SCALING SCALING. F360 to an svg

Hey gang,

I simply need a better solution. If there isn’t one I’m sorely disappointed in my GLOWFORGE’s performance.

for whatever reason dimensions in an F360 drawing out out the window when imported into inkscape. I tried the reference box method, and it just goes to crap.

I am beyond frustrated at this point.

I am making a simple template to widen the holes in the security fence around my pool. had to change it around, and the new posts have holes made for the current fence rails so I need a 1.125" hole width NOT 1.00 like currently in the posts.

I put a 2 inch square in the F360 sketch. made it 2 inches square in inkscape.

forged it. and 1 hole is 1.125 and the other one is 1/16" shy.

I know folks around here are doing some very precise stuff. So what the hell am I doing wrong?

I am fine with going to new software. anything to end the frustration.

attached is the DXF file.
FencePatternWSBOX v1.dxf (83.1 KB)

Just pdf out of Fusion and forget Inkscape. Use different colours for different operations and you are all set.

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Because it’s Glowforge’s fault that Fusion doesn’t save DXFs in a way that Inkscape can correctly use them?

But, in addition to the PDF option above, you can also export the drawing as an SVG in Fusion using the Shaper Origin plug-in for Fusion. Download it, install it, restart Fusion and then you’ll have the ability to export directly to SVG.

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I have the education license(work for a uni, at least until I get furloughed.)

I have no option to create a PDF that I have been able to locate.

This is THE solution but no one listens to me, I hope they will you.

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Creat a drawing and then output it as a pdf. Works in the free version.

To clearly, a drawing under the drawing module.

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Just loaded your DXF file into Inkscape and there’s nothing even close to the dimensions you’re trying to hit.

Also, it looks like those are just rectangles, yet they are not joined, which they typically would be if the lines intersect in Fusion.

I have found that setting the units in Fusion360 to metric tends to play better with Inkscape… err, Inkscape seems to handle it better. You can still specify dimensions in inches in Fusion though, it will do the conversion automatically.

In Inkscape, set the display units and page size to INCHES then set the 12x20 page size, before you import the DXF file. Then when you save the SVG file the GFUI reads the 12x20 page and scales it.

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Another vote for Shaper Origin plugin – I pretty much always have to post-process the file in Inkscape, but it’s just a matter of fixing line widths and fills (so it takes like five seconds) and I do it so that I can tell WTF is going on in the file when I revisit it four months later.

…but there’s also the Coloriffic path also (search prior posts in this forum).

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If you insist on outputting a DXF instead of using the shaper plug in this holds true for some reason.

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I tried to install the shaper plugin. no go.

no way to save/export/output a pdf either.

You have to create a drawing to do pdf. Extra steps but it works.

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Dude, make no mistake I will/would be happy to output it in linear unicorns if was an option. :slight_smile:

I tried to install the shaper plugin. it does not appear on the tool bar.

it appears in the addin list, and run on startup.

Perhaps I need to do a reinstall of F360, and the plugin.

well all thanks for the help I will go over this more tomorrow.

Have a good evening everybody.

fresh eyes will likely help a bit too.

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Okay I’ll work something up for you to try in the morning.

For what it’s worth (potentially not much), I like to use the Colorific CAM post-processor for Fusion 360. I made a video just recently where I demonstrate how to do this. I realize a lot of people hate videos, and this isn’t a very polished one, so I’m just leaving it here as an option. The whole video is an hour long and goes into designing a lamp first, but I have linked here to the end where I get the SVG out through the Manufacturing workspace. In case the timestamp doesn’t work, it starts at 40:26.

bbum@ has an excellent set of instructions for installing Colorific here: Fusion 360 -> Glowforge: A step by step guide to using the Colorific plugin by the clueless for the clueless

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Nope, no matter how much I might like my workflow, if yours works, and it does, then it is a viable option that should be explored by those who have not settled on a workflow yet.
I often think my workflow is not what is best, but what was best at the time I jelled on one.

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Okay, as promised, try this before reinstalling Fusion 360.

  1. Uninstall the add-in. Double-check it’s gone by looking in %appdata%\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins for the ShaperUtilities.bundle folder. If you see it, delete it.
  2. Run Fusion 360.
  3. Exit Fusion 360.
  4. Reinstall the add-in.
  5. Run Fusion 360 and look for the command.

Also, the icon has moved several times with the UI updates to F360, it is found under Tools:Make

The guys at Shaper don’t mind us using this at all as they see it as good advertising to people who are already makers.

Now, as to outputting a PDF:
Create a new drawing in the drawing module, after you have it the way you want it, the right most command is OUTPUT, choose PDF.

This will be perfectly scaled but the downside is that it is only black and white so if you need to code for cut/score/engrave you will still need to open this in a vector editor and color code it.

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I will give that a whirl tomorrow. hopefully the predicted electrical storms will miss us.

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Does the drawing module in F360 not let you change the colours of lines before pdf’ing?

Unfortunately yes, you need another program for color coding. The F360 drawing module is designed for technical drawing and lets you control line weights and styles but everything is B&W.

At least my education license has all the toys (every expensive add-on is included). Plus infinite cloud credits…

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