No, though it does complain ‘units not set in svg file’. I don’t have many svg files lying around so it may not be suitable - I should probably make one according to your directions.
I did find some odd comments while googling for directions to install PIL related to _imaging, pillow, and other packages. It sounds as though the dependency should be on pillow instead.
You can use an existing SVG file that errors on the units, you just need to open it and set the units in Inkscape and reload it.
I tried switching it to pillow in the past but I could never get it to work right with Tkinter (could be a personal deficiency). I did most of my testing in Debian so it does work in Linux if PIL is installed “correctly”.
@donkjr You are right. If we could write a gcode to LHYMICRO-GL converter, we could integrate it in lw.comms-server and would not have to change the frontend.
Does the raster engraving function allow for greyscale engraving, or is it dithering only?
K40 whisperer will do greyscale images by dithering the input greyscale image (if the halftone option in “Settings”-“Raster Settings” is set.).
The stock board does not have the ability to control the laser power.
Thanks for the clarification.
This is a great improvement over CorelLaser! Many thanks.
Just wondering how I can do multipass cuts?
@Lars_Andersson I am not sure what you are asking. Do you want to run the same cut path more than once?
Yes, I would like to repeat the same cut path say 4 times at a fairly high speed. This can give cleaner results than a single slow pass.
For now you need to click the vector cut for each time you want it to repeat.
I don’t know if I will add a repeat setting or not. Clicking the button seems reasonable. It also allows the operator to decide if another pass is needed or not.
Have used K40Whisperer for a while now. I am impressed. Both cutting and engraving are really useful.
@Scorch
One suggestion for improvement. The final “go home”
after all cutting is finished is done at cut speed. Better if it is done at rapid speed. I tried to look into the src for version 0.03 but it is a little over my head, I could not find where it is done.
@Lars_Andersson Yes. I know that is an issue.
It pains me to see it move back at the cut speed but that problem is related to another minor issue that I am not working on yet. It will get fixed.
I think I’m missing something here - I’m trying to use Inkscape and K40Whisperer but I can only engrave, not cut.
I have a test file with a filled rectangle and a few letters of text. I’ve set the dimensions to mm and shrunk the page to fit the drawing. Both elements are red, confirmed by opening the svg file in firefox : it shows red and confirms the colour is ff0000.
When I open the file in K40Whisperer, the drawing is shown in black, and only the ‘raster engrave’ works. Vector engrave or cut report that there are no ‘vector objects to cut’.
I’m using K40Whisperer 1.03, Inkscape 0.92 and Windows Vista. I’ve tried saving the file as ‘plain svg’, inkscape svc and dxf.
Even with dxf, I get the ‘no vector objects’ message. It’s as though the svg objects are rendered to black bitmaps before K40Whisperer attempts to use them.
Any ideas what I’m doing wrong ?
@artag Red and Blue have no effect for fill colors only the outline/path colors are converted to vector cut/engrave. So your box should be no fill with red outline. if you just want to cut the outline.
In standard fonts the characters are defined by the outline of the character shapes and the shapes are filled. So to vector engrave a letter you need to set the outline color to blue (similar to the box). The one additional thing about text is that in order for the text to be recognized as vector shapes in K40 Whisperer you will need to convert the text to paths in Inkscape. (You do this by selecting the text then select “Path”-“Object to Path” in the Inkscape menu bar.)
Remember standard fonts are outlines so you will be engraving outlines of text unless you use a special font. You can use “Extensions”-“Render”-“Hershey Text” in Inkscape to access special stick fonts that consist of lines rather than outlines.
(When you use the DXF export from Inkscape the same limitations apply)
Success ! Thank you !
@Lars_Andersson The K40 Whisperer return speed is fixed in version 0.05 which is now available on the web page.
Hi. I just got the K40. I am using the Whisperer .00 program and all of a sudden it STOPPED sending packets to the machine. I have changed the USB cable… Any other suggestions??? Thanks!