Nice! I’ll have to try that! Thanks for putting in all the work. That’s awesome!
I don’t have a use for this, but wanted to say thanks for spending your time on something for the community.
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Well, after an initial workout with MergeC2D, it’s solid. Working flawlessly so far. 
The only minor “issue” I’ve found is that the window being a small static size without scrollbars hides the filenames if your files are buried in a deep directory structure.
Any chance you could unlock the window resizing functionality?
By your command. 
(I already figured I would, but allowing the form to resize means I have to move and resize all the controls around. Figured I’d start by getting it out there the easy way, then come back for the inevitable resizing.)
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Good. Because there’s no way I’m going to be able to resell this on ebay if I can’t resize the window!
Seriously though, it’s not a big deal. It’s not like I’m going to forget the filenames I just selected (at least I hope not). Was just more of a ‘nice to have’.
thanks again!
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Okay, and if anyone wants it in python, here you go. It’s basically functionally equivalent (merge any number of .c2d files, with the objects from each nicely grouped), but writing it in wonderful python leads to much less obtuse source code. I figured a tiny Windows GUI utility was worth the effort, but I for one would much rather go back to my terminal. 
I threw it onto github, and I’m attaching it zipped here as well.
MergeC2D.py.zip (1.0 KB) – old version. Updated on github.
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I was just playing around with a file (thinking about making something to render rulers at will, now that we can combine them in with our C2D files), and it turns out that you absolutely can set a 1/16" (exactly 1.5875 mm, by definition) grid size, just not through the Carbide Create UI. This one’s probably simple enough for anyone to do:
Custom Grid Size in Carbide Create
- Open any .c2d file in a text editor.
- I highly recommend something like Notepad++, as it’s free and it handles large files like a dream, unlike the native Notepad in Windows, which… does not.
- Search for
"grid_spacing"(with the double-quotes). - You will find one and only one item that looks like
"grid_spacing": number,(wherenumberis whatever your grid spacing was set to in Carbide Create). - Change
numberto whatever you want, in millimeters.- Carbide Create .c2d files store all data in metric, as is only right.
- One inch is exactly 25.4 millimeters, by definition.
- Carbide Create .c2d files store all data in metric, as is only right.
- Save the .c2d file with your new grid size.
- Open the .c2d file in Carbide Create, and as long as you don’t change your grid size, it will use the one from the file.
And for your convenience, here’s a ready-made empty 16ths.c2d file with a grid in 1/16", precisely. You can, of course, use it as a merge basis if you go back and adjust the Job Setup details except the grid. (I was chatting with someone and he asked about 1/32" spacing, as that’s what he uses to center lines when designing on his olde CarveWright machine. Yep, looks like that works, too, so why not attach it just for fun.)
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I’ve found my new carbide create best friend! 
Awesome info. Thanks again Nathaniel.
And to get back nearer to the actual topic of the thread, I’ve been playing with a little ruler-maker script, just out of curiosity. I figured I’d do it in inch units, as that may be useful to someone, even if I always work in metric myself, and the powers-of-two make it look more interesting.)
With 1/32" tick marks and an XL/XXL sized ruler, the files were just getting too big for CC to handle well. It’d go “not responding” when selecting the ruler to move it around. Cutting it down to nothing smaller than 1/16" tick marks seemed to help, and cutting the length down to 24" made it seem to work decently well. (It’s fun when you can just tweak a line or two and get a built-to-order ruler, hehe.) So, is a 24" ruler in 1/16" useful? Too long? Too short? Not fine enough? Wastefully fine?
Anyway, here’s one to play with, 24" in 1/16ths, with a 1/16" grid size as well:
Ruler24in16ths.c2d (136.7 KB)
(The digits are hand-drawn segment numbers to keep the file size down.)
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oh sure, go ahead and automate it after i’ve gone through making them manually. 
Anyway, I’ll attach one of mine here, in case anyone’s interested.
I did X and Y rulers, so you can measure both planes (I’m sure you’ll have your Y ruler coded up a few seconds after I post this 
)
I made a few different sizes. I’m sure as I start designing more parts, I’ll adjust these as needed, but this seemed like a good start.
ruled_template_16x16_32nds.c2d (3.6 MB)
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Okay, I’m a bit mystified here. If
1 / 8 inches = 3.175 millimeters
and
1 / 16 inches = 1.5875 millimeters
how do we accurately represent a sixteenth when Carbide Create is limited to 3 decimal places for a millimeter?
