In a previous forum (PDF quality) I discovered that Rhino’s current print method breaks up circles and arcs into polylines which doesn’t play well with our new laser cutter. It sees each section as a new cut rather than one continuous line.
Has anyone discovered a work around for this?
Yes. Don’t use PDF format for your laser files. Use DXF instead. With DXF you have all the possible settings for output of different types of curves.
–Mitch
Well I use “dwg” for laser cutting. It took me two tests (unfortunately expensive, because it was 4 pcs of ring for windshield mould) in our supplier untill I found the optimal export settings.
DWG and DXF share the same settings for export of 2D curves… either one should work. --Mitch
SVG may also work, I used my plugin for laser cutting things at Sclupteo (I did it just to do that)
see example here
SVG exporter in Rhino WIP Serengeti seems also usable.
Thanks for the reply Mitch.
I have used the DXF export and it seems to be partially successful opening in Inkscape. I say partially because I think the export is fine but I still need to run a “print” command to send the job to the laser. I probably just need to refine my settings in Inkscape as I get a double cut but one of them is smooth as butter. Haven’t had time to play around that much but I appreciate being put on the right track.
Any suggestions as to a viewer that I can print from would be appreciated.
Also anyone with workflow experience with Trotec cutters from Rhino would be interesting. For such an expensive machine, the software side seems rather lackluster…
Yep, that’s one of the reasons that prevented us from giving up our Epilogs and going to Trotec - the Epilog machines themselves are not nearly as good quality, but their driver is very good and allows us to cut directly out of Rhino extremely quickly. With massive amounts of student files, this is essential for us.
Why do you need to go through Inkscape? Can’t you export directly out of Rhino (DXF) to the Trotec job manager? I have a friend that has a Trotec, and I’m pretty sure that’s how they work.
–Mitch