Cut Order / Path Optimization in SCAL?

Cut Order / Path Optimization in SCAL?

Postby maksbx » January 8th, 2015, 3:00 pm

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
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Re: Cut Order / Path Optimization in SCAL?

Postby LisaH » January 8th, 2015, 5:49 pm

Have you tried converting the object to path and then importing and cutting?
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Re: Cut Order / Path Optimization in SCAL?

Postby maksbx » January 12th, 2015, 11:28 am

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?
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Re: Cut Order / Path Optimization in SCAL?

Postby LisaH » January 22nd, 2015, 7:59 pm

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.
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Re: Cut Order / Path Optimization in SCAL?

Postby heathertheresa » September 25th, 2015, 3:06 pm

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.
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Re: Cut Order / Path Optimization in SCAL?

Postby Gigi » September 25th, 2015, 5:32 pm

You can import the PDF straight into SCAL- would that make a difference? Just trying to save you a step......
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Re: Cut Order / Path Optimization in SCAL?

Postby heathertheresa » November 10th, 2015, 10:09 am

Yes, importing the pdf is directly into SCAL is getting great cuts, too. Thanks for saving me a step!
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Re: Cut Order / Path Optimization in SCAL?

Postby Gigi » November 10th, 2015, 11:50 am

Great to hear. :)
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