I am trying to import a DXF file I generated from an image (in LightBurn). The same DXF file opens in several other tools quickly and without issue. I want to import the DXF into Shapr, delete most of the file, trace it using circles and polylines then delete the original DXF. I know I can just trace the image but would like to trace the DXF so I can pick points.
Original Image and generated DXF file: rooted.zip (2.8 MB)
This happens to me a lot with DXF files, so I hope there is something I can do to make this easier. When I finally get them imported, often the app is so sluggish that it is almost impossible to work on the drawing.
I almost always end up tracing in another drawing app but would love not to need a second tool.
The goal is to go from attached (as an example) to something like this more easily: Rooted.shapr (5.5 MB)
Some times I am doing it from simple pictures other times I am going from 2D views of 3D objects (as traced DXF).
Hi @Yepher! Thanks for sharing the sketch, it’s pretty useful.
I got your idea of tracing the logo but is it necessary to maintain that tight tolerance with the tool? I just checked the sketch and the bottom contour contains over 23000 control points:
There is always room for performance optimization on our side, but this amount of control points may be a challenge for a more 3D modeling-oriented tool.
The bottom is just unwanted artifacts that I want to delete so if I can get it to load I can select and delete a lot of the garbage first thing.
I just checked in LightBurn but don’t see much of a way to reduce the number of points.
Once I get the drawing cleaned up in some other tool, they usually don’t have DXF export, so I have to export as SVG and convert back to DXF, so I end up with lots of unnecessary points again. That is why I would LOVE to do it directly in Shapr. Is there some other better 2D format I could use to make this work better when coming back into Shapr?
This works pretty well in Fusion360. Here I loaded it and deleted the garbage. Will one of these formats work well if I use F360 to trace it and then bring the 2D back into Shapr?
in lightburn, first ungroup your trace and delete the unwanted stuff in bottom then, select the logo and text (do not group them.) . Then go to “edit” “optimize selected shapes” change the “smooth source shapes” checkbox to green then pull the top two the sliders to the right.
it will drastically reduce the points. then export as dxf
@Aquariumsetc. I appreciate your help. in my first message, I mentioned I can trace the image, but I really like to be able to pick points and measure things when I can draw them.
My more common use case is where I project a 3D object into a 2D plane and produce a DXF. I use the x, y, and z DXF to reproduce the 3D object in Shapr. Here is an example. I cobbled together this tool that projects the edges onto a 2D plane, and then I generate a DXF file from that projection. This is a video of the app calculating the 2D data for the DXF export.
