How do you make a STRAIGHT line in Easel. The stupid pencil does not respond to any other keys.
With a straight line I can draw almost anything.
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What are you trying to draw?
Have you tried using the rectangle tool but making the width the same width as your bit diameter?
Zach, I sent a copy of a drawing to Sam I had made with Inkscape but have not been able to import it to Easel. As you can see in that drawing, there are many straight lines, curves, arcs in the 12 pieces of the puzzle plus a barn frame that is not shown. If you can tell me how to make a straight line, connect them to arcs or other lines then I could make this on Easel. Without a simple way to make a straight line, Easel is a bit short as a CAD system at all. Could you hold down the control key and make straight lines? They could be horizontal or vertical plus could radiate at 15 degrees. If you could do this, I think I would be very happy. Thanks
OK, I think I can use that for drawing the cut path to make my straight lines. Now, I need, oh say, a circle that I can cut part of out that I could make an arc or curve out of. Any ideas?
Keep in mind that Easel is free software by inventables, made available to anyone, whether they purchased their cnc’s from inventables or not. It’s still relatively new and constantly evolving and improving with the company. If you are interested in requesting a new feature, feel free to do so in a less demanding and insulting way. They are doing the best they can to provide great customer support and juggle the upcoming release of the X-Carve. Holla.
Oh, I don’t mean to sound unhappy, Inventables, Zach and Sam have been more than accommodating with me and they have some great products. I just thought some things are definitely needing a slight touch. Straight lines, and arcs/circles you can cut apart and use the left over pieces to make the shape you want. I’m sure they know they need these things. Oh, and one other thing I noticed, Easel needs magnification tools of some sort, so I can see if my lines meet properly for cutting, or a tool that you can snap on two lines and make them join. Hope I am not asking for too much. 
Bill
I think this would be something to put on the "wish list. A line, and a Segmented Line, with the ability to bend the line on a central point would be a very basic need for a lot of the things I do too, just sayin. Segmented lines are drawn in most programs by going to the start point and click/hold to a desired point, then release and click to change direction forming a connected line.
If there is a line control, it would be very helpful if the width of the line could be locked to user defined value (i.e. the tool diameter)
Hi @William_bill_Raines thanks for the feedback. One of our engineers took a look at the file and took out the path that was causing the import error. They removed fills from a few elements so that everything would get imported as strokes. Easel can only handle importing strokes right now. Here’s a help guide that explains how it works.
If you carve this file “as is” you will notice a lot of rapid movements. This means a lot of going up and down rather than just carving the paths. The reason this will happen is all the path elements are defined as separate, short lines or curves. You can make the carving significantly more efficient if each shape in the SVG was created as a single, continuous path. This is something you would have to do in Inkscape or Illustrator. You can use the “combine” feature before importing.
Here’s a link to the Easel project with your design loaded up. I hope that helps.
@William_bill_Raines I forgot to mention regarding magnification. There is another thread on the forum where we are showcasing the work going on in that area.
@paulkaplan from our engineering team posted a quick video showing how it will work. This feature along with being able to change the work area size will be pushed out before X-Carve machines start shipping.
@William_bill_Raines, we definitely plan to make it easier to draw lines and curves using Easel’s design tools in the future. Depending on what you need to draw, you may need to import an SVG exported from another editor in the mean time…
However, Easel’s “combine” tool can be used to create some interesting shapes from more basic shapes. The following project gives a few examples. It shows the shapes before being combined on the left, and then after being combined on the right:
http://app.easel.com/projects/gCrPCUeazy-FnuPCynFpnw
To combine shapes, simply select them and then choose “Combine” from the “Edit” menu. Shapes that have non-zero cut depths will be combined, and shapes that have cut depths of 0 will be subtracted. I don’t think you can make everything from your design using this technique, but you could probably make a lot of it.
Actually, Easel can import both fills and strokes from SVG. It currently has an issue importing empty paths, though. We’ll have a fix out for that soon.
Jeff, I tried that and I can get it to work, but to make an Arc it took 2 squares and a same size circle to eave the cut I needed. So, lets say in Inkscape, I’ll see what I can do to reduce the number of lines and segements and arcs/curves. Thanks for the help. You can look at the Creche that Zack sent me.
Paul and Zach; Thank you very much. It really looks like you guys know what is needed and are on top of it. I really do appreciate that. Looking forward to trying things out when you get it all going. Thanks again.
@William_bill_Raines I’ll keep this thread updated as we make progress.
Just FYI I’ve changed the name of this thread to make it easier for others with similar questions to find (and generally a bit more family friendly).
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Thanks Paul, your all over it !