Welcome to the Onshape forum! Ask questions and join in the discussions about everything Onshape.
First time visiting? Here are some places to start:- Looking for a certain topic? Check out the categories filter or use Search (upper right).
- Need support? Ask a question to our Community Support category.
- Please submit support tickets for bugs but you can request improvements in the Product Feedback category.
- Be respectful, on topic and if you see a problem, Flag it.
If you would like to contact our Community Manager personally, feel free to send a private message or an email.
Exporting DXF From Inkscape
steve_nash672
Member Posts: 4 ✭
I know this has been discussed quite a few times over the past decade, and there doesn't seem to be a perfect solution yet for all cases, but I'd like to see if I can start a thread here that compiles some best practices for exporting DXF files from Inkscape into an Onshape sketch for extrusion. In particular, I pasted a screenshot into Inkscape, and used the Brightness Cutoff or the Autotrace feature to turn it into nodes for export as DXF.
I mostly have questions, but I have read that the upper limit is 8000 nodes. Less nodes is better.
When exporting, save as a Desktop Cutting Plotter (AutoCAD DXF R14)(*.dxf) file. Don't forget to change the filetype in the name field at the top to .dxf as well. (IS R14 Correct?)
An Options panel appears, deselect ROBO-Master and select LWPOLYLINE. (IS THIS CORRECT?)
Once imported into Onshape and added to a Sketch, there may be problems with disconnected nodes and non-manifold sketches that baffle me. I don't know how to create a workflow for fixing. Many times the errors are too small to see even when zoomed in. And if I can find the errors, they can be difficult to fix since none of the points and lines are constrained - fixing it here breaks it there.
I have found a possible tool, Profile Inspector, that shows some errors, but I still don't know how to fix them.
I am assuming getting as much right in Inkscape and exporting will reduce errors as much as possible, but errors will still need to be fixed.
Any input from those more experienced that me?