LaserCAD File Import Woes
Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2012 5:59 pm
Hi All
Finally bit the bullet and ordered a 2012 DSP controller from LO the other day.
We had some discussion before with Tim regarding it's use on the Mac - all looked OK, and it certainly runs very well using virtualbox on the Mac (snow leopard on an intel macmini) - not slow either - very responsive.
I downloaded the latest version 5.88 of LaserCAD to have a proper serious play with. My main software for doing laser stuff is Adobe Illustrator CS5 Mac (although I have loads of other graphic and CAD apps).
I had assumed (stupidly it seems) that the AI import on LaserCAD would import illustrator files - I have tried all flavours of illustrator file 8/9/10/CS/CS1/CS2/CS3/CS4 and CS5 - none will import - most of the time the application just crashes. I then assumed that it might be because it's Illustrator Mac (although all Illustrator files can be pushed back and forth mac/pc without issue) - it seems that this was one of the issues - at least it imported some of the files now. However, it leaves a huge pile of 'artifacts' on the display - mostly garbage, but sometimes stuff that I have never seen - things like sworls/graphics that I have never created ! You can remove them sometimes, but most of the time its just too time consuming to weed them out from your artwork (and why should I have to).
I downloaded a copy of RDCAM/LaserWork which is essentially a clone that Shenhui laser uses with the 'same' controller (I know it's not exactly the same) - it is much better in many respects regarding interface/tools/chinglish etc - importing the latest adobe illustrator CS5 files with no problem (OK, I had to convert the line endings to PC CRLF format, but at least it worked !). The zoom tool worked as well
Considering the cost of these controllers, the very least I would expect is that it supported the file types that it purports to! I'm wondering if I made a bad choice with the LO controller now - I really liked the network interface, that was one of my main considerations - perhaps I was wrong.
I'm hoping someone has a solution here otherwise I just have a white elephant. Please don't go down the Coreldraw route
I was really surprised that there wasn't an SVG import (scaleable vector graphics) - considering that practically all modern graphics apps support this XML style format, I'm surprised that it isn't included - it DOES support some really oddball formats 'though that I have never even heard of in nearly 40 years of engineering/graphics work !
Anybody help here ?
Cheers
Neil
Finally bit the bullet and ordered a 2012 DSP controller from LO the other day.
We had some discussion before with Tim regarding it's use on the Mac - all looked OK, and it certainly runs very well using virtualbox on the Mac (snow leopard on an intel macmini) - not slow either - very responsive.
I downloaded the latest version 5.88 of LaserCAD to have a proper serious play with. My main software for doing laser stuff is Adobe Illustrator CS5 Mac (although I have loads of other graphic and CAD apps).
I had assumed (stupidly it seems) that the AI import on LaserCAD would import illustrator files - I have tried all flavours of illustrator file 8/9/10/CS/CS1/CS2/CS3/CS4 and CS5 - none will import - most of the time the application just crashes. I then assumed that it might be because it's Illustrator Mac (although all Illustrator files can be pushed back and forth mac/pc without issue) - it seems that this was one of the issues - at least it imported some of the files now. However, it leaves a huge pile of 'artifacts' on the display - mostly garbage, but sometimes stuff that I have never seen - things like sworls/graphics that I have never created ! You can remove them sometimes, but most of the time its just too time consuming to weed them out from your artwork (and why should I have to).
I downloaded a copy of RDCAM/LaserWork which is essentially a clone that Shenhui laser uses with the 'same' controller (I know it's not exactly the same) - it is much better in many respects regarding interface/tools/chinglish etc - importing the latest adobe illustrator CS5 files with no problem (OK, I had to convert the line endings to PC CRLF format, but at least it worked !). The zoom tool worked as well
Considering the cost of these controllers, the very least I would expect is that it supported the file types that it purports to! I'm wondering if I made a bad choice with the LO controller now - I really liked the network interface, that was one of my main considerations - perhaps I was wrong.
I'm hoping someone has a solution here otherwise I just have a white elephant. Please don't go down the Coreldraw route
I was really surprised that there wasn't an SVG import (scaleable vector graphics) - considering that practically all modern graphics apps support this XML style format, I'm surprised that it isn't included - it DOES support some really oddball formats 'though that I have never even heard of in nearly 40 years of engineering/graphics work !
Anybody help here ?
Cheers
Neil