AI to DXF conversion

[SheilaK]

Hi! I am new and SOOOOO thankful to have found yall and hopefully have some help! TIA.

We are trying to get some metal cut into the shape of our logo by a local company. We work in Adobe Illustrator and he needs a dxf file and works in AutoCad.

FIrst, we sent a dxf file that was simply exported to dxf from ai. He wrote back that he couldn't use the file because it had spines in it (new term to me!). After some research online I read that you should add tons of anchor points then simplify the line to be just anchor points with straight lines better them. I did this and resent the file.

The guy says that now he can see the outlines and all, but all the tiny lines need to be one big line, not a bunch of smaller lines. Idk, I guess I just don't really know what I'm doing (obviously). If anyone is willing to help me out or look at the file to see what I might be doing wrong I'd be so grateful.

Damsel Designer in Distress

 

[GaSouthpaw]

Make sure whatever you've drawn has a solid fill and no stroke.
Export full scale as the most recent version of AutoCad your Illustrator supports.
You can verify the file is good by simply opening it once you're done.
Oh... and it's splines, not spines.

 

[fixtureman]

Hi! I am new and SOOOOO thankful to have found yall and hopefully have some help! TIA.

We are trying to get some metal cut into the shape of our logo by a local company. We work in Adobe Illustrator and he needs a dxf file and works in AutoCad.

FIrst, we sent a dxf file that was simply exported to dxf from ai. He wrote back that he couldn't use the file because it had spines in it (new term to me!). After some research online I read that you should add tons of anchor points then simplify the line to be just anchor points with straight lines better them. I did this and resent the file.

The guy says that now he can see the outlines and all, but all the tiny lines need to be one big line, not a bunch of smaller lines. Idk, I guess I just don't really know what I'm doing (obviously). If anyone is willing to help me out or look at the file to see what I might be doing wrong I'd be so grateful.

Damsel Designer in Distress

 

[fixtureman]

If you want I can do it for you using the software I use for my CNC or Laser

 

[visual800]

water jetters (I assume) are same as plotters they need solid shapes

 

[SheilaK]

If you want I can do it for you using the software I use for my CNC or Laser

Thank you! I will probably take you up on that if I can't get this figured out today. I'm going to try some of the suggestions of the others first because we'd love to be able to offer this service to others in the future, so would love to learn how to get it done myself.

 

[Eric Butler]

For our laser I usually end up rasterizing it and then retracing it. Then go in and delete anything that is a path and not a solid fill. We get a lot of AI files in that have a ton of extra junk in them that confuses our laser.

 

[fixtureman]

SheilaK I got your message and replied with my email

 

[Thayne]

You should try this plugin if you haven't.
Convert AI to DXF in Illustrator - EXDXF-Pro4 | Baby Universe

 

[fixtureman]

I think he was over thinking what the company needed it was just a outline and some holes drilled in and a simple conversion.