Hi Michael,

Yes, it would depend on what you are doing with the file for any conversion issues to become significant.

Most modern vinyl cutting software accepts splines or bezier curves. These are converted into HPGL instructions to send to a vinyl cutter. HPGL has no native support for spline or bezier curves, and relies on the "host" software to do the conversion. Generally speaking, there is less of an opportunity for spline conversion issues to have an impact on output with vinyl cutters than with CNC routers. Vinyl cutters have little to no offset applied to the toolpath. CNC routers, on the other hand, may have a large offset (the radius of the cutting tool). Any problems with spline conversion may be compounded by the size of the cutting tool that is used.

Also, since parts cut by a vinyl cutter do not have a visible edge, vinyl is forgiving of all but the most obvious errors. However, parts with a thickness can be sensitive to a poor spline conversion, and, without some human intervention prior to actually cutting the part, can produce results comparable to a hacksaw.

Chris