Adobe Illustrator To WAM
Overview
Illustrator is a power piece of software that has enormous capability. With all those options comes a lot of ways for files to be generated. WAM however needs files to be in a specific format and as a result Illustrator files can often not import exactly as you might want. The following guide will help you make sure your designs make it from Illustrator to WAM exactly as you intended
Procedure
Make sure is that your text is outlined. Technically you can do this in the export step however this works consistently and is harder to forget. To outline select Path>Outline stroke
If you are not using predefined shapes such as rectangles or circles it is important to make sure that geometry is closed. To check this zoom in on the area where you started and ended your line if the points are on top of each other then WAM . This step is important so WAM can figure out the best order to cut you part.
While this is not necessary we do like to group all of our layers into one to again help get rid of unexpected errors later
WAM turns very small circles into pierce points. We have found some small inconsistency with this feature with Illustrator generated files. If you need to use this more advanced technique it is detailed further in the Auto-Pierce article.
Prior to exporting, you will need to select all of the geometry you would like to export. Make sure that all of the features and outlines that you want to cut are selected. The selected design lines will be highlighted and the entire design will have an outline placed around it, make sure all of the features you would like to cut are inside of this boundary
We recommend exporting your design as a DXF. When the file is exported it is converted into a more universal format that WAM can read.
If you choose to export design as SVG file, your SVG file will downsize to 75% of its original size due to resolution difference. As such, please enlarge the SVG by 1.333 times after it is uploaded to WAM.
The Export menu has several important options. First it is important to choose the right version of DXF. We have confirmed that (2004/2005/2006) & (2010/2011/2012) version work.. Second check that the export units are the same as those that you used in your drawing. If you wish to export in a different unit system. you can choose the appropriate scaling and unit here.
Now that your DXF has been generated you can now bring your file into WAM and generate g code. Once the g code is generated we highly recommend using NC viewer to check that the paths exactly as you want if you happen to miss one of the above steps NC viewer will help you identify it by seeing seeing the deformed cut paths the saving you from wasting material