Full Version: SVG export question / request

Can the exported SVG output be setup by the user to omit the VISIBLE LINES and just output the user-selected line option(s)... which for me would be 'Generate outlines' to support my laser cutting workflow?

If not, could VISIBLE LINES be added to the selectable line types so the user has the option to omit?

I often use 2D outlines from my MOI3d (Dec 2023 beta) designs to laser cut materials. The laser does correctly recognize and cut the unjoined curves, but the laser path is often not optimum since the laser sees individual curves and not a closed curve that can be followed from start to finish. So my best solution to date has been to individually identify and select the individual VISIBLE LINES to either (1) join the curves or (2) delete the curves and use the 'Generate outlines' option which has these individual curves already joined. This process can be time consuming for complex designs with multiple closed curves on a single 2D view.

Thanks as always for this wonderful CAD program! Always fun to use.

Cheers

Scott

PS --
For SVG export, could you please explain the line "Width' setting on the 'Line style option' page?
By trial and error, I've been able to use in my MOI3d SVG exports a line width of 0.2 to give me a AFD 0.003 inch line width, but I have no idea how the 0.2 value correlates to the AFD 0.003 inches?
My MOI3d SVG export settings for units are
--Scale: preserve units
-- 1 units in MOI = 1 mm on page
-- My page size is 'custom w 24 x h 12 inches'.

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Hi scott, for the line width, those are in typographic "points" units where 1 point = 1 / 72 inch

re:
> So my best solution to date has been to individually identify and select the individual VISIBLE LINES

In what software are you doing this deletion step, is it by loading it back into MoI or something else?

- Michael

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Hi scott, so for removing the visible lines, if you go in "Line style options" and set the "Layer" option for Visible lines to "Custom", like this:



Then the visible lines will all be inside of a "visible lines" group and if you can load the SVG into something that can process it in more detail than MoI's own SVG import then you should probably be able to delete them all in one go like here in Inkscape:



- Michael

Image Attachments:
visible_lines1.png  visible_lines2.png 

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Thank you for the quick reply.

I was hoping to use the MOI3d SVG exported file without any additional editing, but consolidating the visible lines into one layer will definitely save one step.

Could you please explain the exported SVG line width setting values? For example, if the line width value is set to ‘1’, what is the corresponding SVG line width in the exported file when opened in another app?

Thanks again.

Scott

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Hi Scott,

re:
> For example, if the line width value is set to ‘1’, what is the corresponding SVG line width in the exported file when opened in another app?

With the line width value set to ‘1’ that will go into the SVG file as stroke-width="1.0000pt" .

A "point" is a typographic unit frequently used for font heights and other size properties in 2D vector drawing apps.

One point is equal to 1/72 of an inch.

- Michael

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Also you might try setting visible line widths to 0 and see if they are then ignored by your receiving application.

I'll also set it up for the upcoming v5 beta that if you set visible line width to less than zero (for example set it to -1) it will omit them from the export.

- Michael

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Thank you for the 'pixel' line width clarification. Simple and should be cross-platform / app friendly.

Zero line width...
When I set the line width to zero in MoI3D and export to Affinity Designer, AFD includes the visible lines with 0 px width. Your negative line width solution to omit the visible lines sounds perfect... very simple/user friendly!

Thanks again.

Scott

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