Question on Vectoring and Corel

[Rodne Gold]

In cad, the item should be converted to a closed polyline. However even that is somewhat fraught with problems as some cad systems dont handle bezier curves well and the item might still import into Corel wrong.
So here's the solution and it's not all good news. Import the item , group it and lock it and use it as an underlay to recreate it in corel. IE trace over it with closed curves
Only solution that will work 100% if smartfill doesn't.

[James Stokes]

I have done a lot of experimenting with autocad files recently. Here is what I have found to work, before exporting from autocad I run overkill to remove any duplicate objects, then I go in and change all lines to joined polylines. I will then save as a 2002 version of autocad. I can then import in to Corel, all lines will be joined. Once I get the file in Corel I may have to arrange the order in object manager. I then group everything and duplicate as needed. By doing this all of the autocad files have run perfectly.

[Martin Reynolds]

Sounds to me like you are not vector engraving at all. In vector engraving, the laser will follow the lines. In raster engraving, it will make multiple horizontal passes and throw down dots to makelines. I am also unsure as to whether or not your laser can do vector anything.

So my advice is check the manuals and driver settings.

[Bryan Cowan]

Sounds to me like you are not vector engraving at all. In vector engraving, the laser will follow the lines. In raster engraving, it will make multiple horizontal passes and throw down dots to makelines. I am also unsure as to whether or not your laser can do vector anything.

So my advice is check the manuals and driver settings.

Well, thats exactly what's happening. When vectoring it follows each line. When rastering, it reminds me of an inkjet printer.

The problem isn't with the laser itself, its with the image and how I can manipulate it so the laser doesn't jump everywhere when vectoring.

[Martin Reynolds]

It sounds to me like you are raster cutting your image, not vector cutting it. In raster cutting, the laser will traverse lines across the complete width of the cut, and spit out dots where needed.

In vector cutting, it will follow the lines of the image and drop dots in line.

So when your laser does a single part, does it follow the lines, or does it scan the area?

If it is scanning, that's usually because you have a color match problem, or the lines are wider than a hair.

[Richard Rumancik]

Martin, he has 254 objects, so they are vector bits. The problem with importing dwg or dxf files is that they will be plotted in the order of that the entities are saved/created in the AutoCad dwg or dxf file. Which means it will plot a radius here, a line there, another radius there, a circle in the corner, jumping all over the place. It will be very inefficient. If you have ever seen an old pen plotter work they didn't try to optimise the plot order. The pen would hop all over the paper. That seems to be what his laser is doing and is common with an imported dxf or dwg file.

Some people convert to polylines before exporting the file but I usually combine lines, radii, hole patterns etc in CorelDraw into logical entities. I would group several objects (which plots as one local pattern), then duplicate this group if multiples are needed.

If you duplicate BEFORE grouping it will plot one circle in each pattern, then come back and plot one line in each pattern, then one radius in each pattern, etc. This is what Bruce saw. There will be lots of motion and very little cutting happening.

[Bryan Cowan]

Martin, he has 254 objects, so they are vector bits. The problem with importing dwg or dxf files is that they will be plotted in the order of that the entities are saved/created in the AutoCad dwg or dxf file. Which means it will plot a radius here, a line there, another radius there, a circle in the corner, jumping all over the place. It will be very inefficient. If you have ever seen an old pen plotter work they didn't try to optimise the plot order. The pen would hop all over the paper. That seems to be what his laser is doing and is common with an imported dxf or dwg file.

Some people convert to polylines before exporting the file but I usually combine lines, radii, hole patterns etc in CorelDraw into logical entities. I would group several objects (which plots as one local pattern), then duplicate this group if multiples are needed.

If you duplicate BEFORE grouping it will plot one circle in each pattern, then come back and plot one line in each pattern, then one radius in each pattern, etc. This is what Bruce saw. There will be lots of motion and very little cutting happening.

Bingo.

Tomorrow, I will try a few items everyone has suggested here to see if I can correct the issue. I'd hate to have to go back through CAD and re-layout the logos.

Thanks everyone

[Richard Rumancik]

Bryan: Sorry about that - I meant to say Bryan not Bruce.

You should be able to fix it in CorelDraw; shouldn't have to go back to ProE.

[Bryan Cowan]

Great news! When I got in this morning, I took the image, used the smart fill tool, deleted the original lines and curves, increased the pen line to .001, removed the fill color, went back through the image and changed the object orders (to front of page sequentially), and combined all objects.

Now, the laser takes each individual logo and vectors it one product at a time instead of a line here and a line there. It knocked down the time from 33 minutes per 9 parts, to 1 minute and 52 seconds

Talk about a great start to a Monday morning

Thanks everyone!
Bryan

[Roy Brewer]

Is there any way to set up the graphic in Corel to have the laser do one product at a time (all 254 objects) instead of one object at a time (9 products = 2286 total objects)?

Bryan,

As suggested, Combining would force the laser to engrave one product before moving to the next; if that works it would probaby be the simplest solution. However, sometimes that will yield undesireable results; e.g., if you have overlapping filled objects.

It would be a little more work, but you could also colormap your products, put them in different layers and various other techniques to get them to engrave in the most efficient manner.