Cut Order?

[heathertheresa]

I don't know if this will make sense, but is there any way to control what order my shapes are cut in?

I'll try to explain a little. I used to be a drafter, so I'm familiar with MicroStation, so I've been using that to draw what I want cut and then export out an .svg file that I then import into SCAL 3. It comes in as one object and I size and rotate it, put in place on the mat and send to the cutter. However, I seems that the information is sent to the cutter in random order so the blade cuts some here, some there, and back and forth. Which is usually fine but, with some materials, it shows where the blade "set down" each time. It seems that shapes from the SCAL library are cut continuously without the blade resetting position. Is there anyway to control the order they are sent to the cutter?

I've tried Object to Path and Close Path, Break Apart then Merge, Union, Intersection; all seem to be getting the same result, that the cutter jumps around to different parts.

Has anyone out there ever tried using MicroStation (or AutoCAD) as your main design program? I know how to draw what I want there, so I hesitate to have to learn a new design program. What program do most users like to draw in? Thanks!

[heathertheresa]

Or could I export to an image and try tracing my shape to "force" SCAL into a new path? Any thoughts?

[pigtailpat]

I guarantee your files are coming in duplicates and for whatever reason, you are not seeing it inside SCAL. You need to pass the file privately to someone on the board with more experience than I, to find the duplicates cutting lines.

Pat

[heathertheresa]

Figured this one out!! (Hopefully From MicroStation, I print to a .pdf file, import the .pdf into Inkscape, then saved as an .svg file. Then imported that .svg into SCAL and got a clean cut, with one start and end. I'm going to try this on other drawings I have from MicroStation and see if it works well with larger, more complex things. My test was a simple shape.

[Thyme]

That happens a lot of the time when a file is designed in a different program and then imported to Scal or Inkscape, what appears to be one continuous line is actually a series of much shorter lines. To have it cut as one continuous line you have to actually join the node at the end of one section to the node at the beginning of the next section.

[PennyDuncan]

Couldn't you also select the shape and choose to close path in SCAL4???

[Thyme]

No, it is a series of lines not just one. So close path won't work.

[PennyDuncan]

I think it would work if she would ungroup them...then union them... then close path..... that way she could do in just one program...... after she imported the svg....