[scorch]

@CaptainVee
I don't have much of a preference how you send questions. I guess anything that may be of interest to others is good to post on the forum.
---------------------
The line for setting the origin (in the .py file) is this:
self.origin.set("Default")

The available Options are: "Top-Left","Top-Center","Top-Right","Mid-Left","Mid-Center","Mid-Right","Bot-Left","Bot-Center","Bot-Right","Default"
---------------------
The default file location for opening .ngc files:
self.NGC_FILE = (os.path.expanduser("~")+"/None")

The default file location for opening image files:
self.IMAGE_FILE = (os.path.expanduser("~")+"/None")

To change one of the default file locations you want to modify the line to something like this:
self.IMAGE_FILE = ("/home/my_image_files"+"/None")
---------------------

@jm82792
Nice work on the plaque. I know combining objects can be kind of a pain. I don't know if you are using the origin setting or not but that is the best way to adjust things for now.

Scorch

[scorch]

If you have some default options that you want to have as the initial settings every time you open F-Engrave you can do the following:

1. Open F-Engrave
2. Change the settings to the settings you want to be the defaults
3. Select [File - Save G-Code File]
4. Save the file to config.ngc in you home directory (the default save location)

Every time you open up F-Engrave it will load the settings from that file.

Good Luck,
Scorch

Additional Notes:
For you old unix people the file location ~/.fengraverc also works
This process will not change the default save location for .ngc files

[CaptainVee]

Thanks, will save me a lot of clicks!

[scorch]

I put out another F-Engrave subversion rev (0.92). The cleanup buttons went missing depending on your computer configuration. They did not work for me in version 0.9 and 0.91 when I went to my Linux machine.

Now the buttons should be back to stay.

Sorry about the bug riddled version 0.9 release.
Scorch

[bobsch]

Sorry about the bug riddled version 0.9 release.
Scorch

No need to apologize. That's what the zero before the decimal point is for.

[jm82792]

Mango background, Ipe frame, Koa islands.
F-Engrave, notepad, Inkscape, and LinuxCNC

[scorch]

@jm82792

What program are you using to create the 3d profiled island pieces? Are you using image-to-gcode in LinuxCNC?

Scorch

[jm82792]

No it was DEM derived, it took half past forever to get it to work with several software packages. I couldn't find a heightmap.
I've had people ask me if you can do states other then here, yet you can but from my searching most of the data is per county basis or otherwise tons of small chunks.
But once you can get the points into Meshlab you can tessellate them to mesh. Then from there I used Meshcam.

[scorch]

I uploaded F-Engrave Version 0.93 to my web page. There was a bug in the previous 0.9 releases that caused the g-code output to miss lines and generally produce junk g-code in some cases. (especially in engrave mode)

The new version is available Here: F-Engrave Homepage

Thanks to mmcp42 for reporting the bug.
Scorch

[Vogavt]

Something else I noted when using the cursive.cxf font, there are line segments missing in places where I think they ought to be when selecting engrave. I even went back and loaded v0.7 and the issue was there too. As a side note, that font doesn't look like cursive fonts I'm used to using.

I should also mention I've never actually used that font, it just struck a thought when you mentioned missing lines. (I know you are talking about G-code lines and this is different)

[scorch]

I looked into the missing lines in cursive.cxf... The format of that particular font file is different than the others so F-Engrave ignores some of the data.

The typical CXF file format has lines that start L's or A's:
- Lines that start with L define line segments in the font
- Lines that start with A define arc segments in the font

In the cursive.cxf file there is a third line type "AR" from what I can tell it is an arc in the opposite direction of the standard arc defined by the "A" line.

The bottom line is that the "AR" code is not supported by F-Engrave. I don't see any reason to add support for it because it only occurs in two font files that I know of. The two files are cursive.cxf and simplex.cxf (it only occurs in a single character ã in simplex.cxf).

Scorch

[russell2]

Hi Scorch,

Can you help please?

