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Ondsel SVG postprocessor
Hi @sliptonic Just saw the Ondsel post about this feature. Thanks for working on Laser cutting workflow ! By the way, it's also useful for other flatbed digital (die) cutting tools that take 2D vector as input files (from cheap Cricut to expensive Zünd). It's great to see an effort to integrate it more into the CAM WB, as that is where it makes the most sense IMHO (instead of TechDraw).
Some general questions :
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This initial version adds the base feature and may require users to customize it a bit depending on their laser cutter config/settings. How could contributors submit back their custom version and integrate it so others (e.g. with the same machine) could benefit from it too ?
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@yorikvanhavre developed quite some time ago several Tools for similar use cases, Arch Panel Cut, Arch Panel Sheet and Arch Nest, still present in the BIM WB. Any possible synergies conceivable ?
Hello everyone, just to say that I am quite interested in this PR. Hope to see it making it to Freecad upstream.
@yorikvanhavre developed quite some time ago several Tools for similar use cases, Arch Panel Cut, Arch Panel Sheet and Arch Nest, still present in the BIM WB. Any possible synergies conceivable ?
These tools were originally developed for working with WikiHouse cuts... Most of it is not really complex, it basically creates a 2D projection of a panel-like shape to be placed on a "sheet" (basically a rectangle). Then you could export those as DXF, that you would give to the shop. Lines are separated into different layers for inside and outside cuts, engravings, and the sheet layout.
The tools also include a (VERY wonky) nester algorithm, that can take a series of projection shapes and arrange them inside the sheet shape. This would be really the gist of the tools. I wish FreeCAD would have a good nesting algorithm :)
I think indeed the "proper" way to do this would be using the CAM wb, create toolpaths for the different panels instead of the panel_cut tool, and export the whole thing as SVG so it can be used with an SVG-based nesting app. If this proves reliable, I guess the Arch tools can totally be obsoleted.
Hi @sliptonic, will you update this PR after the review so that it could be merged? Or as ondsel is no longer alive, we should make a new PR to ack reviews? Or is it still in the pipeline, but not as a priority right now? Thank you.