DFX export?

[DickB]

I have gotten a request for one of my projects from another CNC machine owner. I read that with STL Importer and Pattern Editor you can export in STL format. What about DFX? Any way to export vectors in DFX or another format that could be used by other CNC users?

[SteveEJ]

I know of no way of doing it (DFX) with acceptable results. I just tried selecting the victors in a project and pasting them into VCarve Pro and no go. I also screen captured it and tried to import and trace vectors and while that worked, I am not sure that it would be good enough for your needs. You may be able to export the STL and work with it that way. That would probably be your best bet. However you do it there will be several steps and programs to use. Just my opinion based on the software I use. Others may have better ideas!

[bergerud]

What exactly do you want to do? Convert a pattern to .stl and then to .dxf? (.DFX??) If so, you need some power like 3ds max I think. You need a program which imports .stl and exports .dxf. (By .dxf you mean real 3d Autocad, right?)

[DickB]

I would like to convert a project, which is made up of both patterns that I created and vectors, to some format that other CNC machine owners could use. I have no particular taget software in mind - whatever other CNC machine users would need. I understand that patterns can be exported as STL if I had STL Importer (I have Pattern Editor). But is there a way to export the vector for cuts and other machining operations that I created in Designer?

[bergerud]

Sounds difficult. I do not think you can get there from here! Some CNC software might be able to carve gray scale height maps. I think the vector paths, however, are stuck in Designer. Good luck on this one.

[mtylerfl]

Hello,

There is no method to export vectors from Designer. What I started doing a couple years or so ago is draw most of my CW project vectors in CorelDraw. That way, I can export to DXF (or EPS, AI, or whatever) at anytime in the future, making project conversions (at least the vector portion) somewhat easier.

I am transitioning to drawing most project vectors in Aspire directly. Almost all of the Projects of the Month created over the last couple years were laid out in Aspire (and continue to be). Prior to Aspire, many projects 'began life' in ArtCAM, before I finalized them to the CW format. So, a project layout done in Aspire is already compatible for anyone else who owns Aspire, regardless of the brand of CNC they may own (other than a CW CNC, which requires some conversion and a different layout mindset, here and there). Vectors and STL's can be exported from Aspire (or ArtCAM for that matter) in formats that can easily be imported by the CarveWright add-on software (i.e., STL and DXF Importers) as well as other software products people may own for their particular CNC/software setup.

It would be a nice feature to be able to export vectors created in Designer, though. I can see how that could be handy, from time to time. Much higher on my own "wish list" is to be able to import EPS vectors into Designer!

[James RS]

May I ask this, what is the format of your project at the moment? Was it created within Designer?

[DickB]

Yes, Designer.