RE: bitmap to g-code software

["Dave Hylands" <dhylands-at-broadcom.com>]

This is stretching things a bit, but IIRC GhostScript has some utilities
that take bitmaps of fonts and convert them back into outlines.

I believe that they did this to get around the copyright on the standard
postscript fonts. They would take one of the standard fonts and rasterize
it, and use the utility to convert the raster back into bitmaps. These "new"
fonts then had different "programs" (because in PostScript a font is just
some code), and therefore weren't violating copyright.

If you're a programmer, you could probably take this and massage it into
something that could produce G-Code.

-- 
Dave Hylands
Vancouver, BC, Canada
http://www.DaveHylands.com/


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dean L. Hedin [dlh2001-at-comcast.net]
> Sent: Wednesday, November 27, 2002 9:33 PM
> To: Multiple recipients of list
> Subject: Re: bitmap to g-code software
> 
> 
> 
> On Wednesday 27 November 2002 08:27 pm, D Lampman wrote:
> > Hello.  I got this address from Ray Henry at EMC and I am 
> looking for
> > bitmap to g-code conversion software to run on Linux.  Similar to
> > photocarve.com or Deskart at Deskcam.com
> >
> 
> There is'nt much availible for free.  But you know what?  It 
> is not that big
> of a project to write a program to do this.  I would grab the 
> allegro game api
> from sourceforge and use that to load the image.  You then 
> call get_pixel() 
> and use the RGB to set a new Z value, and then just raster 
> across the image.
> 
> I have a freebie, SCAN2CNC.  It is DOS based but it will 
> probably run under 
> DOSEMU if you have that configured on your linux box.  DOSEMU 
> is easy to set 
> up.  The file is 330k email me back if you want it.
> 
> Here's how it works (from it's help file):
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> --------------
> Scan the drawing
> Load the scan into a graphics program such as Corel
> Print the drawing specifying the Epson LX80 dot matrix 
> printer.  Print to
> File (so you do not need to have that old fashioned printer, just the
> driver which comes with Windows).
> Process the print file through Scan2CNC which will translate 
> the printer
> file into G-Code.  The toolpath will replicate the printer 
> file so it will
> be raster cuts in the x direction with y axis step overs between cuts.
> You can scale & manipulate the image in Corel if you wish & 
> the print file
> can be scaled as it is translated into G-Code.
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> --------------
> 
> Now's here's my linux spin....
> 
> >From a linux app print to postscript file.  Run ghostscript 
> with the required 
> options to read in the ps file and output Epson LX80 format to a file.
> Copy the output file to the DOSEMU directory so SCAN2CNC can 
> get at it.
> Then run SCAN2CNC as stated  above.  When you are all done 
> and everything
> works make a shell script to automate the whole task. 
> 
> If you want to get fancy you can hook the script to cron to 
> run every minute 
> and check for the existance of the .ps file.    That way 
> anytime you print 
> from a linux app it will output g-code!
> 
> This is kinda how I print to our novell printers at work.
> 
> I have'nt yet tried SCAN2CNC under DOSEMU but I am confident 
> that it will 
> work (it's only reading and writing files, and those types of 
> DOS programs 
> usually have no trouble)  Email me if you have any trouble with the 
> ghostscript command line to do the above.  Read the man page first!
> 
> 
>