Feature: Different colors on cut lines, notches and sew lines

[sconklin]

Originally reported by: Julian Todd (Bitbucket: goatchurch, GitHub: Unknown)

I'd like to cut the pattern (or cut the fabric directly) on a laser cutter.
I need to be able to set an etch mode for the sew lines and the pass marks, and a stronger laser intensity for the seam allowance cut.
Most laser cutting interfaces let you apply the settings according to the colour of the lines in the SVG file.
(Apologies if this feature already exists; I've looked hard and couldn't find it. You can set colours of curves and lines in the drawing mode, but I couldn't find such features in the layout mode. ) Different line widths in the output (or different styles, like dotted) would also make it possible to distinguish between the line types if colours are not wanted.

[sconklin]

Agree about using mm as default unit.

[sconklin]

Original comment by Roman Telezhynskyi (Bitbucket: dismine, GitHub: dismine):

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Proposed to always use mm as the default DXF export unit. ref #745.

[sconklin]

Original comment by Roman Telezhynskyi (Bitbucket: dismine, GitHub: dismine):

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There’s nothing in a plain DXF file to tell the person or program reading units & scale the file what units have been used. So 123.45 could be inches, feet, metres, furlongs or parsecs. This is not a huge problem as long as you know what units were used.

[sconklin]

Original comment by Yann Lossouarn (Bitbucket: yannlossouarn, GitHub: yannlossouarn):

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Ok, I did not see the DXF-AAMA was already available. I tested both the files mentioned in your topic and files exported from my projects, with LaserWorks. Results:

• unit is bad: by default in most CNC applications, the reference unit is mm.
• geometry is ok
• AAMA specific concepts (layers, unit...) are not managed
• seam line, cut line, text, passmarks, etc. can be selected and therefore colored separately, which would allow these elements to be appropriately cut, lasermarked (provided you find an appropriate setting for marking fabric or paper ;/) or ignored.

Would it make sense to use cm as the design unit (if so chosen by Valentina user), but mm as the default DXF export unit ?

[sconklin]

Original comment by Roman Telezhynskyi (Bitbucket: dismine, GitHub: dismine):

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If someone can send me a sample DXF-AAMA

You can find such here. In this thread we tested results https://forum.seamly.net/t/looking-people-interested-in-aama-and-astm-formats/1459. Or you can take the latest test build and produce a file yourself.

[sconklin]

Original comment by Yann Lossouarn (Bitbucket: yannlossouarn, GitHub: yannlossouarn):

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AFAIK, Gerber/PCB file format is not widely supported by common laser cutting software. Things may be different if we speak about factory production (I do not know), but as far as we speak about small laser CO2 cutting units, the de facto standard is DXF. I understand DXF-AAMA is a variation of DXF, that contains specific information for defining units and tools to be used for fabrication of the pattern? If someone can send me a sample DXF-AAMA, I can test it against common laser cutting software (LaserWorks/RDWorks : used by most chinese sources laser cutters around there, LinuxCNC or GRBL, widespread open-source CNC/CAM software.

[sconklin]

Original comment by Roman Telezhynskyi (Bitbucket: dismine, GitHub: dismine):

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Yes, implementing PCB format is better idea.

[sconklin]

Original comment by Susan Spencer (Bitbucket: suzynumena, GitHub: Unknown):

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Attached latest Gerber X2 file format

[slspencer]

This issue is still a possibility

[DSCaskey]

Susan,

This is doable... seam and seam allowance colors... as well as individual colors per pattern (work) piece. Setting an overall default color for notches is also no problem. Setting an individual notch to a given color while not impossible, will take a bit of reworking the piece nodes class.

On Fri, Sep 4, 2020, 11:26 AM Susan Spencer notifications@github.com wrote:

This issue is still a possibility

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[slspencer]

If this feature will produce a Gerber file, our semantic definitions should reflect the new X3 standards:

• Main Gerber page for specs & info: https://www.ucamco.com/en/gerber/downloads
• November 2019 Gerber X3 format https://www.ucamco.com/en/gerber/gerber-x3 - new X3 file format in the works
• August 2020 Gerber X3 format news https://www.ucamco.com/en/news/schema-for-gerber-job-file-great-help-for-developers - new X3 file format released

This might help too:

• 2020 Updated Gerber Job specifications, download Gerber Job Specification.pdf

Purpose The schema provides a precise definition of what can and cannot be inside a Gerber Job File. It can be used programmatically to check a Gerber Job File for errors. Created for developers It’s mostly intended for use by developers who want to read or write Gerber Job Files in their system. How it works Any JSON schema reader that can parse a draft-07 schema can be used to read it and then further used to check Gerber Job Files against it for errors."

[slspencer]

Also this tool could help with testing: https://gerber-viewer.ucamco.com/