HI Aaron and list
Okay, judging from your feedback would the following be logical?
I would search for more DXF info including the abandoned project. I would modify the existing DXF export or create a new one. If people were happy with the code it could be integrated into Inkscape and the GUI later.
I can do further tests with capturing serial communications data on my lab instruments. Once I perfect this I will put the call out to the vinyl cutter owners for assistance. I could then write a vinyl cutter control app in Linux. We could then figure out how to control the App from Inkscape, whether that would be direct integration or something else.
This will likely take 1-5 months.
Does this seem logical??
Thanks-Patrick
Aaron Spike wrote:
Patrick wrote:
Have you thought anymore about what I can do to improve Inkscape's DXF capabilities? Would it be a good idea to revive the abandoned GSoC DXF project, as you were saying?
You had asked where the GSoC project went. I really don't remember what happened. I think it might live at http://sourceforge.net/projects/dxf-svg-convert/. IIRC Kees Cook looked through it and found a number of security issues. More information could probably be found on the Mailing list archives if you search for the author's name.
I still think reviving this would be a good idea. Didn't it even have provisions for rendering 3d data into 2d?
I read your last thread regarding skipping over the DXF issue and saving work as GSD. Having GSD support sounds like it would make lots of people happy but I think there are lots of people like myself who could use the DXF files as well.
Certainly. GSD satisfies the needs of a much smaller community.
Would it be a good idea to split the save-as dialog up? The regular illustrator graphic formats could be left as is and the specialty file formats could be placed under an export menu. We could have DXF, GSD and why not custom DXF scalings. For example here are some hypothetical examples:
Export as: GSD DXF(standard CAD) DXF(blah blah cutter) DXF(blah blah device) DXF(custom) Plus some other weird file types
This has been discussed. We would like to create an Export menu for lossy formats like these.
Another option would be to look at code in the Uberconvertor (VectorSection) project and see what can be transfered over into the Uniconvertor project.
BTW I have never owned a vinyl cutter but I am confident that I could write a program to control one, given enough time. I rebuild and resell analytical laboratory instruments like chromatographs and spectrophotometers. Proprietary software hurts my business and drains my customers budgets(and their fighting Hepatitis/Cancer etc). I am obsessed with the idea of writing an open source instrument control/data analysis App. I have spent quite a bit of time researching the communications involved. I might be able to monitor the communication between cutter and native software and copy the commands. Is direct device control a direction that Inkscape should go in?
I think this would be the ultimate. Not sure if it belongs in Inkscape or at the OS level. Most, if not all, of the desktop cutters used by the scrapbooking communities are bound to Win32. Supporting these devices in linux would be a huge gain for those communities, I think. But it would be difficult to support, because there doesn't seem to be the techinical resources inside the communities (no offense meant :-) ).
Aaron Spike
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