I've been working on this for about a month and a half now. Hour here...hour there. To be honest, I can't work on it for more than an hour or two at a time because it's so damn repetative and just plain old boring.

Anyway, I found a fancy (only word I know to describe it) font that I liked and was looking for a way to make some signs or something with it. But nothing I tried to design with it came out right. Rhino and Mastercam don't like drawing it correctly for some reason. So I'm 'converting' it letter by letter. Whoever created this font in the first place almost got too carried away with some of the letters.

It's a work in progress. Only 14 Capitol letters and 2 lowercase letters done. They aren't scaled perfectly to the same size yet, and could probably use some smoothing in places. But at least it's a start.

Maybe if someone shows interest, it may push me to actually finish the rest. :stickpoke

Here's a few shots....

Oops, here's a .igs of them.

Those are hard to read. :) How do you plan to use them? Cut and paste?

I plan on doing something similar in AutoCAD, only I'm doing 3D toolpaths for use with V tools. I'm going to use VBA to insert the correct letters, so I can just type what I want and the placement will be automated. It'll be a while, though. Depending on the font, I spend 2-3 hours per letter. :(

Theres a program that I use for fonts, its called TTFtoDXF which does all kinds of fonts, they are a little spaced out so i just modify them and even connect the cursive fonts.
http://home.carolina.rr.com/gcodemcode/

Jon

ger21, I was planning on doing it two ways. First would be copy and paste for when I need an unusual size. Then the other way would be using subroutines for preprogrammed specific sizes.

JFettig, I looked at that page. But it looks like that program only does the outline of the font?

I think your correct, its been a while cince I have used the program, try it out, its quite easy.

Jon

The last time I looked at it, it was $100. You can get Outline Art for $20, and it does the same thing. http://www.freefirestudio.com/outline.htm

I see members trying to do different things with Fonts and engraving. I am wondering why they don't buy engraving software like Millwrite 2000? I use this all the time from engraving to 2D machining. I know it costs a bit more than some of the stuff mentioned but well worth it. It has tons of options. I can post progams in minutes.

fastolds, probably cause I've never heard of it. ;)

But I'll check it out. Thanks for the info.

If it's something you end up wanting let me know, I can get a discount. If you have any questions let me know. I have been using it for the last 3 years.

Most people want to do it as a hobby, and don't want to spend $500 for software to do text on a machine that only cost $500.

Does Millwrite do single line fonts, I didn't see it on the website. If it just does pocketing, SheetCAM and most cheap CAD programs can do the same thing, and SheetCAM is only $150.

Millwrite has probably 50 plus different fonts. You can do single line engraving, true fonts that are outlined, raised letters, engrave on a radius, angles and much more. Also you can draw up shapes and do 2D machining, pocketing, etc. As the saying goes you get what you pay for. I haven't found other software that was easy to use as this for that amount of money.

How about Deskengrave? I dont know squat, but it seems like it does what your talking about, and also converts to G-code. Is this the same as what your talking about, or am I confused?

I have never looked into that. I bought Millwrite a few years ago and never had a reason to look for anything else. I then became a reseller.

How about Deskengrave? I dont know squat, but it seems like it does what your talking about, and also converts to G-code. Is this the same as what your talking about, or am I confused?


I believe DeskEngrave only has one single line font.

That is what I allways thought, but the other day I downloaded it again, and while using it I noticed a "Font" box. It had all the windows fonts ! I succesfully converted a line of chiller font. I ran it on my mini mill on paper with a magic marker. It didnt sketch well because of the marker, but it did work. And it couldnt be easier to use, he&* it only has about four option boxes, or cheaper. Its free.

That's not a single line font. Pretty much any CAD program can create outlines of any TrueType fonts. But the original post was regarding single line fonts. And, again, I think DeskEngrave only has one.

you can download millwrite 2000 and play with it. I don't believe you can save anything though.

Heres a pic of another engraving done with a different font from DeskEngrave. But I get the idea, it isnt a single line font program. Ill mind my own business now.

Single line fonts are evil. :D

Here is a tutorial showing the carving of a true type font using VS3D (any true-type font will work):
http://www.designscomputed.com/vs3d/examples/text_carve.html