Hello all,
I have a simple vector drawing in Affinity Designer 2 and I am trying to export a simple square into ESTLCAM and it keeps saying there is nothing in the file. It looks like Inkscape has the same issue but if I open in Shapr3D the diagram is there (Trial). So far I have tried:
Grouping Vector
Creating a Pixel layer
Rasterizing vector
ESTLCam mentioned “exploding” the image but I do not know how to do that in Affinity… Creating a SVG file works fine but do not feel as good on sizing and want to try DFX.
See if that helps. I never bothered to find out a solution since I am using AutoCAD for it, but it might be great to know you can (and how to do it) with Affinity. Much easier for text.
All objects need to be vector paths (not raster/pixels). Pretty much anything drawn in Inkscape will be a vector path and saving the drawing as SVG (default) or DXF works just fine (no grouping required). Typed text is unique in that it needs to be converted to paths (Object to Path, see Dave Lers : Workshop : CNC : Inkscape).
Hey all, sadly this does not appear to work, I am not sure how to make it work right, perhaps I will try Inkscape but I really do like Affinity designer and that works nicely with my iPad which is also nice. Any other suggestions would be amazing, otherwise I will see if the Affinity forums offer any suggestions. I cannot figure out how to create the vector paths or to “explode” the image…
Hi @ahbrown41 I had a similar problem with Affinity. Try this simple square, transparent fill and small stroke (0.6pt), then export SVG with setting shown to ESTLCAM. On import to ESTLCAM check the width and adjust to your actual design as needed. For me the stroke/outline and transparent everything else + the export settings made the difference. Let me know if this works for you or if you need more help. M
In Affinity you can convert the text to curves (select text and press control+enter), remove the fill (so it is just a stroke), and then combine the resulting shapes using the Add tool. When exporting to DXF, make sure you choose the “Preserve Visuals” Preset.
That being said, I think it is still easier to export out of Affinity to SVG and choose the option to convert text to curves. If you are worried about sizing, draw a box around your content that is a particular width and import into Estlecam using that width.
Surprisingly — despite the word “vector” being in the name “scalable vector graphics” — the SVG file format can store non-vector content, such as bitmap-based images, and font-based text (which is technically still vector based, but which requires a related font face file to be available / installed on the machine being used to display it).
Also, some programs capable of designing in vectors and outputting in SVG format, can offer ways of rasterizing the vectors to bitmap based content, and the Affinity Designer 2 app offers some rasterizing options on export. For vector based cut files, the words “raster” and “rasterize” are the enemy of success, as they typically refer to converting vectors to pixels.
As @quarter42 mentioned, converting font-based text to curves before exporting will mean that plain vectors get exported instead of font-based content, and, as @quarter42 also pointed out, that means that for cutting/engraving purposes, if the font is a cursive / handwritten type font with letters that overlap each other, you’d want to weld the separate vectors (one per letter) together into a merged set of curves.
Handily, the Affinity Designer 2 app’s “export to SVG” dialog box offers a check box to automatically convert all the fonts to curves in the resulting SVG (see screen shot). Also, in the same dialog box is an option to rasterize, with a dropdown that includes a choice of “everything” — and that should be avoided by leaving it at “unsupported properties”
In my test export of the above font-based word “TEST” — all I did was use the export option to convert all fonts to curves, and ESTLcam has no trouble showing the vectors, and there was no need to remove the fill on the word in Affinity before exporting:
Thank you all for the responses, I have been able to have some success with an SVG export, but I was hoping to have a DFX export working correctly as it seemed like a nice new feature for the Affinity software and something that was front and center for ESTLCAM.
If the SVG format is my best option, or possibly my only option then I guess I will go with that.
