Import and export

File → Import … (Ctrl+I) and File → Export … (Ctrl+E) open the “Import and export” window. Each card lists the file extensions and what is imported.

Three ways to import

• Choose a card in the window or drop the file onto the drop area.
• Drag the file from your file manager straight onto the canvas. It lands where you drop it.
• Copy in Inkscape, Illustrator or Figma and paste into the app with Ctrl+V.

Imported graphics keep their original size and form a group named after the file. One Ctrl+Z undoes the whole import.

Formats

The app cannot read EPS and CDR. Save such files as SVG or PDF in your graphics program.

Large files

Files with thousands of shapes (patterns, vectorised images, cutting sheets) load quickly. From 500 shapes on, the app combines similar shapes into one path each: in SVG all shapes of the same colour, in DXF, PLT and PDF all shapes of one layer, kept apart by closed shapes and open lines. 20,000 circles and stars in four colours become four paths that move and edit as easily as a single shape. The message after importing says how many shapes were bundled.

• To separate parts again: select the path, Arrange › Path › Break apart.
• To switch it off: in File › Import, clear Large files: bundle similar shapes (applies to this browser).
• Large selections move as a preview outline while dragging and are placed in the drawing when you let go; one Undo step reverts the move.

Trace an image

Draw → Image ▸ Trace image … (in the laser directly under Draw) (Ctrl+Shift+I) turns a photo, scan or logo (PNG, JPG, WebP, GIF, BMP) into cuttable areas. You can also drag an image onto the canvas or paste it.

• Motif: dark on light or light on dark.
• Threshold: automatic or manual; decides what belongs to the area.
• Smoothing: rounds pixel edges; off = pixel-exact.
• Remove small specks: removes dust and noise.
• Blur: helps with photos and scans.
• Size: width and height in mm.

Add to drawing creates the areas including holes as paths. Straight edges become lines, curves become arcs.

Relief from STL or height map

A relief is an object of its own with a height map. It comes from a 3D model (STL) or a height map (greyscale: light is high, dark is deep). Choose the STL or Height map card in the “Import” window, drag an STL file onto the canvas, or choose As relief when tracing an image.

In the “Set up relief” window:

• Which side faces up? Top, front, back, left, right or bottom. Rotate freely turns the model about X, Y and Z.
• Cut off bottom: only the upper part of the model becomes the relief, so the depth goes to the details.
• Raised or recessed (inverted: light is deep).
• Size and depth: width and height in mm (the aspect ratio is kept), depth = deepest point below the material surface.

The model is moulded from above: at each point the highest surface counts. A router cannot reach undercuts from above. On the canvas the relief shows a shaded image. Move, rotate, mirror and resize it like any shape; the 3D view shows it in the workpiece right away.

In the properties you can change:

• Depth and base (raises the motif above the background like a pedestal).
• Smooth: softens the heights, edges and noise disappear.
• Fade out edge: the relief fades to the material surface towards its edge, with no step.
• Clip to shape: the relief is only carved inside a closed shape; that shape itself is then not carved.

The relief is saved with the project; the height map is compressed without loss.

Photo engraving

Draw → Image ▸ Photo engraving … engraves a photo with a V-bit in parallel lines: the darker a spot, the deeper the bit plunges and the wider the line gets there. Up close you see grooves, from a few steps away a picture. It looks best with portraits and animals in clear light on pale wood with little grain.

The “Set up photo engraving” window shows the lines as wide as the bit will cut them:

• Size: width and height in mm, the aspect ratio is kept.
• Depth (max.): how deep the bit cuts in black areas. 0.6 to 1 mm is usually enough.
• Line spacing: centre to centre. Match the bit picks the spacing at which black areas just merge (from depth and tip angle). Smaller makes the picture finer and the engraving longer.
• Direction: horizontal, vertical or diagonal. Across the grain the lines look calmer.
• Tone: lightens or darkens the picture without editing the photo.
• Negative: swaps light and dark (e.g. for dark material).

The app takes a V-bit from the project (60° preferred), otherwise one from the library. On the canvas the shape shows the lines, the 3D view the cut grooves. Afterwards you can change everything in the cut window at the shape and in Properties, where you also find Minimum depth (the lightest areas stay this deep so the lines run through), Smooth and a Mask from a closed shape. If the lines are too far apart in black areas or merge too early, the Toolpaths tab says so.

Photo engraving is only available for the mill and can be switched off under Settings → Features.

STEP parts from CAD

STEP files (AP203, AP214, AP242 from Fusion, SolidWorks, FreeCAD, Onshape and others) are taken over as a 2.5D part: the app finds the top of the part (the side with the pocket floors), puts the outline and the cut-outs on their own layers for cutting through and each pocket depth on a layer Pocket … mm. Circular arcs stay real arcs, other curves are taken over to within 0.01 mm. In an empty project it also takes the part's thickness as the material thickness.

If the part has curved or sloped faces (fillets, domes, slopes, countersinks), the app asks how to take it over:

• As a 3D relief (recommended): the app splits all faces (plane, cylinder, cone, sphere, torus, extrusion, revolution and B-spline) into fine triangles and opens Set up relief at original size 1:1 with the detected top. Cut out outline and through holes adds matching contours for cutting through, as long as the top faces up. Milling uses roughing, finishing and rest machining like any relief. If the part has no horizontal faces at all, the app opens the relief directly.
• As a 2.5D part: as above. Curved faces, slopes and countersinks are then missing; the message says what is missing.

Features from below cannot be reached by the machine from above. Mill chamfers on edges with Chamfer outside/inside. If the file contains several solids, the app takes the largest.

Export

In the Export tab: SVG, DXF (R12, one layer per layer), PLT, G-code (one file per bit) and STL (3D model of the cut workpiece, for 3D printing or a CAD program). Visible shapes are written; Export selection only limits it to the selected shapes.

G-code for other controllers

The app itself always mills with Grbl. Saved G-code files (Export and ZIP) are written for the controller chosen under View → Settings → Machine → G-code files: Grbl / grblHAL / FluidNC, LinuxCNC, Mach3 / Mach4, UCCNC, MASSO, EdingCNC or ISO / Fanuc. The toolpaths are the same everywhere; file extension, comments, line numbers, % signs, decimal points and the program start and end change. The preview shows a short example.

Customize turns it into your own settings: program start (such as a program number O1000), lines after G21, tool change (such as T{t} M6) and program end can be written freely, with placeholders for tool number, diameter, spindle speed, bit and project.

In laser mode you can choose GRBL, Marlin and LinuxCNC: G-code for GRBL, Marlin and LinuxCNC.

Mind the dwell after starting the spindle (G4 P): Grbl, LinuxCNC and EdingCNC read seconds, Mach3/Mach4 and UCCNC can be set either way, MASSO and industrial controllers mostly read milliseconds. Where it is not certain, the app writes milliseconds: if the controller reads seconds it just waits too long. The other way round, the bit would start cutting before the spindle turns.

Project as ZIP

File → Save project as ZIP … packs everything into one file: the project file (.mycnc), the G-code per bit (folder “G-Code”), an overview to read (README with workpiece, bits, cutting values, times and warnings) and, if you already cut, the last test report. Good for backups, sharing and for the workshop without the app.