I recently began using Inkscape to drive my pen plotter. I have imported a scan of my handwriting into the program and traced the bitmap so that I can plot the file on my x-y plotter. I am having two issues that I would like to resolve in order to optimize:
I would like to
a) Plot more quickly. Right now, the machine bounces around and plots letters randomly, which is very slow. Can you advise on how I might improve this? b) Do you have any insight on turn my own text into a single stroke font? Sometimes known as hershey font. Right now, its creating my letters almost as if they are bubble letters or an outer tracing, which is also adding time to the plot.
When I use the Silhouette SD as a plotter it will be the software for the plotter that sets/optimizes the plot order. Are you plotting directly from Inkscape?
I have created some of my handwritings into single stroke fonts and have a blog showing how. You may visit the page where I have colleted links to the different blogposts related to this topic here
Thank you for responding! I am using the axi-draw control to plot directly via inkscape. Would you have a link specific to turning handwriting into a single stroke font?
I have no experience with the axi-draw control, but it seems that you can set the plot order option to optimized for speed or to draw the order from the file. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5mhw8-nrg0 It also seems that you can simulate the plotting and play with the parameters to get an idea of how it will draw and the time spent. For writing text I would guess that the optimizer do not regard line by line, left to right as the optimum. Look into the xml editor to have control of the order of the paths in the file if you want to set the plot order yourself.
I do not have a specific end-to-end link for turning handwriting into single stroke font but in short I would hand-trace a scanned image of your writing like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lNzkXvCPs4 and then use the Custom Stroke Font extension to create the svg-font.
Using Inkscape with Cutters/Plotters Optimize Plotting Path
Inkscape.org
Hi there,
I recently began using Inkscape to drive my pen plotter. I have imported a scan of my handwriting into the program and traced the bitmap so that I can plot the file on my x-y plotter. I am having two issues that I would like to resolve in order to optimize:
I would like to
a) Plot more quickly. Right now, the machine bounces around and plots letters randomly, which is very slow. Can you advise on how I might improve this?
b) Do you have any insight on turn my own text into a single stroke font? Sometimes known as hershey font. Right now, its creating my letters almost as if they are bubble letters or an outer tracing, which is also adding time to the plot.
Any help that y'all can provide would be great!
When I use the Silhouette SD as a plotter it will be the software for the plotter that sets/optimizes the plot order. Are you plotting directly from Inkscape?
I have created some of my handwritings into single stroke fonts and have a blog showing how. You may visit the page where I have colleted links to the different blogposts related to this topic here
Hi @EllenWasbo,
Thank you for responding! I am using the axi-draw control to plot directly via inkscape. Would you have a link specific to turning handwriting into a single stroke font?
I have no experience with the axi-draw control, but it seems that you can set the plot order option to optimized for speed or to draw the order from the file. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5mhw8-nrg0 It also seems that you can simulate the plotting and play with the parameters to get an idea of how it will draw and the time spent. For writing text I would guess that the optimizer do not regard line by line, left to right as the optimum. Look into the xml editor to have control of the order of the paths in the file if you want to set the plot order yourself.
I do not have a specific end-to-end link for turning handwriting into single stroke font but in short I would hand-trace a scanned image of your writing like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lNzkXvCPs4 and then use the Custom Stroke Font extension to create the svg-font.