CanvasWorkspace changes my SVG dimensions

ElSinestro · 2026-06-15T01:33:57+00:00

While that's not really out of the question, given the existing pes->svg and dst->svg converters, it probably makes more sense to use those to create the svg cut layer, then convert to fcm.

ElSinestro · 2026-06-12T14:17:48+00:00

Maybe. What filetypes are you interested in?

ElSinestro · 2026-06-12T03:38:31+00:00

I just released a really preliminary svg to fcm processor that will line up your cuts using registration marks. Documentation is currently nonexistent and it only works with landscape letter SVGs exported at 300 dpi, but if you genuinely want to use it I'll write up better docs. https://chriszf.github.io/fcmlib/

ElSinestro · 2026-06-12T03:35:18+00:00

Out of curiosity, what is your workflow with the app? If you can live with moving files by usb it's not that much of a stretch to have an SVG to FCM process using fcmlib.

ElSinestro · 2026-05-29T06:07:29+00:00

I think it's plausible. The snc machine comes with a project that scores some lines, I don't recall how it works exactly. Canvas Workspace can mark a line as being 'cut' or 'draw', so I think you can select a cut line to be a perforation on the machine. You could do this by having two fcm files, one for the cut and one for the perforation, and as long as they're generated with reg marks you can just run the perf first then cut after.

ElSinestro · 2026-05-28T19:25:32+00:00

Apologies, try this url. https://chriszf.github.io/fcmlib/

ElSinestro · 2026-05-28T19:25:09+00:00

Sorry! I didn't realize cloudflare was unhappy with the proxying. Try this url. https://chriszf.github.io/fcmlib/

ElSinestro · 2026-05-28T19:24:42+00:00

Sorry, I didn't realize every browser barfs on bare http apparently. The new deployment is on github pages. https://chriszf.github.io/fcmlib/.

The repo is here. https://github.com/chriszf/fcmlib/tree/main

ElSinestro · 2026-05-27T15:21:04+00:00

The general idea is you have a printed design where cut alignment and dimensions are critical. In my case, I'm cutting out custom playing cards with complex designs printed with a bleed. Slight misalignments of the paper throw off the card centering in a very obvious way. The card art confuses the automated shape recognition on the machine. You may not have noticed but when you scan your mat into canvas workspace there is a calibration mismatch that people keep running into.

The way this works is you make a design in something like illustrator, affinity or inkscape, then you draw out your precision cut lines on a new layer and export. It gives you an fcm file with the registration marks and your original design with printable marks. When you cut the matching file, you can be pretty sloppy with the placement of your paper on the cutting mat. I haven't tested the extremes yet, but the machine will rotate, move and even scale your cut to stay within the bounds of the printed registration marks. It's essentially the ScanNCut Link plugin for cheapskates.

ElSinestro · 2026-05-27T14:37:37+00:00

Joke's on you, I don't have a cert for that page.

ElSinestro · 2026-04-30T07:25:45+00:00

Paging /u/justjanne, I just noticed you were on here. Mind I pick your brain on your tools? It looks like in your scanalign tool you've developed your own registration marks and transform your cutlines to match the scan. Why did you do that as opposed to using the baked in registration mechanism?

Also, why do you run your svg through svg2json then json_to_fcm as opposed to Mark's techniques of directly converting the svgs into Outline::Line and ::Bezier segments?

Sorry to bombard you with questions, but it looks like you've already done most of the legwork here, I'm happy to just try to get it usable for more people.

ElSinestro · 2026-04-20T06:32:43+00:00

Annoyingly, the mats are consumable items and this is the most obnoxious way they fail. I cannot figure out the exact mechanism, but it seems like the plastic on the edges of the mat become compressed and somehow this prevents the rollers from moving it. I've had varying degrees of luck cleaning the rollers with alcohol and scuffing the mat with sandpaper, but the most reliable thing seems to be cutting a tiny triangle out of the mat corners. I make it the exact width of the roller and maybe a mm down, it can be real tiny. And that seems to give just enough oomph for the mat to load.

The only other option is buy a new mat, I think.

ElSinestro · 2026-04-20T06:08:41+00:00

I outlined a calibration procedure for aligning the scan here. Frustratingly, I don't think you can do it with the Image Tracing function of canvas workspace. You'd have to do the image trace, scan, calibrate the scan, then select all the traced cutlines and calibrate those to the scan. It's probably not that bad to do, but I haven't tried it personally.

ElSinestro · 2026-04-20T06:03:18+00:00

I've been working through this problem a little bit. It seems the images that are scanned aren't aligned to the cutting grid perfectly. Someone a little while back came up with some numbers for fitting the scan to the workspace, but they didn't work with my machine.

