2D AND 3D Software problem

[irving2008]

I'd set the heights of the individual buildings in cad-cam turn 3D on and hit go to generate G-code....Maybe I'm seeing it too simple but I see nothing in-between to get trashed by fast traverse? (no toolclamps for instance...I do great at milling toolclamps lol)

Kip, I think Ed's point is that they dont have the heights individually, they need to work them out based on the height of the landscape at that point which means merging the files.

[irving2008]

I thought they had 2 files with one having the terrain and the other the building details on......I don't see a difficulty....just join the g-code and press go...... seems simple.


What programs generate the terrain and building details?

the buildings file is 2D just the plots not the complete building, therefore has no z-info. Yes you could adapt the file to extrude each building plot by a fixed amount, but what Ed needs is for each building plot to set the Z origin to the contour height at the centre of that plot and then adjust the Z cut to be a fixed depth from there into the surface. It could be done at the G-Code level but you'd need to emulate the landscape tool path and watch for the intersect with a building plot and then use that to adjust the g-code for the building plot (i.e. the pocket).

It would be better to do at the .stl level, not least because its easier to find the intersects and also because it could be reviewed/visualised before machining.

[Ed Bartlett]

Yeah exactly. I've doing it the long way like you just described. It's the software i'm after more than anything. Will see if i can find a suitable file.

[irving2008]

I thought so...Drag a box round the plot and then translate it...Simple

What cad-cam are you using on your machine Irving?

Lots of bit n pieces, mainly shareware

Kip, simple maybe but time consuming, if you look at the graphics Ed posted there are 100's of building plots to translate. He wants to automate the process to save time...