I'm hoping someone can assist me with this. I am wanting to take a vector that has multiple objects and "merge/flatten" them to form one object that only has nodes/curves around the outside of the image. When I flatten the image it loses resolution and appears not to be a vector any more. The reason I want to eliminate all the node/curves of the separate objects and only have nodes on the outside border of the image is for people to use the design with a cutting machine. If all the objects have nodes the cutting machine will cut around each object instead of the whole image. I've spent days trying to work out and find out how to do this to no avail! I'm desperate! Could someone please help? Thanks. Helen
I think that using the word, "flatten" may be causing confusion. To many people, that means, "convert all of the content to a single bitmap".
As Myron suggested, have you looked at using the Boundary command?
Here's a video that discusses some aspects of using it:
Thanks for your reply. Yes, I have tried that. The boundary command is great for creating a curved/node border which is half way to what I want. My problem is that I am still left with lots of objects each with their own curved/node borders inside this. If this image goes into a cutting machine it will read all the curved lines and cut every object out whereas I only want it to cut on the outside of the image. I've spent weeks looking for an answer to this and can't believe that it's not possible. There must be millions of vector images out there that when loaded into a cutting machine can just be cut outside the image and not cut every colour within the image. Again...help!
If might help if you could share some CorelDRAW files that show examples of the types of content that are giving you trouble - "I'm starting with this, and I want to create a single border around the outside of all of it."