Adobe Illistrator to MC for machining logos

[ERIC14779]

Hi all !!!

 

What do I need to do to import an Adobe Illistrator file into MC so I can machine a imbossed or exbossed logo from it??

 

thanks

[ajr73]

I think that in adobe illistrator that you can save a file or export a file as a .dxf, or .dwg then your life would be easy and you could convert it in to an MC file in mastercam. Just a thought?

[ERIC14779]

Thanks ajr73 but I do not have Illistrator only a customer supplied Postscript file

[Guest]

A C-Hook is available called Raster to Vector but it does not support the "ai" type files. You will need to convert this to another file type (jpeg, bmp, tiff, etc ...)

 

Luc

[beav700]

I just finished 4 vacuum molds with some logos and all were from AI files. What you need to do is downlaod the 30 days try version of Abdobe Ilustrator, open the files and save it as a DXF. Then import it in MC and do some clean up to use that DXF for toolpath.

[BernieT]

Rhino3D also will read AI files, than you can export as DXF or IGES.

[n_tydingco]

I had used Adobe Streamline to change scanned images into a more usable vector graphic. But then again, there are other programs which you can use on a "trial" basis that do the job as well.

[Philcott]

Hi all,

Since the topic is open I want to ask how clean are the graphics that come in when using "Raster to Vector" , ilustrator, streamline or any other software that is out there? I have always spent quite a lot of time "cleaning up" ragged edges and turning multitudes of short eratic lines into smoothe curves. What do you do to get clean lines for engraving?

 

Phil

[L Hanft]

Forget all the headaches......... download a trial of Rhino from Rhino3d.com. You get 25 file saves before it times out.......... save directly to MC readable files. I bought it mostly for file translation problems, but am using it more and more for surfaces. This is a tool everyone should have in the box!

[BernieT]

AMEN to what L Hanft says. Also, Rhino has a newsgroup similar to this one, very helpful and very active.

[Phil Orenstein]

PhilCott said:

quote:

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What do you do to get clean lines for engraving?

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You will need to get Illustrator and trace over the raster 'geometry' to convert it to clean vector lines and then import to MC.

 

My .002 for Eric:

quote:

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What do I need to do to import an Adobe Illistrator file into MC so I can machine a imbossed or exbossed logo from it??

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Good advice from everyone, but from my own experience, DXF wont translate splines into MC from Illustrator's bezier curves. If you use Rhino, export an Iges file. Or import a DXF from Illustrator into AutoCAD MDT and export an Iges into MC.

 

Phil

[Kenneth Potter]

I clean up the rag tag junky stuff by creating points along the geometry then spline /Automatic/ select first poin/select second point /select last point. Normally i work on small sections at a time.

 

Kenneth Potter

[ERIC14779]

Thanks all

 

I ended up downloading Rhino and using it to take the Adobe Illistrator(sp) file and converted it to a DWG file then exploded the DWG file into arcs and lines. It worked Excelent....

 

Thanks again for all your ideas.

[gstephens]

Mastercam's raster to vector and engraving add-ins included an .ai translator. Opens them up right in Mastercam.

[Die Sinker]

Glenn- Are these add-ons for vector-raster through .ai, a patch available on this site or through the Mastercam dealer? We will be doing logos and I could use the info. Thanks for the help.

 

Gary Armitstead

Santa Fe Enterprises

El Monte, CA

[Mark H]

I believe the Router addon has the AI and EPS converters as does the Engrave chook from Camaix. If you go this route, it will bring in the geometry much cleaner than using Ras2vec. I would suggest doing a test of each of these addons, your dealer should be able to help you out with that.

 

I have personally compared Raster 2 Vector to Engrave and the Engrave chook won hands down for importing EPS and AI type files. Take a look at the results on cadcam's ftp site...

 

ftp://mastercam:[email protected]/Ma...orum/MC8_files/

corvette.mc8 was done with the Raster 2 Vector chook

corvette2.mc8 was done with the Engrave chook

(You will have to copy the files down to your computer to view them) As for the Router addon, I havent tried it, so I cant say how well it works.

