An oft-asked question by my customers designing titles goes like this: “I’ve welded some letters together but the middles disappeared! Help!”

Very simple diagnosis and a very simple fix:  If you’ve gone to Arrange>Break Path so that you can edit the letters (or any image with interior parts) and you neglect to then do an Arrange>Make Path, then those interior paths will vanish upon welding.  So, after editing your letters, just marquis-select each one (making sure you select both the exterior path and the interior path) and then do an Arrange>Make Path. Today’s video shows you exactly how it works.

I fail to mention in the video that this works the same way with just a basic shape.  If you have, for example, a flower with a center circle and you have not execute an Arrange<Make Path, then when you weld the flower to any other object, that center circle will disappear.   Also, remember that if you ever weld anything and you do not get the results you expected, then always back up a step (Edit>Undo).  I’ve also had customers who have performed a Make Path on everything at one time (as I show in the video), then tried to weld and noticed that nothing seemed to happen. Then they begin doing the Break Path and trying to re-Make Path and weld and end up with sort of a mess.  So, remember that all-important Edit>Undo as well.