Text engraving

[Anonymous]

I haven't found any reasonable way to engrave text in CAM, even on a flat surface. There don't seem to be any true monoline fonts that we can explode and do a trace toolpath on, and treating text as tiny pockets has proven too buggy to be usable. It would be great to have a simple way to trace text with a toolpath, whether that be a good monoline font or a "engrave text on surface" option in CAM. I would also LOVE to have a good way to engrave on a non-flat surface, like around a cylinder.

[Anonymous]

All we're really asking for here is a font, and a few people have mentioned that they have to use another CAM package just for engraving. All because Fusion is missing a font. If you're not going to give us a single stroke font, is there at least a way to add our own fonts? This is a very annoying omission, and it would be so simple for you to fix it...

[GPTech2444]

 I found the font SWSIMP and it looks like it will give a result very close to a singlestroke font.

And I found the fusion font folder by searching for "font" in the directory of where the app is located.

I'll try and see if I can do any engraving with it tomorrow.

[Lonnie.Cady]

The problem is not the availability of fonts.  I have the stick font from SW and the HSMWorks.ttf and engrave with them all the time in SW/HSMWorks.  The problem is more that Fusion does not treat the text as geometry.  You can't even select the text to engrave.  I believe this same issue exist in Inventor

[Sandflo]

I also have to use a second cam package just for a simple centerline engraving of text. Such as name and partnumber. Why? It shouldn't be to hard to make this work. Such a great software and not to have that already is a disaster. Please Cam people, make this a priority. You don't need to have different fonts for starters. Just give us one basic just for getting things started... Thank you

[scottmoyse]

Yup... a fundamental part of CAM / Making Things. Someone pointed out rightly that the font needs to be as efficient as possible from a tool path standpoint. So it needs to use arcs where ever possible in the typeface. Quite why Autodesk's 3D CAD packages are incapable of converting text to geometry baffles me.

It's driven me to despair for years. 

[al.whatmough]

A quick update.

We have this partially updated as the November release will have support for Engraving.

That said, we still need to solve the issue of having text that is "stroke text"

[scottmoyse]

---

@al.whatmough wrote:
That said, we still need to solve the issue of having text that is "stroke text"

---

It is possible to get this result with the Engrave strategy as it is implemented now in Inventor HSM / HSMWorks.... with some of the simple fonts. As soon as its released for Fusion, I'd be happy to do a tutorial to show how to achieve it relatively easily. It's still not ideal, but should be an adequate stop gap in the interim. 

[JetForMe]

So, if this was available in November, and it's now January…how do I engrave text? Thanks!

[al.whatmough]

We did add engraving.  

There is still an open ticket for the other half - having stroke text in fusion for single line fonts.

[JetForMe]

That's great news, @al.whatmough. Is that update available for download yet? Thanks!

[al.whatmough]

I think you may have gotten your hopes up too soon.

I was marking this implemented because we added Engraving (this was an old idea that didn't get maked implemened)

there is still an open idea for single line fonts:

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/ideastation-request-a-feature-or/engrave-single-line-fonts/idi-p/59367...

[Anonymous]

ORTE2LTT.TFF "OrachTechDemo2Lttf"

THIS FONT SEEMED TO WORK SO FAR. AT LEAST IT ALL MAKES IT THROUGH WHEN U EXPLODE FONT

http://www.e-engraving.com/fonts/One_Line_Fonts.htm

[Anonymous]

I'm trying to engrave single stroke using laser and Fusion keeps wanting to create an outline toolpath. I don't want an outline, I want a single stroke laser etch.  This thread is pretty old, has anyone figured this out or do I have to go to other software to get the job done?  It's a real shame, would be so nice to just do a tool change to activate my laser and complete the project in one step with Fusion.

[scottmoyse]

use a single line/stick font. Like the Cam Bam ones.

[Anonymous]

Tried that (on a Mac) and it doesn't work. I installed the CamBam fonts. They show in the FontBook and render correctly in the FontBook preview.  Fusion allows me to select the font when creating text but doesn't actually use the font, instead using Arial or some other similar font.

Anyone try this on a mac?  As far as I can see, it doesn't work.

[rohit.bapat]

Hello All,

Fusion 360 now provides several Single Line Fonts/ Stroke Fonts (shx) in the text command. 

Please let us know if it was helpful.

Thank you,

Best Regards

Rohit Bapat

[CBB1962]

Fusion is greatly lacking in handling text and engraving it:

• Text wrap 
  • Define a text box and allow text to fill the box.
• Align multiple lines of text to a line (horizontal alignment)
• The ability to distribute lines between two points (Verticle Distribution)
• Select multiple lines and change attributes for the selection
  • need to be able to change font, size, and alignment for a set of lines.
• Align text along a curved path.
• Easily emboss text
• Give a warning that not all sections of some letters did not engrave.
  • if you choose a bit with too large a tip it may not engrave the cross-bar of an "A" or the top and bottom of an "O"  - It would be nice to know.
  • give a warning when the interior is not completely cleared.Add the ability to treat the interior of a letter as a pocket and clear the un-machined portions.
• Engraving tool paths SUCK!!
  • I repeat Engraving tool paths SUCK !!!
  • If you have multiple lines of engraving Fusion will first engrave the O's and 0's then it will jump all around. It is incredibly inefficient. 
    • The path of a drunken pig makes more sense.
    • The developer of Engraving must have said: "Oh well, at least it works..."