I made a really quick video this morning to help beginners. You can take any image by using your snip tool to save as JPG and get into fusion. I couldn’t show how to use snip tool in video because i used it to make video but that is pretty simple. Hopefully video link works for everyone to see how to take a saved jpg to inkscape to fusion. When you do this you still have to make it so you can cut in fusion. I made this video because you just don’t find videos on this subject.
Let me know if you can view it and if it helps anyone get going on making cool stuff.
I don’t remember where I read it, but it was suggested that if you plan to import the SVG into a different program you save the SVG as a plain SVG rather than a Inkscape SVG. Seems they said that the Inkscape SVG includes programing data specific to Inkscape. I noted in the video that you saved it as a Inkscape SVG. I have always followed that and have never attempted importing a Inkscape SVG into Fusion. Have you noticed any issues doing that or does is just decrease the file size saving it as a plain SVG? Anyone noticed any drawbacks to importing a Inkscape SVG, or any benefits to importing a plain SVG?
I have not really made a distinction difference with the different SVG files from Inkscape but that would not surprise me. If there is data that Inkscape specifically is putting in the file, I would think Fusion 360 would also need to make a distinction when using such file. I use Corel Paintshop PRO and its default is to try and save files in its format but I don’t believe other programs can read it. So I wonder if that happens with Inkscape and its embedded SVG. Granted there is value in those files as they keep all of the settings of the file that you edited so you can revert the changes, if necessary.
I remember that I had told someone about saving a file in bitmap form, meaning BMP form. I researched later and found that I actually used the term “bitmap” wrong because BMP, JPG, GIF, TIFF, PNG and others are all bitmap.
Since the topic is importing things to F360, I will say since I started using Convertio and changing .jpegs and .dxf files to .svg, the resulting imports are very much better. I was getting node heavy results taking .jpegs to .dxfs and then into F360. .dxf imports seem to have many stray points that can cause issue when moving, scaling, etc. They are linked to other points and cause unexpected distortions when relocating other points.
Thanks for the input! I tagged you because I knew you and James both have allot of experience in Inkscape coupled with SheetCam and thought it would be beneficial to have both Fusion and sheetcam represented in the discussion. Seems the consensus is that it has no affect. Good news! I have been saving a copy of each in my project folders. Saving only the Inkscape svg will free up space and eliminate a step.
That’s where the Inkscape specific version of the SVG file standard differs. It’s got some data compression built in. There are some apps that can’t handle the Inkscape SVG but can read/import Inkscape saved standard SVG files.
Unfortunately you won’t know if the importing app is going to work until you try or if suddenly something fails because you do something new in your file - like handling winding rules (not a big deal for plasma so don’t go digging a rabbit hole looking up winding rules ).
Since storage is cheap I always save as a standard SVG because that’s still good for subsequent use by Inkscape & I’ll have the maximum compatibility across other applications. I don’t want to have to fail on something and then add file type formatting as an additional troubleshooting item.
Same reason I don’t use DXF - it can be implemented with boatloads of nodes and line segments because some versions of the standard don’t support true curves. They can be messy files so I just avoid them and don’t have the problems as a result.
I have enough issues getting designs from my head to my keyboard, any problems I can avoid after that make my life easier
What file type do you prefer? Are you saying the standard SVG is a safe bet?
Because I thought the DXF was a safe, reliable file type (in my limited experience). But I will admit, I have found flaws in some DXF files. The SVG file that I used for my plague of Master Gardener, had many flaws in the lettering. The SVG file was supplied by Washington State University Master Gardener website.
I prefer SVG unless I’m forced to do something else for someone. SVG is a standard defined by an international standards body (W3C). It’s a very portable file format across lots of applications. Even apps like Inkscape that modify the SVG format for their own tweaking can use a standard SVG without any issue. But any app that modifies the format may find their files incompatible with another app. The downside is it was originally defined to be a web graphic standard, not a CAD format. For our purposes that’s pretty irrelevant since we’re doing 2D work (and the standard has matured over time).
That’s not uncommon. DXF was invented back in the early 80s as a way for Autodesk to insure compatibility of Autocad with other CAD systems. They released it for public use rather than keeping it proprietary and as a result it became a defacto standard. The problem with DXF is that it suffers from the controlling factors of its definition. Remember, back in '82 computers were weak and expensive (compared to now) and the applications couldn’t do a lot of high-intensity calculation intensive math so the apps approximated things like curves. A Cray-2 supercomputer was the hottest thing on the planet back then. Today you have the compute power of 5,000 of them in your pocket. Doing the advanced math needed for true curves required a lot more compute power & time than was practical so DXF approximated curves by making a lot of small segments with tons of nodes to define the vector direction change. Bezier curves were only a dream
The other design constraint was that Autodesk made the format a “least common denominator” standard to make sure it would work on the maximum number of other applications. That means if there’s a complex, compute intensive way to do something elegantly or a quick and dirty low-tech way to define something, quick & dirty won. Sophisticated graphic handling is not the DXF way. There have been updates to the standard over time, but lots of apps use old versions of the format to maximize their compatibility with the file format. That’s why you often have to specify odd versions of the file format to get a version that the app can use.
Not surprising. Lots of crappy design work out there and back to the original design purpose - if the file (or even just parts of the design) were intended for print work, they can technically be used as an SVG for plasma (or laser or CNC router) work but they won’t be optimized for it. They just can work, not necessarily will work well.
Totally appreciate your insight and knowledge. Thank you for taking the time to explain that. And yes, I have seen the number of line segments in curves that were from DXF and wondered how that happened.
I took a shop class for wood working. The instructor had an interesting attitude in that he felt “if you loved the art of wood working, you will learn to value and gravitate to hand tools. But, I find that teaching all of the tedious sharpening of chisels and the scrapers make people lose interest before they learn to appreciate.” So he taught us power tools and it took me awhile to finally understand.
What you have shown me is that I have jumped into the middle of the power tools of graphic design and am now finally interested in knowing more details and the finesse of designing.
Lots of knowledge in this forum with some great folks willing to help others. This type of stuff just isn’t something you pull up on Youtube unless you know it’s possible. When i started i had no one to help me. I had months of struggling to move around in Fusion but the more you cut and play around with these programs the better and faster you get making things. The things i do might not be exactly how others do them but have worked for me. I’m pretty early in my video making so sorry no sound but it’s coming soon.
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