Issues importing images...

[Davek0974]

I'm trying to educate myself with illustrator as a DXF creator as it seems to be the only program that I can get to run smoothly (Inkscape crashes plenty) and that also does what is needed.

However, when importing some images sheetcam throws up messages regarding duplicate vectors, but I have no idea where the duplicates are or even if it matters?

The next issue is that when I run the plasma operation, I get messages warning me that some paths were not generated correctly??

Basically I'm having real trouble getting any source material, very frustrating.

[Davek0974]

Nobody else using illustrator?

[ArchieF]

Don't use Illustrator but maybe you're using more than one layer and so you might have duplicate vectors on different layers you don't see but SheeCAM ?

Could you upload a drawing bringing this message ?

Richard

[Davek0974]

The file is attached ( i think )


Dave

[ArchieF]

Using a different software the duplicate vectors you can see in the screenshot in the red rectangle.

Importing your drawing in SheetCAM removed as duplicate vectors all those in the red rectangle.

Richard

[Davek0974]

WOW! thanks for that, that also explains the second message about some paths were not generated correctly as some of the missing removed vectors were being used to complete the wanted paths i.e. the drawings seem to be created by many overlapping vectors and not one contiguous path.

This is very frustrating as I like AI.

I guess I will need to stump up for Corel Draw as the free InkScape does not run on my PC's, the only reason I can find is that my XP at home is running in a Mac virtual machine and at work it runs in another virtual environment. It appears Inkscape does not like VM's at all. I tried the Mac version of it and could not get that to load at all in Mavericks.

Very annoying as it is good software.

Back to the drawing board.

[ArchieF]

You might give QCAD or A9CAD a try . Both for windows and no charge. Perhaps you have success.

Richard

[Davek0974]

Thanks but i have LibreCad for my technical stuff, a lot of what i need to do involves creating outlines from photos etc, I need a feature called "Image Trace" which AI and inkscape both have but I can't use AI and inkscape won't run.

Manually creating outlines from images like the attached one is just way too complex.

I am looking into coreldraw but cheapest i can find is £80 for an educational copy, not sure if i can get that though??

I have posted another thread on the inkscape forum but they don't seem interested when you feel them it just won't run.

Dave

[rrc1962]

If you have LibreCAD, why are you messing with Illy and Corel. Illy and Corel are both designed for producing artwork for print. In that capacity, overlapping vectors and such are not an issue. Libre will give you much better control over layering and produce a more reliable DXF.

[Davek0974]

Yes but it does not have an image trace feature, it's a pure cad package and has no artistic side, very much like auto cad et al.

Image trace in AI or Inkscape can do in 5 minutes what it would take me three or four hours to do in librecad etc.

It's just not what librecad is designed for.

[ajfoxy]

To Davek0974, I use illustrator generated files in Sheetcam exclusively. You just have to watch out for duplicate layers etc. It gets more hairy when you are working on someone else's file as you don't know how they have generated the drawing. Generally what I do in that instance is trace the image, group it and put it on its own layer. Then delete all other layers and the original artwork. That way you can see what you are left with. Occasionally you will have to fix up imported artwork. No reason not to use illustrator.
Cheers

[Davek0974]

To Davek0974, I use illustrator generated files in Sheetcam exclusively. You just have to watch out for duplicate layers etc. It gets more hairy when you are working on someone else's file as you don't know how they have generated the drawing. Generally what I do in that instance is trace the image, group it and put it on its own layer. Then delete all other layers and the original artwork. That way you can see what you are left with. Occasionally you will have to fix up imported artwork. No reason not to use illustrator.
Cheers

Thanks, any chance you could have a look at that file?

All I did was place, image trace, expand, remove fill, add stroke, save.

It seems image trace is the problem but I can't find a way of flattening all the overlapping paths and creating one single path?

I'm sure it can be done simply.

[ajfoxy]

The file you supplied had duplicates in the middle section of the drawing. There are various scripts one can download to nuke duplicates. Google "deleting duplicate lines in Illustrator" will probably bring up a few scripts. Unfortunately there is not as far as I know a "built-in" illustrator fix for this.
I had a look at your drawing and went through the lines manually. Basically you click on a line and delete it, if there is a line underneath try deleting that until the line disappears, then control Z to bring it back. Very manual and tedious but a sure fire way of making sure you don't have duplicates. Once you delete a line you will notice the other lines are a tad bolder, that indicates duplicates. Long winded and tedious but it will get you there.
Cheers, hope this is of some help. I have attached a fixed (hopefully) alt of your file.

[ArchieF]

Do you know AUTOTRACE ?

http://autotrace.sourceforge.net/

Richard

[Davek0974]

Sounds ideal but does not appear to be in any usable format.

No idea what to do with compiling a binary?

Sounds good though