I'm new to this program. I would like to machine the outline of an object from a picture.
Started by creating a bitmap and opened it in Inkscape.
Traced path and tried saving as dxf, and ps.
tried the little dxf freeware tutorial and have had no luck getting my cad program to import the dxf file correctly.
Ifran view opens this and the lines are shown, but the cad or cam program just loads a point.
Any suggestions?
Thanks
smith

I have the same problem.. I have made a drawing in Inkscape and I need to export it in .dxf so that a technical machine can use it..

I don't have a cad-program myself, but I have tried many cad-viewers and then nothing appears,

I hope that somebody can help us

I saw today an another topic about this problem, I have not tried it yet, but maybe this is the solution..

http://www.inkscapeforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1533&p=7960&hilit=save+as+dxf#p7960

for some reason I couldn't install pstoedit properly. I have downloaded a PDF to DXF Converter 6.5 :

http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/PDF_to_DXF_Converter/1132582311/1,

I have saved the inkscape file as PDF and converted that to DXF in the program
if I view that file a cad viewer all the lines are viewable..

But now every line is black and all the lines are the same width. In the svg-image one line is red and one is black. The red line is thicker then the black line, is it not possible to convert colours and the thickness of lines?

Not sure if you have tried Better DXF Output, but maybe it will offer better results

I will try that immediately

I have now a better DXF file thank you, but unfortunately now still everything has the same colour and thickness..

it is not possible to keep the colours in the image?

capnhud wrote:Not sure if you have tried Better DXF Output, but maybe it will offer better results

I found this through a different page yesterday. I was starting to look for a different raster/vector program than Inkscape.
http://mydxf.blogspot.com/2008/11/inkscape-r12-dxf.html
Dirt simple fix that exports with a click and imports to both my cad and cam programs. He even has a tutorial video on his site for this purpose. Now I want to learn more about Inkscape and use it for more than just jpg to dxf. It's very different than drawing in cad.

Hi,

I have tried that immediately, but I do not see a difference between the Better DXF output or R12 dxf output. The image is still in one colour and all the lines have the same thickness

I am new to CAD-files. Has CAD-files normally no more then one colour ore one line-thickness?

I need the file for a lasercutter-company, the owner of the company told me that lines that needs to burn only at the upperside must be in a different colour then the lines that needs to be totally cut through, and I really don't know how to export a file with 1 colour to DXf..

I need the file for a lasercutter-company,

What type of cutter are they using. Here is a video (http://blog.ponoko.com/2008/01/21/how-to-inkscape-for-ponoko-newbies-trace-an-image/) on setting up your file for laser cutting. And they also have a inkscape template that can you get started.

Hi,

Thank you for your help, but as I see in the text, that program works with eps files and not with dxf files..

I was thinking since it was a cutter template you could set up the document correctly by viewing the template.
The making guide had suggestions for how to set up your lines for engraving and fills.

Knowing which laser cutter is being used would help since you could search forum communities that create files for that particular cutter.


When you tried to install pstoedit did you have ghostscript installed? The architecture of pstoedit consists of a PostScript frontend which needs to call a PostScript interpreter like Ghostscript and the individual backends which are plugged into a kind of framework.

If you are using Windows you will also need Ghost Viewer

Hi

What I have done so far is:
exporting dxf in Inkscape through better dxf or R12 DXF, then I have opened the file in CadStd (also a free program), and there I have changed the linethickness and the colours of the lines,

But I must wait till the lasercutter-company will let me know next week if the files are ok. I will let you know..

this forum is all you need me. Thank you for the work guys