Help with file convertor? Never got my Corel Laser working...

Lasers
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Help with file convertor?

Never got my Corel Laser working… I guess the supplied one is corrupt or just a plug in, and I don’t own CorelDraw.

Been going from Draftsight (Autocad Clone).dwg 2013R files thru a .dwg to .bmp convertor demo I found on the web. Then to LaserDRW.
It’s a PIA kind of workflow, but it gets there for now.

The bitmap convertor has 30 demo runs and it’s $99.95 to buy. I’m down to 10 left. A LOT of cash for a dwg to bmp converter if that’s all it does.

Any suggestions on a free or reasonable priced converter, better way from Draftsight to Laser?

There’s got to be a better way, short of changing the board so I can use Mach 3. I’ll probably end up there, but not right now.

Thanks, Scott

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Sometimes you can create another user profile in Windows, then install the demo software in that profile. When trial expires, you can create another user profile & install again to run until it expires. Doesn’t work with all software demos, but has done in the past for me & certain demos. Might get you by a bit more until you can find other options.

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Thanks YS,
Might have to try that. I really don’t mind paying for software, but this is a pretty simple sort of thing,.

If it was a suite that covered many conversions, or was a little better at this one - it’s VERY particular regarding layers and artifacts, carries no scale information forward, and just plain doesn’t work with certain elements - bottom line is it’s NOT a $100 program. $20 maybe…

I’m an older engineer, from the days of Autocad 11, and not very skilled with the new Sketchup style of 3d Cad programs, so I 'm doing it with what probably amounts to the hard way.

I HAVE asked a few times about Corel and what others are using for a workflow, but havn’ t had many answers at all, and no 2 the same. Except that MOST people seem to have loaded the included CorelLaser and are using it with minor problems .

Maybe I’m going about this wrong, need to ask WHAT others are using?

I don’t have a problem buying software, drawing, conversion, or whatever is needed, but I’m not hearing from anybody as to what actually works with this setup and don’t want to buy something only to find there’s no way to use it efficiently.

It would seem to me that going from Autocad (.DWG or .DXF) to the K40 is done quite a lot.
I just need to find out how.

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There’s been a few links kicking around for the corellaser plugin and coreldraw. Most of these machines come with both.

The supplied copy of Coreldraw is legit, even comes with the CD key in a text file and instructions not to register lol

I’m assuming downloading a new copy is way easier than multiple windows profiles.

My workflow is just coreldraw to laser. I was use to Illustrator but made the effort to get use to Corel and can now do most things I need to quite easily. The only format I could successfully export from Illustrator into corel was SVG, but you lose the editing capabilities. :\

There’s obviously a lot of open source advocates here, but that means a hardware upgrade.

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I use a separately purchased license for Corel Draw and Corel Paint for creating and converting assets. I import the results into LaserCAD for cutting or engraving.

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@Brooke_Hedrick do you have an upgraded board? Why not burn straight from Corel otherwise?

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InkScape will do all sort of conversions for free, you can import DXF R13 and plenty of other formats ;-)) unfortunately not proprietary DWG.

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@I_Laser
Yes, I have an upgraded board. I am using a Lightobject DSP 7 (awc708c lite). The original MoshiDraw board came with MoshiDraw, quite old Corel Draw, and the Corel plugin.

I tried MoshiDraw and in addition to being fairly unintuitive, it was very unreliable. I never used their Corel or Corel plugin. It didn’t seem possible a legal copy of the software was being included at the price of the k40. I already owned a legal copy and also didn’t want to chance their version messing up my legal install.

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Download Adobe Illustrator CS2 and you can open DWG files and export BMPs.

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Thanks for the answers guys. I appreciate it.

I Laser, What I received with the laser was a off the shelf ‘Rishend’ DVD+R with a bunch of files burned to it, most of them is Chinese only. The rest partly in chinese. NO English language instructions. There are several links to Chinese only websites, including the one for the “liyauyang” (or something like that) security site, also marked on the USB key.

CorelLaser and LaserDRW are the two applications on he disk (that are intelligible to me) LaserDrw works as I supposed it should, jumping into the security and board serial no verification before starting LaserDRW.

