Corel X5 Workflow with LaserCad 5.5

[Gadroc]

I have Corel X5 but not X4 and have ordered a DSP 2012. I downloaded the software and seen the posts that x5 is not supported yet. Has anyone perfected a workflow with it yet? In particular my desired is a combined raster engrave and cut job. I have panels which text needs to be engraved then holes and an outline cut done.

I've already got the graphics done in Corel x5. I can export from Corel to .dxf files and import into LaserCad. Color layers come through great and I can set power. If I set the text to export as text it doesn't not come across, but if I export it as curves it does. Do I just set the text curves to engrave or should I export the text as a bitmap first and import that onto of the dxf in LaserCad?

[twehr]

I have Corel X5 but not X4 and have ordered a DSP 2012. I downloaded the software and seen the posts that x5 is not supported yet. Has anyone perfected a workflow with it yet? In particular my desired is a combined raster engrave and cut job. I have panels which text needs to be engraved then holes and an outline cut done.

I've already got the graphics done in Corel x5. I can export from Corel to .dxf files and import into LaserCad. Color layers come through great and I can set power. If I set the text to export as text it doesn't not come across, but if I export it as curves it does. Do I just set the text curves to engrave or should I export the text as a bitmap first and import that onto of the dxf in LaserCad?

Power and cut/engrave are set based on object colors. If the colors are coming across, then you can simply tell it to engrave the objects that are a particular color.

If colors are NOT coming across, then send it all over, select the objects you want engraved, select a different color for them, and set that color to engrave.

BTW - I believe Marco is expecting to have X5 support sometime in December.

[Gadroc]

Yea I have that going correctly. More to the point the text ends up showing as outlines and not filled areas in LaserCad. Does it properly engrave and fill in the text or is it going to end up engraving just the outlines of the text.

[bdring]

The colors represent layers. Any shape or character can be engraved or cut by layer. It depends how you set it up in Layer Options.

[twehr]

Yea I have that going correctly. More to the point the text ends up showing as outlines and not filled areas in LaserCad. Does it properly engrave and fill in the text or is it going to end up engraving just the outlines of the text.

When you set a layer to engrave it fills in on the screen as well so you can see what you will be getting.

[bdring]

I am not seeing that in the latest version.

[twehr]

I am not seeing that in the latest version.

Probably should report that to Marco. He is in binary now with the engineers.

[Speedythinker]

I am not seeing that in the latest version.

The feature is there. By default it's being turned off. Go to Opton->System setting->Workspace-> Simulating show object (check here). For next version, we will make it ON by default. See attached image

By the way, we may use dot matric image to represent the 'engraving' mode on the layer rather than solid color.

If you have any other suggetion, please ask as much as you can while I'm here. I'll try to make that happen (without fee )
Buy me a coffee and a piece of cheescake is good enough.


Marco

[Gadroc]

Excellent! I can't wait to get the controller next week.

One other question I had was in regards to cutting. I've seen reference to pulses per inch during cutting operations in some of the recommended settings for the materials I'm using (instead of a constant burn). I don't see any settings in LaserCad for this. Is it something that is supported or could be added?

[bdring]

I don't think it works that way. You can set speed and power of each layer. It also has adjustments for special modes like corners and circles.

I also noticed today that it has Jerk settings. I don't recall that the previous model has that. Jerk is one order above acceleration and is usually only seen in really high end CNC. It controls the rate of acceleration change. This can allow you to achieve higher accelerations with less stress on the machine. Mach3 has it via a special plugin, but I think it has issues.