Not sure if I’m doing something wrong… seems like a pretty straightforward process but alas…
The Jtech extension seems to do a poor job of following the lines in an image I’m trying to generate code for. I’m not seeing any options for accuracy…
Its a vector EPS I saved out of CorelDraw.
Check out the screen cap. I put arrows to the issue spots. The black is my image and you can see where the extension had too much to drink and swerved all off the road.
I feel like I have had that problem before, I don’t remember what is was though. Does it actually print that way or is just the screen representation messed up?
It does actually print that way. I ran it through 2 gcode viewers and it looks the same. That’s actually where I first noticed it. I noticed some of the lines actually curving through other lines. That’s what caught my attention.
This is in the .91 version of Inkscape and the matching Jtech extension. I initially tried .92 but it was much worse, the curves weren’t even curves and when it processed in Inkscape it drew a big blue explosion over the top of my image.
This thing is a mess. Not a fan of Inkscape… at all…
Used the tried and true Estlcam and it works perfect with the same files. Some Old Guy Coding has an awesome video about it (and many other things… you sir, are awesome) I’ll just stick with my AutoCAD or Coreldraw to DXF and create gcode with Estlcam. The more I use Estlcam the more I love it.
Yeah, I feel the same way. Adding a few lines of laser on off code is way easier than those funky plugins. Raster though…
In case anyone else comes across this, I did eventually get this to sort of work… I had to import (NOT open) an SVG file, make sure everything was set to MM on the page setup, and in the Jtech extension. It still traced really rough and jaggedy but at least it was closer. As I said I won’t be using it anymore but at least thats a direction to look if someone else has issues and wants to use the Inkscape stuff…
So I have been messing with this jtech plugin myself, and I cant even get the stuff to scale. inkscape seems to work fine for making a dxf to import in to estlcam but for actually generating gcode it doesnt seem to work. I have yet to be able to successfully create gcode that accurately reflects the image size. Perhaps someone can lend some insight…
Step 1: import jpeg, size is 3000x2200 px. after import change scale to mm, which results in a 793mm x 582 mm picture
Step 2: trace bitmap
Step 3: Object to path
Step 4: export to laser gcode, using the jtech extension. *this takes 3 hours-ish because the thing i have imported has like 84k nodes. i tried simplifying it but the results were not acceptable.
Step 5: open with repetier host, and the image is 3000x2200 mm. Why does this happen?
I am not clear what is actually happening here, but just to triple check, after step #1, if you save, close and open it again is it the correct size?
Yeah, I saved it as an svg, closed it, opened it, and it retained the size. It seems like instead of using the mm scale it is exporting it as if the pixel size was the size in mm. I am going to try setting the pixels to the size I would like it to be in mm and exporting it that way to see if it works.
Yes, that is the problem…When it exports the gcode, px -> mm instead of mm -> mm. When I create a path with a 3000x2200 px file, the gcode is output as 3000x2200 mm. i dont appear to be able to change that.
So, is the solution just to adjust the size and save in px?
Yeah, I am going to say just regarding px as mm worked. There was a lot of strangeness at first but I will attribute that to learning curve and sleep deprivation. For the last several tries, I have been able to consistently generate appropriately sized gcode. It seems like that is maybe a bug in inkscape.
