Skip to content

Warn about distortion by ROBO-Master spline output in DXF (AutoCAD R14) plugin

Steps to reproduce:

When exporting bezier curves via the DXF (AutoCAD R14) plugin the output will most likely contain distorted splines when the ROBO-Master spline option is enabled.

It seems that ROBO-Master has certain restrictions regarding the shape of splines, hence the output gets distorted. This is a big difference to the LWPOLYLINE option, which is basically an implementation detail, having no effect on the shapes.

To reproduce:

  • draw a circle
  • export as DXF with the ROBO-Master option enabled
  • import the resulting file
  • witness a sharp corner in the "circle".

The export plugin should clearly mention to the user that enabling this option may distort your drawing when using the ROBO-Master spline option.

I suggest rewording the option description from "use ROBO-Master type of spline output" to for example "distort shapes for ROBO-Master compatibility" or something along this line. That way a user with no real clue about DXF implementation details gets a clear hint, that ROBO-Master has more impact on the result than just a choice of DXF operators.

I had a few round things laser cut in metal and they came back with a corner due to this option accidentially being enabled. I now know better, but that should have been avoidable.

To upload designs, you'll need to enable LFS and have an admin enable hashed storage. More information