cdr to dfx

[Jim Huston]

A google search shows a couple of programs to convert CDR files to DFX files. Has anyone used any of them? Recommadations? I design in Corel and sometimes need to go to dfx for a g code and am looking for a simple way.
Thanks
Jim

[Richard Rumancik]

Not sure how you get the g-code from the dxf but you can save a CorelDraw file as dxf using Save As (dxf). If there are embedded bitmaps or pattern fills etc they will probably not convert properly. Outlines and shapes usually convert okay but there are some idiosyncrasies. Any conversion is a hit-and-miss proposition.

Edit: you can also export a drawing or a selected area of the drawing using export ->dxf.

[Mark Smith61]

Yes what Richard just said. Use either "Save As" or export in Corel and save it as a DXF.

And Richard he likely has a program that will convery DXF's to G-Code but that program isn't compatible with CDR files. My CNC uses it's own program called Conversational Cam, but it also won't read a CDR. So if I use Corel I have to export the file as a DXF.

[Darius Ferlas]

See if Inkscape works for you.
It can read CorelDRAW ver.7-X3,X4 (CDR/CDT/CCX/CDRX/CMX) and it can save in dfx R14.

[Dan Hintz]

See if Inkscape works for you.
It can read CorelDRAW ver.7-X3,X4 (CDR/CDT/CCX/CDRX/CMX) and it can save in dfx R14.

I haven't downloaded since 0.46... have they finally added in native support for CDRs? Before now, you had to use (and install separately) Uniconverter, which was an abyssmal failure to install on anything other than Linux machines.

[Scott Shepherd]

DXF's aren't always as easy as doing an export or "Save as DXF". There is some magical method, of which I haven't figured it out yet, as to when it works and when it doesn't. I spent 1/2 a day last week trying to get a DXF file to a machine shop that they could actually use. I drew the original in CorelDraw. I saved it as DXF, opened it in TurboCAD just fine as a DXF. Sent it to the machine shop. No go. I tried and tried and tried to get them something they could use. Finally redrew it from scratch and got them something less painful than before. It appears it was breaking all curves into segments in a really bad way.

There's a huge disconnect between graphics software and CAM software, in my opinion. We have a very good customer that does business with us because they work in Illustrator. Machine shops couldn't deal with the graphics file, and the DXF's they would export from Illustrator wouldn't work for the machine shops. They were so happy when they said "What files do you need?" and I said "EPS is fine". I've been doing work for them for years now and as recently as last week they were still so happy that we could use graphics based files instead of DXF files.

I honestly don't know why someone hasn't worked out a smooth transition between the two, but for whatever reason, this issue has been going on for decades now, so I guess it's much more complicated than it appears on the surface.

[Mike Null]

Steve

try sending the DXF as a PDF as well. Just a shot in the dark but pdf can do wonders at times.

[Gary Gardner]

I have never been lucky using DXF files. There are too many variables in the DXF format. I cut signs for sign shops and have tried using DXF files created in many different programs. I get many duplicate vectors, size differences and way too many nodes. The solution I have found is to use EPS files. You have to tool path in a cad program anyway and all cad programs I have seen will import EPS files so I won't waste any time trying to use a DXF file anymore.

Good Luck
Gary

[Joe De Medeiros]

Corel draw has a horrible dxf/dwg exporter, most entities are exported as splines and they become overly complex, autocad has no problem reading in these files, but other programs stumble when they hit the splines because internally they convert them to pline and there lies the problem when a spline is converted to a pline it ends up with hundreds of extra points even for what should be a straight line, one work around is to plot to HPGL, then use a converter to convert to dxf, but this creates other problems, namely all curves and circles are converted to segmented lines. Ideally if you need it in Autocad you are better off redrawing it in Autocad that's generally what I do. If you want to experiment with HPGL, there are a few free ones available, you can find one here www dot noliturbare dot com.

[Dan Hintz]

I don't know why, but if I try to go to the site Joe mentions, it goes wacky... I need to Google it and click on Google's link. Even copying the link from the working page doesn't take me to the right place. VERY weird!

[Richard DiMaggio]

Not sure what version of Corel you guys are using to get such inconsistent results, but in 10, you have the choice of which version of AutoCAD you use to export your DXF file as. If you choose a later version of ACAD (say above 12) and I am assuming you are doing a trace of a bitmap, you get the DXF file as "SPLINES", which alot of conversion programs hate. Using an earlier version of ACAD when you export the file yields "POLYLINES" which most conversion programs use without any problems. I wrote my own conversion routine that takes in DXF and converts it to a file made up of equidistant points in a line. The way to see one or the other is to open the DXF file using wordpad or some similar text editor and do a search for the word "ENTITIES" in the file. After that point, all the geometry comes out and will show either SPLINE or POLYLINE as the line attribute. Hope that helps. If anyone needs any other help with DXF files, just send me a note and I will see if I can help you out.
rj

[Joe De Medeiros]

Not sure what version of Corel you guys are using to get such inconsistent results, but in 10, you have the choice of which version of AutoCAD you use to export your DXF file as. If you choose a later version of ACAD (say above 12) and I am assuming you are doing a trace of a bitmap, you get the DXF file as "SPLINES", which alot of conversion programs hate. Using an earlier version of ACAD when you export the file yields "POLYLINES" which most conversion programs use without any problems. I wrote my own conversion routine that takes in DXF and converts it to a file made up of equidistant points in a line. The way to see one or the other is to open the DXF file using wordpad or some similar text editor and do a search for the word "ENTITIES" in the file. After that point, all the geometry comes out and will show either SPLINE or POLYLINE as the line attribute. Hope that helps. If anyone needs any other help with DXF files, just send me a note and I will see if I can help you out.
rj

The lowest version Corel X3 to X6 can export is R13 which will give you SPLINES, which is the problem.

[Kevin L. Waldron]

This Program works.

http://dxftools.com/

Blessings,

Kevin

[Mark Giese]

Not sure which version of corel you are using, but at least as far back as x3, you can choose export and export to many file types including .dxf and .dwg That is the easiest way. Good Luck

[Jim Huston]

Joe hit it on the head ~ the problem is with the splines. Just looking for an easy way around that.