AutoCad and Corell

[David Dustin]

I am trying not to cash in all my newbie chips too soon...

We are pretty familiar with Autocad, although it has been a few years since we used it.

When we import a dwg or dxf exported from AutoCad into Corell we have to clean it up a lot. Rectangles that should be closed are not etc. etc.

1. Is there a good way to export it so it doesnt get all wonky?
2. Should we just use Autocad?

The file is for something that requires raster and vector cutting.
Thanks,
David

[Margaret Turco]

This may be a related question, but I wonder how to get rid of the extra layers of lines on straight edges of imported dxf files. Currently all I can do is ungoup, uncombine, and delete all the extra lines individually. This is very time consuming on complex drawings and I'm not confident that trace will render a new drawing with the same precision.

[Duane Parcells]

Dave

This subject has come up several times over the past year. If you do a search several items of interest will come up. I quit trying to use dxf unless I made them my self (use polylines) or the following has never let me down. Import your file into Corel. For each item use Corel's smartfill tool. Fill the item then move it and delete the original. Set the new item to no fill and outline to a hairline. If there is a path that is not closed this will not work until you locate the offending node(s) and close the path. A common problem with dxf files is the laser trying to cut each line 21 times before it moves on. This is eliminated with the above process. I'm not sure about other lasers but Epilog has a autocad driver for their machines but it is only for vector cutting.
Duane

[Larry Bratton]

Duane;
I'm sitting here scratching my head. I export from my Enroute 3plus CNC toolpath software to DXF and import into Corel often. I have experienced nothing like this. The Enroute has a very good Nesting feature and if I am trying to conserve material I usually export a file to Enroute as an AI file then after optimizing I export.Enroute will only export as DXF, so that's it. Would it have something to do with Autocad's way of creating the file?

[James Stokes]

When you export from enroute, you are exporting from casmate. That file was not created in autocad.
There are several things you can do in autocad to stop the problems you are having. 1. While you are in Autocad Convert all of your lines to Polylines and join. 2. Go in to the express menu, Modify, Delete duplicate lines. 3. Export that file as an EPS file. If you do it that way you should not have any problems. 1 other thing, any fills then need to be done, do in Corel. Autocads fills are not the same as Corel fills.

[James Stokes]

Here is a eps file created the way I said. Try it and see if it works the way it should. Well eps files can not be uploaded so I had to change it to a corel file.

[Larry Bratton]

Thanks James. I suspected as much. Never used Autocad, so I'm ignorant.

[Scott Challoner]

I used to print Acad files to pdf and then import into Corel which cleaned up the extra lines. Or, convert all lines to a thickness of 0 before importing the dxf into Corel.

[Roy Brewer]

...I wonder how to get rid of the extra layers of lines on straight edges of imported dxf files.

Margaret & others,

In addition to the great tips already listed in this thread, be sure you check the Auto-Reduce Nodes box in CorelDRAW's Import AutoCAD dialog(which comes up as soon as you select a DXF/DWG for import). This, almost always, eliminates the duplicate lines you reference. Occasionally, one line will still import with a few duplicates, but not the 20-30 that are typical of *all* the straight lines and many of the arcs.

[Mike Mackenzie]

David,

Why not just print directly from autocad? All of the Universal systems can print both raster and vector from autocad using the same drivers.

[David Dustin]

Yeah I thought about that as an option.
Do you need to set the file up in any certain way?
Thanks,
David

[Mike Mackenzie]

David,

Send me a pm with your e-mail add and I will forward you the Autocad setup instructions. Or you could get them from Buddy (ESS).