I discovered Inkscape's existance several weeks ago, trying to find alternatives to the crappy software that came with the Rolland CAMM-1 PNC-950 vinyl cutter I'm using. Inkscape does almost everything that I want. I started off--after much trial and error, mostly error--saving to a .emf and importing it into a trial version of SignGo. Works perfectly, except that SignGo isn't free, and it certainly isn't worth the price tag. After more trial and error, I end up using pstoedit.exe -f hpgl -xscale 1.4130 -yscale 1.4130 something.eps thatthing.plt, and use Roland's DropOut utility to send it to the cutter. I need a good starting point on creating an INX so I can just save as plt. I can't find the INX for save as .eps, what's in extensions points to a .sh script which I don't believe is actually being used. So how do I get SVG to create a temp .eps, instead of svg? Win32 by the way.

Several issues I still have:

I don't like this whole jumping through eps deal. I really want svg paths to hpgl, KISS.

There seems to be some difference between Inkscapes .ps and .eps output. Page orientation, maybe scaling as well. Shouldn't they render the same? pstoedit uses Ghostscript for input, so internally it should render the page very well. I know of some complaints with the -hpgl output filter, -plot-hpgl seems to be worse for my purposes. I created a simple drawing with a couple of lines, -hpgl moves the pen straight point to point, and -plot-hpgl added in all kinds of points inbetween the ends of the line.

Why am I having to scale? I suspect pstoedit -hpgl. Figuring out the proper scaling values wasn't hard, but I shouldn't have had to do it to begin with.

Thanx.

Wow, I barely understood a word you wrote I expect I need to brush up on printing knowledge.

I think it's fair to say that SVG isn't not suitable for print work, yet. But, if you really want some answers I recommend you head to the developers mailing list since they are more likely to have an intimate knowledge of EPS files.

Hi there, Using inkscape to generate output is something that people already do quite a bit i think, I believe that Aaron helped them get the output they needed, so definietely fire a mail to the dev list and ask. someone there should be able to help you, either with how to do it already, or the direction to go in terms of adding it.

I've been working on a VBExpress (yuck, I know, requires .Net 2) program to directly convert the SVG path data to simple CAMM-GL, since my first post. I finally have it "working". It only processes M, L, C and z in path data--for now--which seems to be all Inkscape uses when you break apart objects. It doesn't catch path data in groups--need to work on XPath stuff among other things. Absolutely no exception handling, so it's easy to break, no guarrantees. It generates very simple hpgl that my vinyl cutter will accept, and renders a rough picture of the path data. I still have alot of work to do to match the cutting functionality of even the simplest sign software, but it's free. If anyone is interested please PM me, and I'll send you the binary. I really want to find some people who want to cut vinyl with Inkscape. I know there are people doing it on Linux, but I haven't found anything specific for win32.
My ripoff ram logo.

Origional.

The curves do cut really smooth, I'm using 50+ line segments per curve. I'm working on some kind of adaptive bezier curve, so the number of line segments will increase with the size of the curve. The roughness is due to how I'm drawing on the form.

I know it has been a while but I would be interested in how you went.

I have a Rabbitt Plotter/Cutter and it comes with Artcut... about as useful as the Roland suite (a friend has it!)

I'd be interested in trying to set this up to do myself. One problem I see is with mine there is no "installed" printer. I have also played with signgo lite and it worked using the generic hpgl setting. (using com port, USB was too much of a pain)

But as for sending stuff from inkscape to it I have no idea!

Thanks for any advice you can give or direction you can point me in!

(whyallacookie@hotmail.com)

Best result are using port parallel....
You don't have to install other drivers, just install artcut
Installin drivers is for usb (is not a real usb, is a connection for serial)
The speed of paralele port is better than serial and usb
If u use paralel, open artcut and press ctrl+k