Making unclosed cuts

[fatewilleatyou 3]

I have some 3d papercrafts I want to try which require unclosed lines to be cut.

Is there a way to import an Illustrator .eps that SBE will cut as unclosed lines?

Failing that, can I draw lines in SBE that will be cut without being closed?

[mars 45]

If you import an eps file that has unclosed paths - dashed lines - they should cut juas as they were designed.  The cutter will cut all the paths in a file whether they make complete closed paths or not - makes no difference to the cutter.  Also you can draw lines in SBE that don't make closed paths and they will cut just they way they are drawn.

-Mike

[fatewilleatyou 3]

by unclosed I mean that the paper needs to be slit, no paper needs to be removed. I read somewhere early on that all shapes imported from Illustrator need to be closed paths.

When I pull my file in it just shows a black circle with none of the the cuts inside visible.

I'll give it another try. I'm going to give it another try. I'll let you know how it goes.

I'm trying to just use SBE as an output engine for the cutter, but I'll start drawing with it if I have to.

[Jay2703 704]

Try using Polyline. When you select it, right click in the workspace to select the type of element to draw.

[mars 45]

Try setting the view to outline/wireframe and see if the lines are there without the fill blocking them from view.  Also try each of the import buttons - postscript scanner and postscript interpreter - sometimes one doesn't work for me but the other does.  I'm not aware that an unclosed path will cause problems when importing an .ai file - it will not cut correctly in vinyl if you are going to try to weed it - maybe that is what was meant in what you read.

-Mike

[Jay2703 704]

I tried Polyline in SigBlazer when I got home today. It works to create an open cut.

[fatewilleatyou 3]

I'm sure polyline will work, it just doesn't have the versatility I need.

Postscript Scanner is indeed closing all the curves into half-circles. Looks neat, but not what I need.

Postscript Interpreter has not worked with any of my Illustrator .eps files.

I even did a version where the lines were very thin 2d arched boxes and SBE still closed them.

Are there any suggestions on which formats will import better and preserve arcs without closing them into half circles. Which formats will let me use the Interpreter vs. the scanner.

Thanks.

[Jay2703 704]

Do you have any samples of what you need it to do?

[fatewilleatyou 3]

Won't let me upload my 640kb file?

What it boils down to is I importing a series of "C" shapes using just Illustrator vector line, and when I import into SBE using the scanner (the other option is always blank) It closes them into backward "D" shapes.