Thanks
Importing files from CorelDraw
Hey JodiB,
On the plug-ins, you will find several that are unlicensed and active, must be the default. Anyway, go thru each of the plug-ins, and the ones that are unlicensed, un-check the enable box in the bottom left corner.
If you watch the message box at the bottom of the Sheetcam window, you will see the "failure the load" message quite a bit. I don't think it hurts anything, but I figure un-enableing the the ones you can't use anyway just cuts down on the error messages.
I ran into a bit of snag when I was trying to look at your svgs. I use the Linux version of Sheetcam, and it turns out the newest version won't import svg files anymore. Hopefully Les will chime in pretty soon with what that's about. So I went back to an older version, and now your svg and dxf's load and look just fine. So I'll start over at the beginning in my pondering on your problem.
Later, Steve
On the plug-ins, you will find several that are unlicensed and active, must be the default. Anyway, go thru each of the plug-ins, and the ones that are unlicensed, un-check the enable box in the bottom left corner.
If you watch the message box at the bottom of the Sheetcam window, you will see the "failure the load" message quite a bit. I don't think it hurts anything, but I figure un-enableing the the ones you can't use anyway just cuts down on the error messages.
I ran into a bit of snag when I was trying to look at your svgs. I use the Linux version of Sheetcam, and it turns out the newest version won't import svg files anymore. Hopefully Les will chime in pretty soon with what that's about. So I went back to an older version, and now your svg and dxf's load and look just fine. So I'll start over at the beginning in my pondering on your problem.
The 2 layer ones were the cause of the above error, but that does not seem to be the cause of your problem. I'll boot up as a windows 7 machine and look at your original files again and see what I see there.I've tried to save an existing DXF file as SVG, but the export box shows an issue:
Invalid ID's Found
Details: One or more IDs used in the file are either duplicates or contain invalid syntax.
Later, Steve
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dennisshaw
- Posts: 20
- Joined: Fri May 13, 2016 1:01 pm
- Location: South Yorkshire
Opened your Test file from Inkscape both in SVG and DXF, they opened perfectly and cut perfectly first time no faults what soever, when saving from Inkscape I ticked the box to save as polylines not splines, I think this was your problem,dennisshaw wrote:His the test drawing only supposed to be 11.622 x 8.098 mm
Regards
Good Luck.
So I opened the dxf and the test svg in windows 7 Corel Draw X8.
The dxf opened fine and looked fine. The svg was garbage.
I opened the dxf in Corel Draw and exported it as an svg. I then imported it back into Corel Draw and it was fine.
When I tried to open the original svg file in Sheetcam, I had an error message saying "This file version is no longer supported", and nothing loaded in Sheetcam. The original dxf file opened in sheetcam with no problems. The new svg file also loaded into sheetcam ok.
One thing I did look at was the options for saving as an svg. I'm saveing as SVG 1.1, Unicode - UTF-8, Internal Style Sheet, Drawing precision 1:1000 units, Fountain Steps 256. The rest I don't think matters.
So my current feeling is that your svg export from Corel Draw is flawed.
Steve
The dxf opened fine and looked fine. The svg was garbage.
I opened the dxf in Corel Draw and exported it as an svg. I then imported it back into Corel Draw and it was fine.
When I tried to open the original svg file in Sheetcam, I had an error message saying "This file version is no longer supported", and nothing loaded in Sheetcam. The original dxf file opened in sheetcam with no problems. The new svg file also loaded into sheetcam ok.
One thing I did look at was the options for saving as an svg. I'm saveing as SVG 1.1, Unicode - UTF-8, Internal Style Sheet, Drawing precision 1:1000 units, Fountain Steps 256. The rest I don't think matters.
So my current feeling is that your svg export from Corel Draw is flawed.
Steve
Thank you Dennis and Steve for taking the time...I've learned alot from your posts. I contacted the person I purchased my plasma table from (he works with all the same software, just an older version of corel). He was able to use remote access to get into my computer. After a couple of hours of seeing the issues I'm having, he found that it was the encoding in my corel program. He made the necessary adjustments and now I'm smooth sailing with SVG files - Steve you were absolutely right. Even after we figured this out though, there were still a fair amount of distortions in Sheetcam. We found that under Options, Application Options, Drawing Import that my settings were all different from his. Once I changed them to match his, my drawing looked 75-80% better. Its not exactly the way I want it to look, but leaps and bounds better.
Dennis, I'm still trying to get some answers from corel regarding the splines in my drawings. Perhaps once I get some clarification on that, I'll be exactly where I want to be.
Thank you and have a great day!
Dennis, I'm still trying to get some answers from corel regarding the splines in my drawings. Perhaps once I get some clarification on that, I'll be exactly where I want to be.
Thank you and have a great day!
Still a couple of questions...
