Are there any settings for the export to PDF option? I know that SolidWorks exports PDFs as vectors.
I have been successful using the âDWG to PDFâ âprinterâ in AutoCAD. I have been doing this mostly to make cut and score borders for an engrave by âadding artworkâ in the GFGUI.
I need to do some experimenting with color as a way to enable cut and score (and possibly engrave) in the same file, so that they are easy to align.
Are there colors that the GFGUI will always recognize as cut vs. score vs. engrave?
Not at this time. Colors indicate separate operations and the default order of them.
A stroke width of 0 with a fill indicates engrave. Non-zero stroke width with no fill indicates cut. As far as I know, thereâs currently no way to get it to default to score in the svg.
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So if i give each operation a different color in a single PDF, then I should be able to separately change their properties in the GFGUI?
I have been making separate PDFs [vectors] for each cut and score operation, but a lack of numerical scale and positioning controls means this may not work for more complicated projects. I have been uploading engraves as JPGs and eyeballing it to the correct size. I tried to use a PDF [image] for an engrave, but it locked up.
That is exactly correct. Each color will show up as a separate procedure in the GFUI.
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And the order they appear in is increasing value of the RGB colour code.
I donât know the RGB values off the top of my head so I will have to experiment.
ACAD Indexed color has simple numbers for basic colors like 1=red, 2=yellow, 3= green, 4 = cyan, 5=blue, 6=magenta, 7=white, 8=dark grey, and 9=light grey (those are the ones that are mostly used, but it goes up to 256).
Unfortunately, the unit set that you use (imperial or metric) is part of the basic install of Autocad. You can have both, but you have to set them up separately.
That isnât true at all. You donât have to have separate installs to use different units.
AutoCAD has a default that it uses and is set at install (or changed any time that you want) or you can start a file and then set the units in that file whenever you like. I would do so before drawing anything just so you donât have to deal with conversions later on.
Personally, my default is âunitlessâ. 1 unit simply equals 1 unit. I draw with this in mind.
When I import my dxf into Inkscape it thinks that the file is in mm, so my 1 unit in AutoCAD is treated as 1 mm. If I drew my lines in as if the unit was an inch, then I simply have to scale up by 25.4 to get the proper size in Inkscape.
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I wrote a method for my students to export their designs from AutoCAD to the glowforge using the layout section in autoCAD. Link below if anyone is interested. This is intended for students who have used AutoCAD before but have not cut with the glowforge before so there may be a bit of redundancy!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BSCRD9Ty1TAEULbhhKI1quN5nJzeZt6Q5fCajaAHkPA/edit?usp=sharing