GCarve

Import PDF and Illustrator files for CNC

Customers send logos as PDF or Illustrator files. A CNC router needs clean, closed vector shapes. Here is how to get from one to the other without redrawing.

1. What comes in

The vector paths of the artwork: lines, curves and filled shapes, at their real size. Pictures (photos, scans) and live text do not: a router can't cut pixels, and text has to be converted to outlines first.

2. Ask for outlines

In Illustrator: select the text, then Type ▸ Create Outlines. In most other programs it is called "convert to curves" or "convert to paths". Then save as PDF.

3. Clean it up

Artwork made for print often has shapes stacked on top of each other, strokes and fills drawn as separate copies, and outlines that don't quite close. Before making toolpaths: delete what you won't cut, weld overlapping shapes into one outline, and close open vectors.

4. Scale to the job

A logo on a letter-size page still has to fit your sign. Select everything, keep proportions on, and type the width you want.

How GCarve does it

File ▸ Open / Import (or drop the file on the window) reads PDF and .ai as well as SVG and DXF. Vectors ▸ Check Vectors finds open, duplicate and tiny vectors and selects them. Weld, Join, Close, Trim and Simplify are in the Vectors menu, and a scanned logo can be traced into vectors with Trace Image.