Posts

Showing posts from 2014

Easy and accurate SVG to DXF conversion using Inkscape and pstoedit

If you've ever worked with a vector tool to design something to be carved with a CNC routing machine, you may have needed to convert the resulting SVG file into a DXF. In my workflow I often use Inkscape to generate my SVG graphic, but my CAD software is CamBam and it requires a DXF file. Many people have tried to make the perfect Inkscape plugin for exporting DXF, there is  Better DXF Export ,  Better Better DXF Export  and  Big Blue Saw's DXF Export . I've had the most luck with the last one, but it was still finicky and often broke when updating Inkscape or OSX. Not only that, but at the end of the Big Blue Saw page, Simon mentions that he doesn't even use the plugin most of the time, instead relying on a command line tool called pstoedit. With that in mind I made a small shell script which will convert an SVG file to DXF, you can save the script and run it directly or add the functions to your startup script. The script is available on github under the project