Hi Forum. In the past I've created my panels from scratch using the supplied Front Panel Designer, but now being more comfortable using MoI and learning that Front Designer can import .dxf I'm trying to use MoI to create panel . A video (https://youtu.be/uSz3E7EjI-Y?si=dxe6QxHbpegrxQxD) explains the process as two steps with a blank panel import and then a cutout import, but this might be dated because I get similar results trying to import a finished panel in a single step. Regardless I end up with cutouts not being in the intended location and I wonder if this is MoI export thing and if so if there is something that I can about it ? Also would like to hear if others are using another service that can take a MoI file directly, etc. I've attached attachments of sample MoI file and some screenshots of the what Front Designer wants to do. Thank you, Sven.

Hi Sven, is the problem that in the 3rd image you show above (that says "Preview") all of your geometry is not visible?

What happens if you just ignore that and complete the import process? The preview seems to have a different width/height aspect ratio than your geometry.

- Michael

I select edges copy them hide the solid and delete anything in Z plane and get working perfect DXF outputs for laser and milling staright from MOI everytime - export as polylines and all elements separated.

Hi,
In MoI v5b, I tried moving your drawing to have left bottom corner at 0,0,0.
Deleted lines and exported the plane lines as polylines.
Also tried several other DXF export options.

All the dxf I tried to import into FreeCAD had a misplacement of one of the shapes, most of the time the bottom left small circle.
Whatever option I chose, there was one more shapes missing or misplaced (see attachment).

Importing into Inkscape gave errors, with missing shapes and an error message gave the following info :
" 11 ENTITIES of type POLYLINE encountered and ignored. Please try to convert to Release 13 format using QCad."

However, reimporting the dxf into MoI was ok.
Importing into Affinity Designer and Blender was also OK.

There is a pdf for importing DXF to front panel express:

https://www.frontpanelexpress.com/downloads/manuals/FPE/DXF-Import_EN.pdf

********

The panel is 3D. There are lots of lines/curves.

To look for the source and correction of whatever the export/import "problem" is, an alternative would be to use Rhino to create the DXF (???)
There seem to be a lot of permutations.
I have no time to play right now :-(

- Brian

Thanks for replies from everyone. When I first read I only saw Michael and Mip but now after writing this reply I see a few more ( not sure how I missed ). I will take a look at the suggestions and respond. I should have been clearer about what the problem was in my original post but Mip correctly identified.

Thank you.

Hi Mip,

re:
> All the dxf I tried to import into FreeCAD had a misplacement of one of the shapes, most
> of the time the bottom left small circle.
> Whatever option I chose, there was one more shapes missing or misplaced (see attachment).

The circle misplacement is from a bug in FreeCAD's DXF importer when it processes planar objects with a plane normal going in negative z.

There is a setting in moi.ini which you can turn on to make Moi flip these objects to avoid the FreeCAD importer bug:

[DXF]
<....>
FlipNegativeZAxisCirclesAndArcs=y

It's not on by default because when the normal is flipped the curve's direction also gets flipped which is bad when someone is trying to control curve directions for CNC usage.

If you want to report the FreeCAD DXF import bug tell them that the problem is likely that they are not precisely following the AutoCAD "arbitrary axis algorithm" for normals pointing in negative z.

Arbitrary axis algorithm is here:
https://help.autodesk.com/view/OARX/2024/ENU/?guid=GUID-E19E5B42-0CC7-4EBA-B29F-5E1D595149EE

- Michael

Hi Sven,

re:
> I should have been clearer about what the problem was in my original post but Mip correctly identified.

Ok, I see now that it's that one circle being misplaced.

So that's going to be the same kind of DXF import bug as Mip ran into with FreeCAD where the DXF importer is not properly processing planar objects that have a plane normal going in the negative z direction. That will happen with circles that have been mirrored.

It's a relatively common DXF import processing bug, you can fix it by changing a setting in moi.ini which will flip those circles to avoid running into the bug.

In MoI go to Options > General > "Edit .ini file" button and then moi.ini in the [DXF] section set:

[DXF]
<...>
FlipNegativeZAxisCirclesAndArcs=y


If you want to report the bug to the Front Panel Express authors tell them that it's not following the DXF "arbitrary axis algorithm" in the case of a normal going in the negative z axis direction.

Arbitrary axis algorithm is here:
https://help.autodesk.com/view/OARX/2024/ENU/?guid=GUID-E19E5B42-0CC7-4EBA-B29F-5E1D595149EE

- Michael

Thanks to everyone for interesting experiences and dialog about the problem. The minimalist approach from AlexPolo sounds like a good fallback as well that I'll try. I've forwarded your explanation Michael to the their technical support. Thanks too for providing a config to workaround the problem.

Sven