Exporting for Print or laser

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LongIslandWood
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Exporting for Print or laser

Post by LongIslandWood »

I'm trying to export a Vcarve file to be used on a both a laser engraver and a flatbed UV printer. Both machines will be operated by a third party so I don't have control over them. Is there a way to export the file so that all the vectors are solid black, as opposed to just outlines? Does anyone have a somewhat simple method of doing this, maybe in a separate program? Thanks!

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Adrian
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Re: Exporting for Print or laser

Post by Adrian »

Do you mean filling in between two vectors as in a doughnut shape?

garylmast
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Re: Exporting for Print or laser

Post by garylmast »

You should ask the party what type of file is used. I have two sizes of lasers, where I export from Aspire the vectors as a dxf file for the large one and as a ai file for the small one. Although I don't have it anymore, the large Flatbed printer I had used dxf or dwg files for line drawings, but if I remember right, it would print jpg and/or pdf files.

Gary

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dhellew2
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Re: Exporting for Print or laser

Post by dhellew2 »

It may not be the easiest or best way but I use Coreldraw, smart tool fill to fill in between the lines.
Since the default is for the lines to be hairline I must change them to a larger line width or the laser will cut them out.
I can use the Coreldraw file to print directly on my laser.
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Gaffboat
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Re: Exporting for Print or laser

Post by Gaffboat »

I import into Adobe Illustrator, assign stroke thickness, and make the stroke black. No matter how wide you make the stroke so you can see it, it is still single vector.

garylmast
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Re: Exporting for Print or laser

Post by garylmast »

My lasers will engrave bitmaps, so when I was making some metal plaques using some laser aluminum sheets, in Aspire, I filled in the spaces between lines and text by using Vector Texture tool. I then exported it as an esp file, changed it into a bitmap and it worked great. I could of done it also with Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw, but if you don't have that software, that's an alternative. Again, you can also export it as a dxf or ai file.

Gary
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LongIslandWood
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Re: Exporting for Print or laser

Post by LongIslandWood »

So here is what I mean exactly, this is an example and not the actrual file Im trying to use, which is much more detailed. The bottom is from VCarve, but I need to export it as solid black like the top image. When I export the file as AI or PDF and open it in Illustrator, the lines are extra thick and get distorted, so even if I spent the time manually filling every space, it still doesn't look right.
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Leo
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Re: Exporting for Print or laser

Post by Leo »

I generally export DXF to be used in my laser machine.

I get what you get in the bottom - NOT filled

After I import into my laser I set the laser to SCAN.
The SCAN feature WILL fill the outlines and laser a filled image.
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TReischl
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Re: Exporting for Print or laser

Post by TReischl »

LongIslandWood wrote:So here is what I mean exactly, this is an example and not the actrual file Im trying to use, which is much more detailed. The bottom is from VCarve, but I need to export it as solid black like the top image. When I export the file as AI or PDF and open it in Illustrator, the lines are extra thick and get distorted, so even if I spent the time manually filling every space, it still doesn't look right.
I am curious, why are you not just designing it in Illustrator? Second question, I am pretty darn sure that Illustrator can fill closed vectors in, no? Third, if Illustrator is anything like Corel (which it is) you should be able to change the line thickness with a simple command, right?

Probably missing something about the process of how your laser wants things. . . .

Edit: I exported some lettering from Aspire to Corel. As you stated the lines were a bit thick, so I changed them. Then, when I tried to do a fill it would not do it. Upon investigation I discovered that the letters were not closed shapes. They LOOK closed but there were quite a few unjoined nodes. Joined them and it filled. That would be really tedious with something complicated.

I do not have this issue if I export EPS rather than AI from Aspire. Maybe you want to try that? Pretty sure Illustrator will open EPS files. Give it a shot, you have nothing to lose.
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Re: Exporting for Print or laser

Post by marting »

garylmast wrote:My lasers will engrave bitmaps, so when I was making some metal plaques using some laser aluminum sheets, in Aspire, I filled in the spaces between lines and text by using Vector Texture tool. I then exported it as an esp file, changed it into a bitmap and it worked great. I could of done it also with Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw, but if you don't have that software, that's an alternative. Again, you can also export it as a dxf or ai file.

Gary
HI Gary, i'm currently setting up my cnc laser and would like to use Aspire for exporting laser cutting, engraving and rastering paths. Did you acquire the post processor from somewhere particular or did you modify / create it yourself? The reason being is that I am not very much conversant (actually not at all) with post processor editing and would appreciate very much if you can give me some pointers.
Regards
Marting

garylmast
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Re: Exporting for Print or laser

Post by garylmast »

HI Gary, i'm currently setting up my cnc laser and would like to use Aspire for exporting laser cutting, engraving and rastering paths. Did you acquire the post processor from somewhere particular or did you modify / create it yourself? The reason being is that I am not very much conversant (actually not at all) with post processor editing and would appreciate very much if you can give me some pointers.
Regards
Marting
The only time I use a post processor is when I'm milling with the CNC using mills. I have Chinese machines so I use the generic G Code (mm)(*tap). I use Mach 3 controller.

I have two separate stand alone laser machines, a 60 watt, that uses ai files and bitmaps and a 400 watt that uses dxf files and bitmaps. I have CoralDraw 5 suite and Adobe Illustrator, but using Aspire's software seems a little easier for alignment, as least for me. As mentioned, for fill, using the Vector Texture, then exporting it out as a esp file. I then bring it into Photoshop, change it to grayscale and increase the resolution to 1000dsi, and then changing it again to a bitmap. It comes out totally crisp and imports into either machine and only takes a minute or two to do. Keep in mind that after you use the Vector Texture, everything is still vectors, so it can be exported out as ai or dxf files. The bitmap seems to go faster in the laser.

I'm not sure on your situation, but I would think the same post processor would work for what you're doing with the milling. You might have to edit out the z movement however.

Gary

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