Trying to make this houdstooth pattern integrate with circles. Tried using weld but basically made everything disappear. Then went back to Rhino to draw and when it was done, joined and exported as an AI file. One result was the better on the right, the other was after repairing holes on the left. Now that they are ready for scanning, I am getting the same error I always do in this situation. Why can I not join these shapes? Why is lightburn insisting that they are not closed? I can’t join by tolerance or by a line.
The shape should be intuitive enough but I always have issues like this. Is the join lines function that much trouble?
Please help
Note* The best workaround I have with this issue was to save as AI instead of DXF which always produced the same issues
Many of them are already joined, but in really bizarre ways. If you exported as a DXF, that’s likely why. If you have options to export as SVG or AI, that would be better - they maintain connectivity better than DXFs do.
After my last issues with bad joins, I fixed most of those problems by exporting to AI. The array function combined with the booleans was my first method to make this file, however making the rings weld with the pattern just deleted the pattern. But then I don’t know if I fully understand how the selection process works with booleans in lightburn any more than I understand why it fails to join.
Still, what can I ask that will make sense? I feel that there should be a reason why lightburn won’t close those shapes. I always draw in rhino. I always export to AI. Sometimes when I make a complicated file like this and import it to lightburn if fails to close. Even “Close with a tolerance” does not work unless its s 50mm line?! What is it here that lightburn does not like? How do I avoid it?
I appreciate the help RalphU. I figured out how to create the image in lightburn but still have no reason as to why an AI file would behave like that. It is 2D, so how can it not be joined. THAT is the issue I want to understand. I am likely to face this again. Because I draw 3D objects (not in this case) then lay them flat and outline trace that 3d object (make2d command in Rhino) it makes a 2d image on a single plane. From there is is exported as AI. I need the 3D part to design my pieces, sometimes involving a pattern that comes in from a second source. (usually a traced image from lightburn)
In the end I learned how to use the vectors grouped to work as Boolean operations to remove the excess pattern.
I feel that lightburn could easily add a trim command that would speed up this process. I know it was talked about but not sure what became of that idea.
Keep me posted if anyone figures out my issues.
Here is the working file I was trying to create if anyone is interested.
Regarding the weld issue, ‘Weld’ (more commonly called ‘Union’) is “Keep the overlapping areas of these two shapes”. If you “Weld” a small shape that is fully contained within a larger shape, the “overlapping area” is the larger shape, so that’s all it keeps. It’s doing exactly what you asked it to. The operation you likely want is ‘Subtract’ (also called ‘Difference’) or ‘Intersection’:
I use Rhino3D as well as a vinyl cutter. The same issue arises there with DXF to the vinyl software, so I set out to figure out the solution as it seemed counter-intuitive to save as, open with another software, manipulate more, save as… You get the picture.
What I found is issues around splines, polycurves, etc. While Rhino handles splines and polycurves sometimes the subsequent software has trouble. I even tried save as DXF then open with Corel only to find nodes not connected so the hunt was on.
The default save as dxf in Rhino needs to be tweeked a bit. Check to scheme to make sure the “explode polycurve” option is unchecked. See screen grab attached.
The “curves” and “polycurves” options in Rhino can certainly be changed by the user. I did not find that those were as critical as the “Explode Polycurve” option. That option (explode polycurve) pretty much killed the import into my vinyl software via DXF. I have also found that without it being “unchecked” (which means don’t explode polycurves), it behaves erratically when importing DXFs into other software including: CorelDraw, InkScape, and LightBurn.
While the “nodes” are coterminous they do not appear to be connected. CorelDraw and others have a “connect curve” which converts the individual segments together but not always in an intuitive fashion.
I do have to change the curve and polycurve settings to import into software that does not support Bezier curves or splines. I leave that to the devs to say whether LB supports Bezier/Splines.
I concur with CorelDraw as I use 2018 version concerning this issue. I suspect that on the typical scale of our lasers, the difference between using lines/arcs and splines/curves is probably more mathematical than anything else.
All in all, I found that changing the curves/polycurves to lines/arcs was not as big of a culprit in importing DXF files as the “explode polycurves.” Once I changed that parm, my import issues with other software including LB seemed to rectify themselves.
Further to your point, it is true that knowing a bit more of the “guts” of the CNC controller as some handle somethings better than others.
I would be interested if the OP, once changing the export settings, sees a better connection with an import into LB.
