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Cut Order / Path Optimization in SCAL?

PostPosted: January 8th, 2015, 3:00 pm
by maksbx
Hi all-

I have a closed serpentine path that I'm importing into SCAL and although my Silver Bullet will cut the shape, it does so by cutting seemingly random segments rather than simply following the curved path. The silver bullet head also lifts up between segments of the curve even when they are back-to-back.

Am I missing something here? Is there a simple way to get the blade to stay down and follow an entire path?

Thanks so much in advance.
Mike

Re: Cut Order / Path Optimization in SCAL?

PostPosted: January 8th, 2015, 5:49 pm
by LisaH
Have you tried converting the object to path and then importing and cutting?

Re: Cut Order / Path Optimization in SCAL?

PostPosted: January 12th, 2015, 11:28 am
by maksbx
Yes, thank you - I seem to get the best results with "Object to Path" then "Join Paths" before cutting. Is there any way to specify which node on a path will be the start/end point?

Re: Cut Order / Path Optimization in SCAL?

PostPosted: January 22nd, 2015, 7:59 pm
by LisaH
I'm so sorry that I haven't been back - I don't check here during work hours and I've been rather busy lately. No excuse, but the truth, none the less. And the answer to your question is - no - SCAL chooses that on it's own.

Re: Cut Order / Path Optimization in SCAL?

PostPosted: September 25th, 2015, 3:06 pm
by heathertheresa
I've been having the same problem with the blade lifting and resetting, cutting seemingly at random. I finally figured this out today (and had seen this post in searching, so I thought I should share). Try printing (or save as) to a .pdf file, to scale if you can or want to, from your original program (I don't know what you're using), then import the .pdf into Inkscape (free program). Save as an .svg from Inkscape, then import that .svg into SCAL. I'm using SCAL 3 and getting much better results by adding this step.

Re: Cut Order / Path Optimization in SCAL?

PostPosted: September 25th, 2015, 5:32 pm
by Gigi
You can import the PDF straight into SCAL- would that make a difference? Just trying to save you a step......

Re: Cut Order / Path Optimization in SCAL?

PostPosted: November 10th, 2015, 10:09 am
by heathertheresa
Yes, importing the pdf is directly into SCAL is getting great cuts, too. Thanks for saving me a step!

Re: Cut Order / Path Optimization in SCAL?

PostPosted: November 10th, 2015, 11:50 am
by Gigi
Great to hear. :)