Corelaser loads and installs with no errors, and whan started goes through the security verifaction, passes, then errors to a window stating "Corel ver>12 not installed. If I wipe all trace of Corelaser and load fresh, reboot, then start it, it goes to a chinese website, shakes hands, dumps me to a “Site not found” error, and thereafter just errors as in the 1st example. I’ve heard a lot o people mention they have a copy thtat’s corrupted by a virus, while I doubt that, but it does seem there are a lot of bad copies, including mine.
I didn’t get the textfile you did - I don’t think.

If I could get a good copy from someone, It may work.
I’m not sure if it’s small enough to e-mail.

Stephanie, Thanks, I’ll look into Inkscape, Draftsight exports DXF, so that’s an option for sure.

Jim I’ll look into adobe illustrator CS2, that may solve things for now.

I DID find another, much more professional software package for converting, It’s very powerful, but accordingly complicated, it allows all sorts of conversions, full layer and color control, even programmable scaling. It may be a great link to LaserDRW if I figure it out. I’s also 100 bucks, but I could see it if it works well.

I’ll report back. Going to check on the suggestions, re-investigate my disk.

Thanks All, Scott

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Not sure if this makes sense @Scott_Marshall , but there was a CorelDraw12 install on my cd I got sent & there was also CorelLaser install. CorelLaser is just a plugin for the CorelDraw12. So you need to install CorelDraw12 first, then install CorelLaser plugin. Running CorelLaser (after install) opens CorelDraw, with the plugin active. Running CorelDraw (after install) just runs CorelDraw (without the laser plugin).

There was a .rar file (if I recall correct) that contained the CorelDraw12 software. Not sure if it is virus, but I’ve had no issues with it (to date).

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Yeah the DVD+R is standard, both my machines came with one. There was a video file in Chinese I found and followed that to install the software and plugin. The only problem I had was the board they show you to select was not right.

I’ve read about people installing the software and it taking them to a website. That’s really not right, as long as the USB dongle is in the back it should work.

I’ll see if I can find a link for you, I posted one from another member yesterday but can’t vouch for the contents though…

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@I_Laser
Thanks, whatever you have, it works better than mine. If my system acts thwe same with your copy, I know it’s something on my end, kin of doubt it though

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@Yuusuf_Sallahuddin_Y

I was wondering if what I had is only a plaug in. That’s how it behaves. its seems to load, verify and run until it goes to link, then tells me I don’t have Coreldraw>ver 12 (which I would expect is what the plug in is designed for).

I opened the “CorelDraw 12-english .rar” file and it appears to be half gibberish with the words “mocrosoft 7” appearing now and then. it doesn’t look to be an application or executable file.

I’d post the directory if I could figure out how to put up a .jpg here…

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Yuusuf is on the money then, you definitely need coreldraw installed first.

Do you have winrar (or similar) installed to extract the archive contents? It’s what’s called a compressed archive, it needs to be decompressed first. You should then find a normal folder structure and an executable installation file aptly named setup.exe.

I looked at uploading the software that was provided with my first machine (haven’t touched the software provided with the second machine) but it is 740mb, uploading with my 256k upload connection would take some time. Though if you are desperate I will upload it! Just let me know. :wink:

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I use “freeviewer” to open.rar files. Seems adequate.

I think the 2 files being discussed here are NOT 2 copies of Coreldraw, but Coreldraw, and the CoreLaser which is the plugin that allows it to output the code for the K40 board.

Nobody seems to know what that is, I’m thinking it’s a modified Gcode, and suspect all that is needed it the info on it so one can write a postprocessor routine for Mach 3 or any of the better CNC programs to control it directly.

In any case, it looks like my copy of Coreldraw is No bueno, but the plugin probably is ok.

If could can easily send me a copy, it would be greatly appreciated. Scott594@aol.com

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I’ll try find my CD tomorrow (it is nearly 2am & going to bed now) & take a look for the contents (CorelDraw12, CorelLaser, etc). I’ll see how large it is & if I can put it into dropbox or something.

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Mine’s roughly 740mb, which on my crappy ADSL will take numerous hours and cripple my net in the meantime. I meant to set it off uploading last night when I went to bed but forgot sorry! I’ll attempt to upload tonight if Yuusuf is unable to provide a copy.

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My CorelDraw12.rar is 686.8mb, I am currently uploading to Dropbox. Once completed I will share the dropbox link here.
edit: according to dropbox software, approximately 1 hour until it completes.

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You must have NBN or ADSL2+, I’m still stuck on a crappy ADSL Telstra resold service. Cries into his weetbix :’(