Ok here is the problem, the sign I made in acrylic was a hit. I know have no less than 20 signs to make. when I explode the text it makes hundreds of single end point lines, I can use WELD to make a polyline but it takes forever, it doesn't allow me to select all text and fix it. does anyone know of an add-on that can do this in just a few clicks.
don't think so, I just do 3d text then explode the group and start welding the lines, it wont work selecting all the text at once, I just have to select the lines and weld , then move to the next character
hmm must be doing something different, then what I did... we just need to figure out what you are doing different. could you post a screen shot of the problem?
it the last picture I did have all text selected the plattened the last picture was after and I could still select individual lines
ok I see what you mean, but what difference does it make if you can CAM them the way they are? after I plattened them I could generate g-code no problem... is there a reason you want to weld the segments?
ok, that seemed to work, before you platten the text you have lots of start/stop or up and down operations where ever a line started and stopped. even though the lines are still there the gcode output has a single entry /exit when carving the text. so you did help me It just took me a bit to figure it out.....Thanks before After
no problem, sometimes the answer is staring us right in the face.... I have been in your shoes too many times!!!! glad I could help
Yep I don't fill or extrude, seems to vary depending on the font here is an example from an acrylic sign I am working up for our trade shows, as you can see the tool path is nuts if I don't weld the lines together, even though the other letters have several lines that make them up but the tool never leaves the cut.
an alternative to weld is the BZ Spline tools, which has a 'make polyline' function. select a segment, right click, select , select all connected, then right click, select BZ tools, select 'make polyline' (from memory, actual menu entry names may differ) [Plugin] BezierSpline - v1.8a - 13 Nov 15 • sketchUcation • 1
I don't get the goofy toolpath and I don't weld.... Doesn't matter if you check extrude or not my way....
it baffles me, does the same thing on my home and work computer using sketchup 2015, my work PC is win7 and home is 8.1 , my forehead has a big red spot where I beat my head against the desk.