I've been trying to instal f-engrave 093 under PCLinuxOS. When I try to run the Python script I get the following errors:
[russell@localhost F-Engrave-0.93_src]$ python f-engrave-093.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "f-engrave-093.py", line 6449, in
app = Application(root)
File "f-engrave-093.py", line 1087, in __init__
frame.pack()
File "/usr/lib/python2.6/lib-tk/Tkinter.py", line 1764, in pack_configure
+ self._options(cnf, kw))
_tkinter.TclError: cannot use geometry manager pack inside . which already has slaves managed by grid

The PCLinuxOS repository doesn't include python-tk but I have tkinter installed so I thought it should work.

Any ideas?

Russell

[Vogavt]

I looked into the missing lines in cursive.cxf... The format of that particular font file is different than the others so F-Engrave ignores some of the data.

Scorch

Thanks for the quick response!
I'm glad I posted here for others to see your thorough explanation. This might be good to add to the documentation for techies like myself.

I'll just simply remove the cursive.cxf file from my available list of fonts since there are many others to chose from thanks to your wonderful program.

[scorch]

@russell2

I don't know what is causing your errors. Sounds like your Python/TKinter installation could be the problem. Keep us updated. I may look into it but this may be one only you can solve. (because it may be specific to your installation)

Scorch

[russell2]

Scorch,
Thanks for your reply. I'm wondering if it's a problem with the version of tkinter in PCLinux as opposed to Ubuntoo.

Version numbers I'm using:
Python 2.6.6
Tkinter __version__ = "$Revision: 73770 $"

Russell.

P.S. Not urgent as I can run the Windoze version on XP in Virtualbox.

[scorch]

@Russell

I don't have access to my Unix box for a couple of days so I am not sure which version of python I am running under Linux. I am pretty sure it is in the 2.6.x series.

I have not looked in detail but the frame.pack() command may be a remnant from something that was removed and it may not be needed anymore.

Try this:
Go to line 1067 in the python file (f-engrave-093.py) and comment it out with a #. So it would look like this.

frame = Frame(master, width= self.w, height=self.h)
#frame.pack()
self.master = master

This seems to work under Windows.

When all else fails delete the line that gives the error.

Scorch

(Edit: Deleting the line is not as random as I made it sound. F-Engrave uses the Place geometry manager and the pack() command is used with the Pack geometry manager. F-Engrave is derived from the engrave program which used the Pack geometry manager. So the pack() was left over. I may need to add another place command to completely resolve the issue)

[victorofga]

i have checked globe dxf...

i didnt tried in autocad yet..
it was written by inkscape..

in draftsigth, (has a great dxf interpreter) showing some bsplines, unconnected

in dwg trueview, a freee autodesk application to convert dxf and dwg forth n back between versions, showing straigth short segments...

also some other programs that working with eps and dxf too... like coreldrw..

what is common, lines are crossing each other... im not sure if any vcarving program will work well with this..
you can engrave following the lines, called on option in toolpathing..

so i think this also was part in the crash.. nice file... however for vcarvign in this form wont work..

the screenshot made with dwg trueview..

[scorch]

@victorofga

The glode.dxf was linked by jm82792 as something that he was working on engraving. I don't think jm82792 intended to v-carve it.

You do bring up a good point that might not be obvious to everyone. In order to work well for v-carving DXF files need to be composed of closed sections and the lines and sections in the DXF file should not cross each other.

If you v-carve a DXF file with crossing lines the results are typically not pretty.

Scorch

[jm82792]

I engraved the DXF just fine
But I know what you mean, the DXFs need to be clean. This one was not but it worked good enough.

[russell2]

Scorch,

Thanks for your suggestion. Unfortunately, although that error goes away, I get the same error at another point in the program.

I have installed Ubuntu in Virtualbox and there is no problem running f-engrave. Ubuntu is using Python 2.7 and Tkinter 81008 so I guess I need to put in a request to the PCLinux team for some updates.

Russell.