[apuliacnc]

I have emailed this guy for help but while i wait for a reply does anyone know how to use Truetype Tracer (i got it at http://timeguy.com/cradek-files/true...3.0-2_i386.deb)

I really need to use some fancy fonts for my cnc engraving. At present i can use only those that are available within qcad.

I use EMC2 Ubuntu 8.04 and a home made cnc using a chinese controller.

Thanks....

[MarcoBernardini]

Glad to help a fellow Linux user (even if I'm on Slackware).
I read the source code of the program, really skinny, and I see that the syntax required is

ttt [-?] [-u] [-f /some/file.ttf] 'The Text' > file.ngc

or

ttt_dxf [-?] [-u] [-f /some/file.ttf] 'The Text' > file.dxf

There is also an undocumented -d parameter for debug.
The default font used is /usr/share/fonts/truetype/ttf-bitstream-vera/VeraBI.ttf.
If you don't have it in that path you can locate the VeraBI.ttf(¹) file on your system and create a symlink (no need to physically copy the file).
As you can see, you have to call fonts by file name rather than TTF name, so this could be a bit odd (but in this way you don't need to install thousand of "fancy" - and almost useless - fonts). GIMP deals better with uninstalled fonts: at least you can see the TTF name.
The drawback of this program is you have to use the same font for the whole text, but you can use the minimal graphic set included in some Unicode fonts.
If you want to have something more complex there is a G-code extension for Inkscape. It is discussed in this thread:
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showth...light=inkscape
For thousands of fonts, even GPLed or free, see http://www.dafont.com - and don't forget to browse the dingbats section: often the right dingbat can save you a lot of drawing time.

(¹) a user told me he couldn't find the file with the name in Courier face: his file name was in Arial, so he wasn't sure it was the good one. (chair)

[PEsystem]

what Chinese controller? I know DSP controller very well. also Syntec .

[apuliacnc]

Thanks for your help. Got it working thanks to you.

[apuliacnc]

what Chinese controller? I know DSP controller very well. also Syntec .

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/New-4-Axis-TA8...item2a0418d137

[MarcoBernardini]

Thanks for your help. Got it working thanks to you.

You're welcome!
Now we want to see your work...

[Var]

You can try to use Inkscape + Gcode tools, it can export any curves from Inkscape to Gcode, and Inkscape can woks with lots of fonts and other vector graphics.

To get Inkscape just run "sudo apt-get install inkscape" in terminal.
Gcode tools you can get here: http://www.cnc-club.ru/forum/viewtop...3&t=35&start=0

There's some additional info http://cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?p=731069