DXF File in Contour Mode in PE Loading Wrong

[Tom Burns]

Hello:

While trying to teach myself about eCabinets, I used the Load Geometry feature to load a DXF file in Contour Mode to cut a hole but something is going very wrong.

I created the shape and exported it from 3D Studio Max 2011. The shape was NOT splines (I know splines won't work when importing shapes - thanks, Kerry!) but a mesh object before exporting as a DXF.

At first I tried a simple horizontal ellipse shape, and it loaded in the Contour Mode window skewed upwards. I figured it was because curved showed up as a series of small straight lines and it confused eCabinets so I tried a 5-pointed star shape. Since the star was made out of straight lines. I figured that may solve the problem.

Nope. The star shape showed up again looking skewed upwards and to the right.

I then tried exporting a simple rectangular shape and when I used the Load Geometry again, I got this Nazi SS-looking shape (see attached screenshot).

I also went back and tried exporting my shape to a less-recent AutoCad 2004 version of a DXF format but again, that didn't work.

As per Kerry Fullington's suggestion of exporting the shape as AutoCad R12, I tried that also but when I imported it, nothing showed up (and I zoomed out just in case it was imported way off to the side but.... nothing).

Can anyone enlighten me what I am doing wrong, here? Maybe 3DS Max isn't exporting to DXF format properly? I just am lost as to what is going wrong.

Thanks very much!

[Scott Marshburn]

Tom: You probably already know this but Make sure you are drawing the Geometry That you are exporting into Ecab. On the same plane as X and Y on the part editor screen. Looking straight down on the Z axes, Y runs top to bottom on the screen and X runs left to right. Make sure that the geometry is 2d not 3d.

[Tom Burns]

Thanks, Scott.

I knew that but just to be safe, I tried orienting the objects differently in 3DS Max in different orientations before exporting them. While it did make a difference, they just showed up in eCabinets messed up slightly differently (the Nazi SS shaped line was squished vertically, slightly)

Thanks for replying anyways, Scott.

[Scott Marshburn]

Tom: I can reproduce something similar to what you are getting by drawing a shape on the wrong plane and exporting it as a polyface mesh. I am not sure if this is your problem but the program I use I export lines only no faces.

[Tom Burns]

Hi Scott:

Really?

I exported my shape as a mesh because other than splines (which i know eCabinets won't recognize), there was no other way to produce a shape using 3DS Max. At least no other way I have used before but it is something I should look into. I will see what other methods of drawing shapes I can come up with.

Thanks for looking into this, Scott!

[Kerry Fullington]

Tom,

Did you just create the geometry for the cutouts in 3d Studio?

Are you using a 3D mesh?

Keep your geometry to lines and arcs.

Can you post a picture of what you are trying to create?

Download the free version of Draft Sight Software and use it to create your geometries. Its commands are very similar to AutoCad. I have had great luck using it.

[Tom Burns]

Thanks for that link, Kerry! I will see about learning it when downtime between classes allow.

As for the DXF files, yes, they were created in 3DS Max and I have just learned they can only be exported to DXF as mesh objects which makes them incompatible with eCabinets.

Looks like I am out of luck finding an easy way to re-size and adjust cutting shapes in Contour mode.


Is there an official "wishlist" thread in the forums here where I can request adding an "on-the-fly" method of adjusting cutting hole shapes after the initial circle/rectangle has been created? After using the SEARCH button, I couldn't find one.


Thanks again for your help in this.