What this preflight checks
The parser resolves inline and presentation-attribute paint through basic groups, inventories stroke and fill colors, estimates transformed stroke width, finds open subpaths and exact repeated geometry under the same transform, and compares unitless page dimensions under 96-DPI and 72-DPI interpretations. It also exposes unconverted text, embedded images, reuse elements, event handlers, remote or data references, CSS classes, paint servers, clipping, masks, filters, markers, malformed geometry, duplicate IDs, hidden objects, dashes, opacity, and non-scaling strokes.
Exact duplicates are intentionally narrow: two visually coincident curves expressed with different path commands, transforms, tolerances, or shapes may not be recognized. Conversely, exact repeated geometry can be intentional. Review it in the destination software before deleting anything.
How the workflow profiles differ
Glowforge: strokes arrive as vector steps that can be configured as cuts or scores, while fills arrive as engraves; distinct colors can create separate steps. Ponoko: the upload proof assigns an action per line or fill color; blue cut, red line engrave, and gray/black area engrave are useful recommendations rather than file-format guarantees. Epilog: the profile calls out stroke widths at or below 0.004 inch as hairline/vector candidates and treats thicker lines as engraving candidates. LightBurn: colors commonly map objects to layers and shared settings, Line follows contours, and Fill expects closed shapes.
Clean-copy boundary
The downloadable copy is a sanitizer and interoperability aid, not a geometric repair engine. It serializes an allowlisted static-vector subset, resolves supported presentation attributes, and removes unsupported or active content only after an explicit omission confirmation when visible material would be lost. It does not close paths, weld intersections, flatten Béziers, outline strokes or text, embed images, expand dashes, compensate kerf, reorder operations, preserve stylesheets/effects, or decide which duplicated line is safe to remove. Keep the original file and compare both copies visually and dimensionally.
Machine and safety boundary
This tool never proves that artwork is ready or safe to run. It cannot know the machine, lens, material, coating, focus, power, speed, passes, air assist, exhaust, fire risk, workholding, kerf, minimum feature size, driver behavior, or actual process order. Confirm scale and every process assignment in supported laser software, follow the machine and material instructions, supervise the job, and run a controlled test on representative stock.
Frequently asked questions
Why can 72 and 96 DPI produce different sizes?
SVG unitless values and px need a pixels-per-inch interpretation to become physical dimensions. A 240 px width is 63.5 mm at 96 DPI and 84.67 mm at 72 DPI. Declaring mm, cm, in, pt, or pc makes the intended physical page less ambiguous.
Why does an open filled path get an error?
The SVG renderer implicitly closes a fill boundary, but the vector contour itself remains open. Fill workflows and contour-cut workflows have different requirements, so the tool preserves that evidence instead of treating the implied fill closure as a joined endpoint.
Why are CSS classes blocked from clean export?
A bounded local parser cannot reproduce the full CSS cascade safely. Dropping the stylesheet while keeping class-dependent geometry could change fill, stroke, visibility, or effects. Convert final process paint to inline presentation attributes first.
Does a blue line always mean cut?
No. That convention is helpful in Ponoko's recommended setup, while other workflows may map the same color differently. The selected profile supplies review labels only; the final software or upload proof controls the operation.
Workflow references
Browse fabrication tools · Flatten an SVG path transform · Inspect an SVG viewBox