Loss of layer information after save

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wootty2000
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Loss of layer information after save

Post by wootty2000 » Tue Nov 23, 2010 11:07 pm

I have a laser cutter and it's software (LaserCut) reads DXF files.

If I take a file created in AutoCad and load in to LaserCut, each of the layers are present and a remain as separate layers.
If I take the same file, load it in to QCad, make a minor change, save the file and load it in to LaserCut, all the layers have been flattened down to one layer. I then have to recreate each layer (in LaserCut) and reassign each polygon to it's correct layer.
If I create a new design in QCad, save the file and load it in to LaserCut, again all the layers have been flattened down to one layer.

Has anyone else seen this problem? Is it a known problem?

I am using QCad Profession 2.2.2.x running on Windows XP

EDIT: If I try and open the files that were created in QCad with QCad, the layer information is correct, so QCad understands files it has created.
What DXF specification/version is QCad using?

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andrew
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Post by andrew » Wed Dec 01, 2010 4:28 pm

There appears to be an incompatibility between QCAD and the other software. QCAD uses the DXF 2000 format but can also produce the older DXF R12 (File - Save As) which might yield better results especially with some older software.

wootty2000
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Joined: Tue Jul 27, 2010 10:32 pm

Post by wootty2000 » Thu Dec 02, 2010 9:48 am

Hi Andrew.

If I take my design (in QCad), save it as an R12 version and load it with LaserCut all the layers persist.
If I take my 2000 version from QCad, load it in to AutoCad 2006 and then save the file back as a AutoCad 2000 version it also works with LaserCut.
I have also tried the same with AutoCad and saving in R12 and 2004 version and they both work in LaserCut.

As a work around, yes I will save in the R12 format in QCad.

Looks like there is a bug in QCad's DXF engine (or should I say libDXF).
Does/will QCad 3.0 use the same DXF engine as QCad 2.2?

Cheers
Paul

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andrew
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Post by andrew » Thu Dec 02, 2010 9:56 am

wootty2000 wrote:Looks like there is a bug in QCad's DXF engine (or should I say libDXF).
... or indeed the one from Lasercut since Autocad can load QCAD files with layer information :wink:

QCAD 3 will support more DXF versions and in addition the DWG format.

wootty2000
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Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Jul 27, 2010 10:32 pm

Post by wootty2000 » Sun Dec 05, 2010 8:09 pm

Nice :D

Can QCad 3 have an option to set the default file format to save in?
This would be useful in cases like mine, where is an incompatibilty between QCad's output and another application.

Cheers

Paul

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