many sections we want. So he wanted to split this up into three equal sections. So I'm going to hold ctrl and double click on that first line and drag it. I'm just going to put it randomly anywhere and then hold ctrl and drag another one and just place it randomly anywhere.
And then we're going to align these up so they're perfectly even. But as you can see now we have one section, two sections, three sections. But these lines are not even yet. I can even move them so you can definitely tell they're not even. And then we're going to use the alignment tool one more time. So go back to align selected objects.
And you're going to select all of the lines that we're using to split this project up. That'd be all those lines there. And then at the bottom here where it says space selection, there's a button to space them evenly, either vertically or horizontally. In this case, we're going to go vertically, click that button.
And there you go. Now we have three equal sections. And there is an easy way to do that without doing that first step we did. Which actually I should show you that because that is easier. Let me delete these lines. So we know we need four lines at the end. So I could take these lines and just copy, holding control, and just drag them over.
So now I have four lines. And then I select all four of those lines. Hold shift, select the object that we want to center them in. Go back to the alignment tool. If you check this box that says inside last vector, and then click that button again to align them either vertically or horizontally. Click that, and oh, actually I forgot this, it will ignore the ends.
So we actually have to have two lines instead of four. So select the two, select your object, then center those. And there we go. We're back to one, two, three equal parts. So there's two different ways you can split those up. Alright, so now we have our lines showing there, but we still don't have this split up yet.
So now we have to cut this up, but in order to cut this up, we need to make a copy of it. Because if we start cutting it now, we're going to lose parts of it that we need to keep for the other parts. So what I like to do is make however many copies I need total. So I need one, two, three pieces. So I will make three copies of the shape.
And what I usually do is select the shape, double click on it, hold ctrl to make a copy, and drag it over here. That's one, one copy, and then I'll drag it one more time, there's another copy. So now we have three parts, and now we're going to cut all these up to leave us with three shapes total. In reality, we actually only need two of these, because I will show you if you use the scissor tool.
And this first one, make sure the checkbox is checked, so it rejoins the parts after they're trimmed. And now you're going to trim the overhangs, trim the bridge in between. And you'll see we only needed that one shape to make two parts. And now this second copy, we can trim the outside ones. And there you go, there's our third part.
And then this one we can keep if we want the full shape. So we don't really have to cut that one. Then click close. Now we can select this, double click on it, move it back here, and there we go. Now we have one, two, three equal parts that are now closed vectors. And we can now separate them if we needed to.
And that's how you would split a vector or object into equal parts. And you can do the same thing with 3D objects as well. It's a similar process, except in Aspire, you have the option to split components. So, for instance, let me bring in a piece of clip art. We'll make it larger. Select these three shapes.
I'm just going to move these over here. So let's say we wanted to split this into three equal parts horizontally this time. We would draw our vector line going straight across. I will make two copies of this. Just hold control and move it up. And now I'm going to hold shift, select those two lines, select the object.
I'm going to see if it lets us, I think I need a vector to make this work. Oh no, actually it did work. There we go. Okay. So we're, we spaced it evenly in between the shapes. So now we have three equal parts, and then it's a little bit different. In Aspire, you have the option to split components using a vector.
So if you select a component, hold shift, select the vectors, and then click that button looks like a pair of scissors and, oh, it only does one at a time. Forgot about that. So we have to select selective component. Hold, select one line, and then split it, and then select the remaining part, select the other line, and split.
And there we go, now we have one part up here, a second part here, and a third part down here. And then in the 3D view you can see that's now split into equal sections. So hopefully that helps, and that's how you would split components, or objects. And that's all for this quick tip, if that helped you out make sure you like and subscribe for more!
