CAD Software

[wemillerb]

Hey guys (and gals), I am new to plasma cutting and I am currently using the Torchmate CAD software for design. I am still getting familiar with the TM software but in my youtube travels I came across Inkscape (free alternative to Adobe Illustrator) and have been able to follow along with some of the tutorials and come up with a couple of decent designs that I would like to convert over to TM.

Inkscape gives me the option to export to DFX, but when I import it into TM, it is a jumbled mess because all of the layers I used to design in Inkscape are visible through each other. That just wreaks havoc on any toolpaths I try to create or delete. Am I barking up the wrong tree by trying to use another program or should I just focus on learning the TM CAD exclusively. Thanks in advance for any assistance.

 

[Arkansas Metal Art]

Hey guys (and gals), I am new to plasma cutting and I am currently using the Torchmate CAD software for design. I am still getting familiar with the TM software but in my youtube travels I came across Inkscape (free alternative to Adobe Illustrator) and have been able to follow along with some of the tutorials and come up with a couple of decent designs that I would like to convert over to TM.

Inkscape gives me the option to export to DFX, but when I import it into TM, it is a jumbled mess because all of the layers I used to design in Inkscape are visible through each other. That just wreaks havoc on any toolpaths I try to create or delete. Am I barking up the wrong tree by trying to use another program or should I just focus on learning the TM CAD exclusively. Thanks in advance for any assistance.

I chose TMCAD for the very reason you have stated. Knowing I would always have to import to toolpath anyway, I figured might as well just use TMCAD. Once you learn some tricks and shortcuts it's pretty useful. And I think the scantrace does about as good a job as alternatives except maybe AI which would be overkill IMO. I paid for ReaConvertor and have compared side by side scantraces with TMCAD and they are almost identical. Plus being able to export to PDF and export as 300 dpi jpgs or pngs is great for designing your own logos, tshirt designs etc. Not to mention there is a wealth of knowledge on this forum.

Inkscape seems to be very popular. I also downloaded it and messed around a little. I wasn't able to see the benefits over TMCAD. I'd be interested to hear from someone with more experience with both what they feel the benefits of Inkscape are, if any.

 

[wemillerb]

Jason, thanks for the response. I spent some time this weekend finding a workaround for the issue I was having with the DFX file. I ended up creating my Inkscape logo in black and white and exported it to PNG. From there I had to convert it to a JPEG in Microsoft Paint and then use the scan and trace function in TM to get my file. The results were good but that was obviously a long work around.

I find that the best way for me to learn is to have a youtube video up on one screen (watching a tutorial) and the program up on the other with me following along. I have done this with Inkscape and have learned a lot about the program this way. Unfortunately there are not a ton of TM videos out there outside of what TM had done (which I have found really helpful by the way). I would really like to stick to one program but I am beginning to think I will be using some combination of the two. I am sure that as I become more familiar with TM CAD I will find that it will become easier to work with.

 

[LECS-Chad]

We offer videos and classes to use the TMCAD.

http://torchmate.com/training

Inkscape DXFs come in as splines that need to be connected prior to toolpathing.

So IMPORT the DXF.

Select ALL (ctrl +a)

Go to ARRANGE/CONVERT TO/POLYARC

Then select all again (ctrl + a)

Then go to ARRANGE/CONNECT PATH give a .1 tolerance.

Thne go to VIEW/SHOW FILL.

This will tell you if everything connected up proper because you should get a solid object with interior geometery white/clear.

 

[wemillerb]

Chad, thanks for the reply. I will give that a try and see how it works.