Been using inkscape for years and being a mac user was super chuffed to see a mac version. But only to find out it doesnt offer the option to save my files now as .PLT file. Either save as or export. Wont even open a PLT file now.
Only my cutter uses .PLT files and inkscape has been good for this.
Does anyone know if this is something to come, or do I need to look for another program going forward ?
PLT was supported by UniConvertor, which has poor support and hasn't been maintained. So I removed it (you can blame me)
It _is_ still possible to install UniConvertor and the plt extensions seperately, but doing this on mac is unknown to me personally. If we can find all the people that need plt (and hgpl) support and bring them together so we can work out how to bring the support back properly, I'd be very interested in helping out.
I have just downloaded Inkscape because I read a old forum somewhere that Inkscape do PLT. imagine my disappointment when  just read in the release notes it had been removed.
I have a Valiani CMC and the preferable input file for them is PLT. Valiani's are used all over the world and still very much in production with new models recently released and as far as I am aware they all use the same software as mine "VStudio" and still prefer PLT as there main input The current go to software seems to be Corel for PLT. or AI for SVG (not had much luck with that (Scale problem when imported)
So yes please reinstate PLT. I Beg you (Might even make a donation) And will definitely share on world wide picture framing forumsÂ
The current version of Inkscape has some other big issues with the HPGL / PLT plugins, check out this thread https://inkscape.org/forums/cutplot/hpgl-output-goes-crazy/#c12819 where another user found out that 0.925 can still produce awesome HPGL output without glitches.
I ended up installing both versions, so I use 1.0 to create the SVG files, then switch to 0925 to output to the plotter.
UniConvertor can't be reinstated as a core extension, the code quality is too low and it's a really big extension that serves it's own project/maintenance etc.
The extensions we still have though are going to continue to be fixed. Please do test the latest versions so we can get things working. I'm thinking of running a workshop to improve access to the latest master release of the extensions so we can get more cnc users involved. Thoughts and ideas very much welcome.
.plt support (Through Uniconvertor or otherwise) would be really nice to have back. My laser engraver software (WinLASE from what used to be Lanmark Controls, now Mecco Marking) works best with .plt files, and I'm stuck using an old version of Inkscape for now.
Though it'd be really nice for Inkscape to be able to export directly to .wlj... and I have... contacts... with their development team.
Same issue here. I am trying to get the plt files so I can run my laser engraver. I had to install version .91 but Uniconverter is killing me with it's errors. I know of so many people that use the PLT extension that have resorted to using the old version of Inkscape. Surely there is some solution that can be achieved? I am really hoping there is a fix soon. Â
If it is in high demand, each of the people who needs to extension could be brought together to contract a developer to make a newer and up to date solution?
Hi All, I realize this is a really old thread, but I had some luck with this so I joined to add my findings to this thread. I had a customer ask about cutting from InkScape on his Ioline cutter, so I looked into it and found that it works great. Our cutters use standard HPGL files in PLT format. I used InkScape v1.2 for this.Â
1. Graphics and text has to be 'Set To Path' before saving. 2. Set outline stroke to 0.5mm and remove the Fill. 3. File > Save As... and chose 'HP Graphics Language File (*.hpgl)' as the file type. Save. 4. Locate the file and rename the extension from hpgl to plt.
That's it. This file cuts perfectly on an Ioline cutter and may work for any machine that uses standard PLT files.
Using Inkscape with Cutters/Plotters PLT file export / save as / open
Inkscape.org
Been using inkscape for years and being a mac user was super chuffed to see a mac version. But only to find out it doesnt offer the option to save my files now as .PLT file. Either save as or export. Wont even open a PLT file now.
Only my cutter uses .PLT files and inkscape has been good for this.
Does anyone know if this is something to come, or do I need to look for another program going forward ?
PLT was supported by UniConvertor, which has poor support and hasn't been maintained. So I removed it (you can blame me)
It _is_ still possible to install UniConvertor and the plt extensions seperately, but doing this on mac is unknown to me personally. If we can find all the people that need plt (and hgpl) support and bring them together so we can work out how to bring the support back properly, I'd be very interested in helping out.
I have just downloaded Inkscape because I read a old forum somewhere that Inkscape do PLT. imagine my disappointment when  just read in the release notes it had been removed.
I have a Valiani CMC and the preferable input file for them is PLT. Valiani's are used all over the world and still very much in production with new models recently released and as far as I am aware they all use the same software as mine "VStudio" and still prefer PLT as there main input The current go to software seems to be Corel for PLT. or AI for SVG (not had much luck with that (Scale problem when imported)
So yes please reinstate PLT. I Beg you (Might even make a donation) And will definitely share on world wide picture framing forumsÂ
The current version of Inkscape has some other big issues with the HPGL / PLT plugins, check out this thread https://inkscape.org/forums/cutplot/hpgl-output-goes-crazy/#c12819 where another user found out that 0.925 can still produce awesome HPGL output without glitches.
I ended up installing both versions, so I use 1.0 to create the SVG files, then switch to 0925 to output to the plotter.
I did not understand how to make plt from Inkscape.
:-(
UniConvertor can't be reinstated as a core extension, the code quality is too low and it's a really big extension that serves it's own project/maintenance etc.
The extensions we still have though are going to continue to be fixed. Please do test the latest versions so we can get things working. I'm thinking of running a workshop to improve access to the latest master release of the extensions so we can get more cnc users involved. Thoughts and ideas very much welcome.
In other words, UniConvertor cannot be used.
.plt support (Through Uniconvertor or otherwise) would be really nice to have back. My laser engraver software (WinLASE from what used to be Lanmark Controls, now Mecco Marking) works best with .plt files, and I'm stuck using an old version of Inkscape for now.
Though it'd be really nice for Inkscape to be able to export directly to .wlj... and I have... contacts... with their development team.
Same issue here. I am trying to get the plt files so I can run my laser engraver. I had to install version .91 but Uniconverter is killing me with it's errors. I know of so many people that use the PLT extension that have resorted to using the old version of Inkscape. Surely there is some solution that can be achieved? I am really hoping there is a fix soon. Â
If it is in high demand, each of the people who needs to extension could be brought together to contract a developer to make a newer and up to date solution?
I only use Inkscape to create PLT files for my laser!
had to switch back to 0.92.4 ..... :(
Hi is there some posibility to save at new version the plt file some extension?
Â
Hi All, I realize this is a really old thread, but I had some luck with this so I joined to add my findings to this thread. I had a customer ask about cutting from InkScape on his Ioline cutter, so I looked into it and found that it works great. Our cutters use standard HPGL files in PLT format. I used InkScape v1.2 for this.Â
1. Graphics and text has to be 'Set To Path' before saving.
2. Set outline stroke to 0.5mm and remove the Fill.
3. File > Save As... and chose 'HP Graphics Language File (*.hpgl)' as the file type. Save.
4. Locate the file and rename the extension from hpgl to plt.
That's it. This file cuts perfectly on an Ioline cutter and may work for any machine that uses standard PLT files.