With
Thermwood’s Control Nesting
INTRODUCTION
All major CAD and cabinet design software programs offer DXF file format output of the completed design. The DXF format offers a standard format in which to transmit information, however, it does not specify exactly what information is transmitted. Therefore, each software package communicates information in a slightly different manner, even though they may all use the specified DXF format. To further complicate matters, most software allows the user to specify some critical information, the layer names for example. To offer universal compatibility between various software packages and the Thermwood 91000 Super Control, certain conventions have been established that the user must follow. These conventions fall into two categories. First, for files from certain software packages, we must know which software the files comes from in order to properly use the information included in the file. We have created a unique file extension for these instances. For example, DXF files from Cabinet Vision must use the file extension .cvDXF instead of the normal .DXF. You will need to rename the files using the proper extension before transmitting them to the Super Control. A complete listing of required file extensions is included in this tutorial. The second convention involves layer names. The DXF Translator relies on layer names to separate information for processing. The CAD system must have the ability to support layers to work with Control Nesting, however, most do since this is an integral part of the DXF format. Layers are used to separate information. Perimeter outline is placed on one layer, machine operation for the front side on another, etc. Some software hardcode the layer names so that the user cannot change them. In these instances, the file extension tells us which software created the file and we can then work with the fixed layer names. Most software, however, allows the user to specify layer names. In these cases, the user must use layer names that we recognize for us to be able to use the information properly. Once these two conventions are followed, the resulting files can be sent to the Super Control and selected along with other files and output from eCabinet Systems using the standard Control Nesting techniques. Files from multiple sources can be nested together in a single job, thus helping achieve better yields.