Indeed. I’ve been saving the .ai file, then expanding, then saving my .svg.
Is that what that does? 
Well that’ll make things easier. I’m so new to Illustrator. I learn something new about it almost every day. Thanks for that bit of info!
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If your text is by itself, not layered over other elements, using the “convert to outlines” option in the svg save settings works just fine. If you need to use pathfinder operations on text, it must be converted to outlines first. I often keep a spare copy of design elements like this on a separate artboard in my AI file, and use “save a copy” with the “use artboards” box checked to create the svg/pdf file that I will bring into the GFUI.
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Affinity Designer has a very prominent “Export text as curves for font independence” checkbox in its SVG export options.
Affinity Designer also has an “Embed fonts: Text as Curves” option in its PDF export, although that’s somewhat more hidden.
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5 Euro Laser Sheet Front Crash Parts.pdf (93.9 KB)
This is one file out of 9 to build one model. Several files have different materials and thickness. This is why I need settings to be saved. To be able to use my GF right now I would first have to re-edit every bit of text since they don’t do text yet. Yes, I know I could switch to other CAD systems that may be more compatible but that would take forever plus another learning curve. If GF just had text then no issue … smile. But you can see that this would be a pain to have to keep setting different setups every time I manufacture a model. Now multiply this by several more and different aircraft with similar parts requirement.
Maybe this will make you understand that its somewhat frustrating for me at least having waited for two years and still cannot easily produce kits. Yeah I know we can duo lots of painful work arounds.
BTW this file is for a large EuroFighter scale jet which fly’s above 120 MPH and over six feet long so parts must fit. Cut test this morning are proving to be very good.
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Just to be clear, by “re-edit” you mean clicking on each text region and hitting “convert to path”? That can still be a lot, but at least it ain’t retyping 
I don’t have a Mac, and have never used Intaglio, but their web site lists a couple of bullet points:
- Treat text as graphic objects but edit it as text.
- Convert character glyphs into editable paths.
It’s possible that there is a setting in the SVG export that would convert the text for you automatically?
That’s awesome! I hope things continue to go well.
Thanks to all who helped, and thank you @jamesaellis1for all of your feedback.
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Yes, they can access many fonts. But they can’t be guaranteed to have exactly the version of exactly the font that you designed with. That’s true of many remote devices, really, which is why you generally (in my experience) end up rasterizing or converting to a path do that they’ll print/mill/laser properly. People have been dealing with this for decades. I design my own fonts, and dealing with print bureaus…
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Your mileage may vary depending on expectations…
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Or level of delusion… 
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Yep. Most of the more popular fonts have multiple versions floating around, often with subtly (or not-so-subtly) different metrics, let alone tweaks to the actual glyph shapes. Newer versions may also have glyphs not present in older versions. (e.g., when the Euro sign was added to fonts, or when new language support is added to a font.) And quite often the TrueType/OpenType/Postscript versions of a font have significant differences.
There’s always font embedding (at least with PDF; I don’t think SVG has that yet) but it’s still tricky as different font renderers produce different results (e.g. in whether or not hinting is supported).
Avoiding text entirely and forcing people to convert text to curves dodges a ton of issues. GF may want to add text support someday but for now it would be a huge distraction addressing the various edge cases involved with fonts when they have so much other higher priority work they need to do instead.
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That is correct. I wish I did not have to do it but no choice at this stage in the game. I have hundreds of text items that will need converting. Going forward I will make convert all text to a path when designing so no issue with that.
I’ll say one thing about the GF. The hardware is really nice and good quality. Once the features are implemented/fixed it will be a really great product.
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Or load the file into a program that can automatically convert text to paths on export (e.g. Adobe Illustrator or Affinity Designer) and re-export to SVG.
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Thanks for the suggestion but no thanks. Gone that road before and in some cases had bad results and ruined files. I have thousands of design hours invested and it is safer just to go back in by hand. I think that I maybe able to do a select all text in each doc and globally do the conversion. Hope it works… laugh
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C’mon dude. No call for that.
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That is true – I’ve found that no matter how much I want it to, it will not:
-
Proof my designs for any user errors, correct those errors, cut and engrave the project, and weed them
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Do the dishes.
Other than that, I agree with @Tom_A – contrary to some doomsayers, I find that it works incredibly well and has not disappointed at all. But of course, I also believe in magic
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I was referring to my own.
Others see the software as tremendously good. Just fantastic. Amazing, in fact.
But, for some reason, my preconceived convictions get in the way.
Could it be my cognitive dissonance prevents me from seeing the good in the GFUI?
Contrary to what some may believe about me, I am not a negative nilly.
To the contrary. I think the hardware is a great value and has lots of potential.
However, I am not going stop holding the company’s feet to the fire when it comes to the software. I don’t believe we should let them rest on their laurels. They need to deliver all of what they promised.
Because of that, I’m just going to keep reminding them of that. When they eventually do, my purpose in life will be complete (smirk).
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Fair enough. Guess I misread your self deprecating humor as an inference that anyone who is satisfied with their machine must be delusional.
Well, I never thought you were any kind of nilly.
By all means, hold GF accountable! Genuinely, seriously - voice your concerns. Tough questions, debate and reasonable criticism have been an asset here IMO.
But there’s been so much nasty trolling of late. That stuff is old, and it’s just so destructive and unnecessary. It’d be sad to see people stop reaching out and helping each other, creating tutorials and sharing amazing creations because they were worried about (or just plain sick of) being insulted.
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Nor should you. I want everyone to keep it classy and only a few have failed at that but we all need the software to be finished.
I know I fall into the mostly satisfied camp but I have to admit that I get flustered knowing that when I get my pro it will not be able to automatically index long pieces and that it chokes trying to do large engraves.
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