To expand on this a bit:
1 / 64 inches = 0.396875 millimeters
and to represent that we’d need:
1 / 25,400,000 inches = 1 x 10-6 millimeters
(if I’m getting my math right)
I really wish that Carbide Create used some fundamental unit which allowed conversion between the two systems with no rounding.
I guess that if the base was the nanometer (1X10-9) you would probably be able to go to 1/100in without rounding.
See Nathaniel’s post above about editing the c2d file directly and setting the grid_spacing variable there.
Apparently the 3 decimal limit is only part of the gui. Seems you can put almost any number of decimal places directly in the file itself.
Maybe you can nudge the devs to expand the gui limit?
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That is correct. Can’t do it by entering it in the box in the UI, but editing it into the file works just fine (and the design window will gladly snap to it).
In other news, large files and CC 316’s toolpath groups broke the MergeC2D utility in Windows, so here’s a new copy (which I’ll also edit into the earlier posts). Note that merging from earlier files into CC 316 files should bring in the toolpaths (in a new toolpath group), but merging from CC 316 into an earlier version .c2d file will not preserve toolpaths at this point.
MergeC2D.zip (20.3 KB) – check for new versions on github.
(Edit: And another patched upload.)
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Okay, it needed a little more work thanks to Carbide Create 316’s toolpath groups, and now we’re all good to go. Merging now fully supports toolpath groups.
-
If the main and merge files both support or lack support for toolpath groups, nothing unusual happens.
-
If the main file does support toolpath groups and a merge file does not , any merged toolpaths will be grouped in a new group with the name of the merging file.
-
If the main file does not support toolpath groups and a merge file does , any toolpaths will be merged, but toolpath grouping is lost.
That should about cover merging Carbide Create files. As updates are needed, they’ll be available on github (for my convenience, so I don’t have to keep a bunch of posts in sync), but once more for convenience, here are the Windows utility and the python code.
MergeC2D.zip (20.3 KB) – Homepage and updates on github
MergeC2D.py.zip (2.0 KB) – Homepage and updates on github
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Thanks! I’ve updated that a bit — hopefully it will let folks find it and feel comfortable enough to use it.
So unable to leave well enough alone, I’ve taken things one step further…
The rulers are definitely nice. But they don’t help much when I want to measure a dimension that’s not horizontal or vertical.
So I spent the slow day at the office today creating a small app of my own that allows you to measure the distance between any 2 points in a CC drawing.
Step 1:
Use the polyline tool to create a straight line between the 2 points in the diagram where you want to measure the distance.
In this case we’re measuring the point-to-point distance on the main sail. Why? Because every sailor knows that’s important to know… er something like that.
Step 2:
Make sure the polyline is selected, and in the ‘Move’ section select one of the left points of the bounding box. If your line slopes from SW to NE, then select the lower left(SW) corner. If it slopes the opposite direction(NW to SE) then select the NW corner.
If it’s a horizontal or vertical line, pick either. Though in that case just using a ruler would probably be easier.
So based on the example diagram here, we’d select the lower left(SW) point.
This gives you your starting XY coordinates.
Step 3:
In the same ‘Move’ box select the end point of the bounding box.
This would be the opposite corner of what you selected in step 2.
In my example, we’d select the upper right(NE) point.
This gives you your ending XY coordinates.
Step 4:
Plug the XY coordinate values into the handy dandy CC_tape_measure tool.
and voila!
There’s your length measurement. Both in decimal and fractional (rounded to the nearest 64th)
Of course if you’re using metric, just ignore the fractional output.
I cobbled this together in powershell, and am including the source along with the exe. It’s been fully tested! Well at least tested enough to remove my typos and division by zero bugs.
The actual computation part is just a few lines, the rest of the script is all the GUI junk. So if you’re inclined, feel free to re-write in Python, C#, COBOL, or whatever floats your boat.
If you start a multi-million dollar business with it and get a Shark Tank deal, I require a 30% equity stake in your company. 
CC_tape_measure_v0.3.zip (11.9 KB)
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Updated my last post for clarity on the bounding box selection, and also attached a new version that has some error-checking.
Apparently windows doesn’t like division by ‘A’ and stuff like that.
Not that that should be an issue with copy/pasting values, but you know, fat-fingers and stuff.
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