Working with DXF files

On the About page, I see that I have:

  • Frontend version: 4.0.999
  • Backend version: 4.0.138

My settings are: N/A

In anticipation of the arrival of my laser engraver I have downloaded Laserweb and are trying to make myself familiar. I have downloaded a DXF file to import. Large Amsterdam Houses Design Organizer Free – DXF DOWNLOADS – Files for Laser Cutting and CNC Router ArtCAM DXF Vectric Aspire VCarve MDF Crafts Woodworking

The DXF fails to import in Laserweb (or does not show up when loaded).

Is this correct?

If I convert the DXF file to a SVG file (with an online converter tool), the SVG does load correctly and shows up.

Thank you for your help!

/edited

The DXF implementation is very imited and has problems with newer DXF formats. I would suggest to primarily use SVG files.

1 Like

Two open source programs that may be able to assist you converting from DXF to SVG on your local system are https://inkscape.org/ and https://librecad.org/ (QCAD is “open core”, but its SVG output is available only using its paid extensions).

2 Likes

Thanks much appreciated!

1 Like

I actually did a bunch of work on the DXF importer back in the spring; replacing the very ancient parser and local path interpreters with a node parser/interpreter that is actively maintained.

In particular it doesn’t choke on SPLINES in the file; which seems to be the major issue I was encountering with many DXF’s and the original importer. The one thing that used to work but now fails is the ability to import text layers; the new importer can’t render fonts.

I’ve just raised a PR against LW4 for some other changes; once that is in merged I can attempt to cherry-pick my changes for the DXF importer into the main codebase. (the two sets of changes actually conflict in package.json, so ideally I need the first PR closed before I can start this).

1 Like