Hello Dennis and Steve,
I have a couple more questions and wonder if you can give me some insight. I am thrilled to finally have the SVG export/import working...major win! In my last post, I mentioned that the sheetcam import of these files has improved tremendously...probably even 90% better. When I initially import them, they look awesome. But when I zoom in to get a more detailed look, you can see several nodes have been added to the drawing and several lines look wobbly. There are areas where a nice curve has turned into a point. My husband and I spent the entire weekend experimenting with corel - using different shape tool options with the nodes (smooth, close curve, reverse subpaths, etc) only to end up with the same result. Because this has been such a trial and error, we've been drawing the designs on paper with a pen attached to the torch as not to waste metal. The "wobbly lines" in sheetcam are transferring to the drawings.
I've been told that this is as good as its going to get. I'm having a hard time accepting that as I have seen plenty of very accurate, gorgeous plasma cut pieces, large and small. Are my expectations too high or are there any other sheetcam settings that can be tweaked to clean some of this up?
I'm attaching an SVG file of one my drawings. I'm going to post another attachment of that same drawing in sheetcam as a comparison.
Is there anything that can be done?
Thank you
I have a couple more questions and wonder if you can give me some insight. I am thrilled to finally have the SVG export/import working...major win! In my last post, I mentioned that the sheetcam import of these files has improved tremendously...probably even 90% better. When I initially import them, they look awesome. But when I zoom in to get a more detailed look, you can see several nodes have been added to the drawing and several lines look wobbly. There are areas where a nice curve has turned into a point. My husband and I spent the entire weekend experimenting with corel - using different shape tool options with the nodes (smooth, close curve, reverse subpaths, etc) only to end up with the same result. Because this has been such a trial and error, we've been drawing the designs on paper with a pen attached to the torch as not to waste metal. The "wobbly lines" in sheetcam are transferring to the drawings.
I've been told that this is as good as its going to get. I'm having a hard time accepting that as I have seen plenty of very accurate, gorgeous plasma cut pieces, large and small. Are my expectations too high or are there any other sheetcam settings that can be tweaked to clean some of this up?
I'm attaching an SVG file of one my drawings. I'm going to post another attachment of that same drawing in sheetcam as a comparison.
Is there anything that can be done?
Thank you
- Attachments
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- Arrow3.family.svg
- (3.08 KiB) Downloaded 107 times
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Les Newell
- Site Admin
- Posts: 3665
- Joined: Thu May 11, 2006 8:12 pm
G-code cannot handle splines or bezier curves so SheetCam breaks them into lots of short line segments. It then tries to find areas of the curve that closely match a circular arc. Those areas are converted to arcs. You can specify a tolerance for fitting those arcs. Making the tolerance tighter will result in more segments but a more accurate shape. You have to make a judgement call as to what is best for your application. Looking at your job the tolerance is quite loose so you are ending up with more error than is acceptable.
Go to Options->application options->drawing import. Try setting the arc fitting tolerance to 0.1mm (0.004") and the minimum segments for arc fitting to 4. Reducing the tolerance or increasing the minimum segments will improve accuracy further but you will end up with more short arcs and short line segments.
Go to Options->application options->drawing import. Try setting the arc fitting tolerance to 0.1mm (0.004") and the minimum segments for arc fitting to 4. Reducing the tolerance or increasing the minimum segments will improve accuracy further but you will end up with more short arcs and short line segments.
Good morning Les,
Thank you for the information. After reading your post, I checked my drawing import settings. My arc fitting tolerance was at .004" and minimum segments 4. I've been playing with them - currently they are set at .0006 and 6. My drawing has improved but as you mentioned I've ended up with more short arcs and line segments. I'll try drawing something today to see how it transfers. I'm still waiting on an email from corel regarding the splines and bezier curves in my drawings and whether they can be converted to polylines or not.
Thank you for taking the time Les
Thank you for the information. After reading your post, I checked my drawing import settings. My arc fitting tolerance was at .004" and minimum segments 4. I've been playing with them - currently they are set at .0006 and 6. My drawing has improved but as you mentioned I've ended up with more short arcs and line segments. I'll try drawing something today to see how it transfers. I'm still waiting on an email from corel regarding the splines and bezier curves in my drawings and whether they can be converted to polylines or not.
Thank you for taking the time Les
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dennisshaw
- Posts: 20
- Joined: Fri May 13, 2016 1:01 pm
- Location: South Yorkshire
Hey Dennis,
When you mentioned going back into corel to remove the extra nodes, which nodes are you referring to? In corel, the only nodes in my drawing are the ones that I think are necessary to keep the correct shape. The extra nodes and slight distortions in the file only appear when the file is imported into Sheetcam - in corel its totally fine. Can you clarify?
Thanks
When you mentioned going back into corel to remove the extra nodes, which nodes are you referring to? In corel, the only nodes in my drawing are the ones that I think are necessary to keep the correct shape. The extra nodes and slight distortions in the file only appear when the file is imported into Sheetcam - in corel its totally fine. Can you clarify?
Thanks