[PatrickAllen]

Hi Forum,

I'm trying to convert the design shown below into a DXF file, to then import and cut out of 1/4" mild steel on a Trumpf 3030 laser.



We've been running into issues with open contours and convergent angles that are too close together.

At the moment, I'm using Inkscape to trace the bitmap of the image to a path. This is fairly straightforward and it creates an image using curved node segments. These curved sections are then either interpolated or approximated by the Trumpf conversion software, and that's where we run into trouble I think.

I have found an article describing how to remove the splines by changing them to straight lines. I'm thinking this might help. But in order to maintain even partway decent looking curves, many nodes are required.

I'm curious what tips folks would have for transferring a design like this into a laser readable file.

[ger21]

Try a different Inkscape exporter, like the one from Big Blue Saw.

[Khalid]

I used vectorMagic..

[Khalid]

Here is with lines only...

[PatrickAllen]

Thanks for the Vector Magic tip Kahlid.

I spent some time working with a couple of other export options. ( Thanks for the link Gerry! :cheers: ) But the latest version of Inkscape "broke" a bunch of the previously working exporters. "psttoedit" is a command line tool that I've had some luck with in the past, but not today.

It's still going to take a bit, but I think it's going to work now.

Thanks!

[cyclestart]

Inkscape's built-in bitmap tracer is really pretty good at giving smooth curves for my uses. My uses don't include laser so take this
for whatever it's worth. Sometimes un-checking poly-lines option on export avoids some unwanted bridging lines, and sometimes
it just doesn't work well at all..

pstoedit, yeah resort to that sometimes as well. Seems you can never have enough tools (software)

If you want to try Big Blue Saw the fix is on that sites comment section (page 5 of comments).
To edit that .py file I suggest notepad++ ....some more software

[PatrickAllen]

Hi Cyclestart,

I've had the bitmap tracing work for me the in past too. That's why I figured cutting these out would be a walk in the park.

...it turned out to be a long walk.

I'll keep experimenting to see if I can reduce the number of steps.

I've been a LabVIEW developer for the past ten years, and more recently Unity and some augmented reality. So, more software is just fine. ( Already a fan of Notepad ++ )

Parts are ready to run.

[Dean448]

I found a raster to vector conversion programs after getting totally frustrated with Inkscape. For some reason this site doesn't come up using common search terms, so it wasn't easy to find. I've been able to convert web images and hand drawn sketches using this program with ease. It won't break the bank and outputs dxf. The program is called vextractor and it has a trial that works pretty well.