I export Flat Pattern (2 Dimensional) .dxf files from Solidworks weekly for use with industrial laser cutting machines. I work with a local source for production cutting of acrylic on Epilog and Trotec lasers, but they act like they’ve never seen or heard of a .dxf file. They only want to work with Correll Draw and ALWAYS get the scaling wrong.
Since the file processing will all happen online and in the cloud, what file types or extensions will Glowforge support? As a Manufacturing Engineer I work like an engineer and use traditional engineering software for all my design work. I am much less familiar with the “Artistic” software platforms like Photoshop, Illustrator, Draw, etc.
Also, is there a “Slicing” feature made available as part of the Glowforge OS, or will we need to slice our 3D models on our own using other software packages.
The .dxf and .svg files are the ones most cited as supported formats. The glowforge software does not support slicing, but there is one program that gets cited a lot for doing it (AutoDesk123???). It’s been a popular topic.
AutoDesk 123D Make http://www.123dapp.com/make is free to use. Please note that the desktop app is full-featured, while the mobile versions are limited to a few premade models and a fun doodling moode.
The epilog lasers that I have used effectively use Corel Draw just as a printer driver, and it will open DWG and DXF files and probably others and laser them.You can set the units.
I expect my main output to be in one of these formats, and hope that GF will accommodate them,
After months of my GF sitting since September I am trying to learn how to effectively use it and make my own files. I took from the above that exporting from illustrator in .dxf will work?
No, ilistrator is fine but you need to save as svg.
ok great, thank just doing it now
The svg file I created in Illustrator couldn’t be uploaded by the app, I sent it to support maybe they will know why. While waiting I tried Inkscape and it’s uploaded and calibrating. Lot of work just to cut hundreds of 1/4" circles
Hundreds of circles might be your clue.
Try joining them all into one path and see if that helps.
Circles can be objects as well. You may need to first convert them to paths.
Sometimes a circle can be efficiently defined, with 4-ish nodes per shape. Other times they can be defined with tons of nodes. You are probably fine but I’d check the node count just to be sure. Simpler curves are easier to render
All else fails, split the circles into a couple (or few) groups of circles and give them different colors. Then when it loads it’ll be a few tasks and you can cut it in stages.
Last but not least, often if you share your file here, the helpful gremlins of the forum will sometimes dig into it more quickly than support can. We’re a pretty curious bunch. If you do, the forum isn’t always good at rendering svgs (irony!) so zip it first then upload it for best results
For maximum exposure I’d suggest creating a new support topic with the file attached. More eyeballs that way.
Make sure you saved it as an SVG and not a compressed SVG (.svgz). If you have the option between SVG and Inkscape SVG, I’d go with the plain SVG option. Sometimes the translators aren’t quite what the native app does so the 2nd translation (GFUI) doesn’t work.
I also do a Save As and not an Export. Some people have good luck with Exports but GF says to use Save As generally.
The Inkscape file had only 10 circles, I copied and pasted within app and they turned out great. I am thinking up other things I need to cut now 
I will check the illustrator file and think I did a save as. with my 1st mini project completed I am looking forward to trying out the lamps others have made