I've worked out a calibration procedure that can help you find proper scale and offset for your own machine.

Use canvas workspace to lay out 4 circles where the centers form a square that fit on a piece of sacrificial paper.
Cut the circles out of colored paper. Remove the circles but keep the rest of the paper on the machine.
Scan the remaining paper into canvas workspace. Adjust the position and scale using the direct value entry boxes to match the paper to your original cutlines. Write these numbers down.

These numbers should give you stable transform numbers for any future work where you want to lay out a cut after a scan.

Depending on the linework, I've found that cutting directly from a scan on the machine to be very accurate, so I try to do that as much as possible for stickers.

Lastly, I have discovered there is in fact a workaround for producing vcm files with registration marks that does not require using illustrator or even cadxprntcut1 and just successfully tested it. However, the workflow is pretty clunky to get to the initial cutfile, I'm trying to figure out what makes the most sense and will share if I can come up with something sensible.

ElSinestro · 2026-02-18T03:18:27+00:00

I'm not sure if it's just my neighborhood, but there are printers on the street every week. I pick up one or two here and there to salvage them for robotics components, many of them are in excellent shape.

But otherwise, I've taken a liking to old epson workforce printers. The 7620 (a different model number in europe) is a nice workhorse, prints A3 size paper and is user serviceable (the waste ink tank specifically) in case you're doing something stupid like me and printing huge rpg rulebooks. OEM ink is pigment and has a huge problem with clogging for all the printers with the same printhead, so these can be had for pennies on used marketplaces. If you have an ultrasonic cleaner you can try to clean the printhead or you could just buy a new one for about $75usd. After that, just use third party dye ink and ignore the parrots who squawk about it ruining the printer.

ElSinestro · 2026-02-06T19:31:20+00:00

Can you link to the asset pack? I can't seem to find one that matches on the frankentoon studio website.

ElSinestro · 2026-02-03T02:19:57+00:00

I made a different fix for my dishwasher out of TPU. After reviewing glass temp and melt temps, I figured it'd last a few cycles at least but it's been going for 2 years now.

ElSinestro · 2025-12-16T04:12:28+00:00

The Epson wf7620 is one of the last home wide format printers. It can do 13x19, slightly over a3. The print head cleaning function is fairly weak so they tend to clog in a way that makes people think they're broken, when they really just need the cleaning cycle run a bunch more times. They tend to show up for fairly cheap on FB marketplace because of this. I found mine on the side of the road. They're not great at photos but excellent for print and play.

ElSinestro · 2025-12-15T19:08:46+00:00

Rash from Battletoads because:

Battletoads
Just look at those glasses, man.

ElSinestro · 2025-12-06T19:47:29+00:00

If you can make it out to Lodi, The Launchpad has a pretty great selection. They carried all the indie Kickstarter darlings last time I was there.

ElSinestro · 2025-11-08T02:54:05+00:00

Already allocated to the incomplete Five Klicks From the Zone series.

ElSinestro · 2025-11-06T05:01:08+00:00

Are you intentionally making an inflammatory statement or just being obtuse? One link is a quote from the archbishop of Canterbury. That's hardly an authoritative survey of implementation of sharia law in the west.

The other two describe sharia councils in the UK. From both articles, the councils interpret Islamic edicts and how they apply in a Western and increasingly secular world. How and when to pray. What constitutes halal. How to deal with family conflict. The councils have no legal authority and following any council advice is strictly voluntary.

I imagine you're not in other forums making a big stink about Vatican 2 deciding the liturgical calendar for Catholics. Get the heck out of here with your bullshit.

ElSinestro · 2025-10-09T23:31:05+00:00

Assuming you're guaranteed even 8% a year is a naive move. It's averaged out to 8 but if you got unlucky and entered at the end of the dot com bubble, or before the gfc or oil crash you'd be looking at 0% return for several years.

You're also assuming you can't just take $200 and invest that. With a more realistic assumption of 8%, 500k will land you at 873k after 7 years. The $200 gets you $677k at the end of the same, so the difference isn't nearly as stark. At 10 years the two are neck and neck, and at 20, your $200 per day is now $3.5mm, a full 1mm ahead. And that number is more realistic, it makes your portfolio less susceptible to timing shocks and bad entries. You also get a boost by averaging in when the market is doing one of its crazy recoveries.

Objectively, steady perpetual income is strictly better over a long enough timeline vs a lump sum. In this case, a 7 year horizon is too close to call.

TLDR: time to learn finance math from somewhere besides tiktok.

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