 

The original corvette logo (AI file) was taken from here...

http://www.logotypes.ru/default_e.asp

 

Here are some other threads that discuss this topic...

 

http://www.emastercam.com/cgi-bin/ultimate...ic;f=1;t=002338

 

http://www.emastercam.com/cgi-bin/ultimate...ic;f=1;t=002366

 

http://www.emastercam.com/cgi-bin/ultimate...ic;f=1;t=002340

 

[ 03-14-2002, 04:38 PM: Message edited by: Mark H ]

[Phil Orenstein]

quote:

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corvette.mc8 was done with the Raster 2 Vector chook

corvette2.mc8 was done with the Engrave chook

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Corvette2 is much cleaner - it seems to be a translation into lines and arc-fit geometry, while Corvette seems to be a translation into many lines at a relatively large chordal deviation (.001?)

 

I checked out the Corvette AI file from the logogtypes site and it appears to be vector geometry to begin with. My question, and the question raised by others in this thread is how to convert "raggedy" raster images into machinable lines. How well does the Engrave C-Hook or RastertoVector do with bit map images without a vector outline? Also how much do they cost?

 

Phil

[Mark H]

quote:

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I checked out the Corvette AI file from the logogtypes site and it appears to be vector geometry to begin with

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Yes I believe you are correct. That is why an AI or EPS "translator" will do much better than a raster to vector "conversion" program.

 

(I used "translator" and "conversion" for lack of a better term. I dont know those are technically correct)

 

The AI or EPS translator uses the vector geometry already created and stored in the AIEPS files.

 

Now for the Raster 2 Vector conversion program, if you were to zoom into a raster type file (BMP, GIF, JPEG...) you will see that it has jagged edges. The raster to vector converts those edges as best as it can, but it is not smart enough on its own to know what edges to smooth or leave sharp. However it does have some smoothing settings that help with the process. Every file that I used raster 2 vector on I had to manually clean up in Mastercam. The way that I do it is similar to Kenneth Potter's method mentioned above. Generally by creating splines by selecting points (endpoints, midpoints...). Also where applicable I would use arcs and lines. As for the cost you will have to ask your Mastercam dealer.

 

Oh yea, I almost forgot... Does Mastercam's Router addon have the AIEPS "translator" or a Raster 2 Vector type "converter"?

 

Sorry for the long posts.

 

[ 03-14-2002, 08:16 AM: Message edited by: Mark H ]

[cadcam]

quote:

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Oh yea, I almost forgot... Does Mastercam's Router addon have the AIEPS "translator" or a Raster 2 Vector type "converter"?

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Mark Router has both options.

 

[ 03-14-2002, 10:35 AM: Message edited by: cadcam ]

[Phil Orenstein]

Thanks for clarifying this. At our shop we try to get AI files from the customer because they contain the vector outlines. But when we have to deal with jpgs gifs and tifs, we use the raster image as a reference for drawing the vector outline in Illustrator. Raster 2 Vector seems like a good approach. I wonder if Engrave chook works better with raster images as you previously said it does with importing vector geometry from AI or EPS files as in the case of the Corvette logo.

 

How does Raster 2 Vector work? Do you import the raster file (jpg, bmp etc) into MC and R2V then gives you the resultant edges as tiny lines ?

 

Phil

[Zero]

Yes basicaly. I've tried using Adobe Streamline and the Engraving c-hook's converter. The chook definitly gives you a beter looking and smoother part than Adobe does, but I've found that either way you still end up "tracing" over with your own geometry.

[gstephens]

CorelDraw 10 has the best raster to vector (tracing) function I've ever seen. There are more smoothing and fitting options than most other software. The bset thing about it is the ability to set the tracing so that a spline is created with each pixel being a control point. Corel can output a DXF as well, so you can bring that data into Mastercam. I usually create new splines from the existing curves, then use "remove control points" from the analyze edit box to smooth them. Also, running a toolpath on it, filtering to a looser tolerance, then backplotting while saving geometry seems to clean things up alot too.