stevenla / figma-plugin-really-flatten-vector

Really—no REALLY—flattens vectors

Really Flatten Vectors

Plugin link: https://www.figma.com/community/plugin/1099596352042014853/Really-Flatten-Vectors

Figma plugin that flattens a vector into as few paths as possible. Overlapping paths will be simplified so only the outer shape is defined. The flattening happens in-place and "deletes" the old layers, so be careful!

Usage

1. Select some layers
2. Run the plugin by going to Plugins > Really Flatten Vectors or pressing ⌘/ and searching for Really Flatten Vectors.

How does it work?

Flattening vectors in Figma isn't entirely straightforward. Generally, Figma simplifies paths when using the built-in flatten ⌘E on a union layer. This plugin simplifies the setup needed to get a pretty flatten output.

1. Deeply ungroup/unframe the selection. This keeps positioning simple for some of the later operations.
2. Outline all strokes. Since this plugin merges everything into one path, strokes cannot be preserved. All strokes and text are outlined.
3. Use the first valid fill paint data to use as the output fill.
4. Use Figma's built-in flatten to merge the layers. Figma is pretty intelligent and will place the resulting layer in the correct spot in the layer hierarchy.
5. Create a union layer that contains the resulting layer from the previous step, and a clone of that same layer. This is because running the built-in flatten on a union with just one layer won't simplify the paths. If there is an exact replica inside the union, then the resulting layer will have simplified paths.
6. Run the built-in flatten against the union.

Development instructions

Check the plugin docs first for details on how to load a plugin in development mode.

# Development mode
npm run watch

# Push to production
npm run build