GSD Files for Craft Cutters in CA3 or Dioramas 3

kristof65

Ralf/Simon:

I've mentioned this as a feature request a few times before, but realistically, what are the chances of getting native GSD file creation in the next version of Dioramas and/or Character Artist? Now that Character Artist is on it's way, and most of the other products are done, one can hope that Dioramas can't be too far behind.

Adding this feature to Dioramas 3 will really make it a truly useful program for designing and building paper models, especially as the prices of these cutters continue to come down.

Is it something you'd consider and have maybe even looked into? Is it something that I can help happen by doing some legwork for you?

Really, the one thing that is sending me to World Works Games and buying their models instead of using Dioramas to make my own is having to create my own GSd files. It's a pain exporting something from CC3/Dioramas, importing it into Silhouette, creating a GSD file and then tweaking it until it's correct. The CC3 side of things are easy, it's the stupid Silouette software that's the real pain here.

Chris H

Ralf

Can't say anything definitive yet, but we'll certainly look into whether this is possible for us to do in CC3. We have no experience with GSD files yet, so I can't say much about it at the moment.

Simon Rogers

Do you know where there is a file specification for this?

kristof65

I know the company that did the spec is called Graphtec. I'll see if I can find out from them where/what the file spec is from them, or who the point of contact is at least.

jslayton

Some craft cutters will cut anything that's printable (that is, the pen scribes along the vector instead of a pen). Would this solution be feasible for the type of cutter that you're using? It might require a layer just for the outlines that the device cuts along, though.

sdavies2720

I know that WorldWorksGames supports GSD files, but there's also been a lot discussion about more recent cutters not supporting the same format file. I don't have a cutting machine, so I've only been monitoring. Maybe they (or someone on their forum) could point you toward the format.

Here's a bit of history on the format:
http://www.worldworksgames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=10650

Steve

Highland_Piper

The best answer I can give you is if you can make a border that can produce an autocad .dxf file. This can easily be opened up in most of the current craft cutters such as the Craft Robo (which I own) or the Silhouette (I use their Silhouette Studio software for my craft robo). I have made 90% of the cut files for World Works Games and it is not as hard as it first seems.

sdavies2720

@Highland_Piper, I was hoping you'd come out of stealth mode on this issue

Simon Rogers

I'll certainly consider a file filter but it must be very widely used, and be able to support the artwork we offer.