TXTEXP command is not in ACADM2015. Why?

[joshuaentrup]

I just upgraded my Product Design Suite and AutoCAD Mechanical 2015 does not let me use the command TXTEXP like I could in 2014. I need to use it to convert text to polylines to be read by a plasma cutter and really don't want to have to draw each letter out. Is this something that was replaced with a new command that I don't know of? An online search is producing nothing. If I have to I will use 2014 to make my text into polylines, but I didn't want to have both versions of ACAD Mechanical on my computer. It's a waste of space and irritating to my workflow.

[rkmcswain]

TXTEXP is an express tool.
Maybe the ET were not installed or configured properly.

You can always use WMFOUT and WMFIN to do the same thing.

When you WMFIN, the insertion point is the upper left of the viewport and you'll need to scale it up 2X.

[joshuaentrup]

I'll try to get the express tools installed, then. I don't see why they aren't. I didn't have to do anything special to ACAD 2014.

WMFIN and WMFOUT are just useful for making vector images it seems. I only need the outlines of font and then I edit it to product stencils so CAMduct can read it properly and the sheet metal can have something burned into the part made. Thank you for your response though. I'll look into getting ET working for 2015 and if not just stick with 2014 until something works.

[rkmcswain]

I suppose it depends on the font and the desired output.

I've used WMFOUT and WMFIN many times to "explode" shape based fonts such as SIMPLEX. We do this in cases where we do not want unintended changes to a textstyle to result in text property changes to the text involved.