Architectural Vector Drawing Converted for Vinyl Plotter

alexanderc36468733  wrote Yep I am cutting these complex architectural line drawings out of vinyl to use for large scale paintings I make. I apply the vinyl mask to canvas in sections removing or "weeding" out the complex connected line work. I then apply thick paint to these areas creating an impasto super sharp complicated arch wireframe drawing in paint over my canvas. So the expansion of a vector line with a line weight of say 4 pt into a cut-able line - ie two parallel vectors at a distance of approximately 1/16" -1/8" thickness.

Any drawing program, be it Illustrator or something else, is going to have limits on how many anchor points can be in a complex, compound path. Problems can start happening at around the 5000 points level. Compound paths with more than 10000 points are asking for trouble. Some printers will completely disregard vector objects with that many points.

Since the artwork is ultimately meant to be cut out of vinyl it's not necessary for all the objects to remain as a compound path. You can send such artwork to the vinyl cutter with none of it being compounded and it will still cut just fine as long as no objects are overlapping each other. Rather than trying to weld every expanded line together at once I would suggest doing the welding work in sections. Ultimately what you're shooting for is removing the overlaps where lines cross each other. Since you're working with stuff originally modeled in 3D you'll have to be more careful how you organize the artwork and what to weld first to last.

I'd be careful about letting the lines get too thin. Really delicate line work can be a real pain to weed out of cut vinyl. Thin lines can accidentally be pulled up with the negative vinyl being removed. A 1/16" thick line stroke is pretty thin. Gotta also make sure the plotter blade is good and sharp. A good blade is less likely to chew up delicate line work.

There are a few techniques you can use to reduce points that you can also try:

1. Use Object > Path > Simplify... on various sections. Select the straight paths and use the Straight Lines option in the Simplify dialog box. Also use various settings on Curve Precision and the Angle Threshold. You'll likely need to make a few passes with various selections.

2. Use the Smooth tool - it's tucked in with the Shaper tool, but you might not get the precision you want there either.

Here's an article Some ways to simplify path or reduce extra points in Illustrator - Illustrator Tips - Vectorboom that talks about some other options like the Warp tool (which is also probably not that precise) or some plug-ins from Astute Graphics. I haven't tried the plug-ins, so maybe someone else can speak to how well those work.

As far as a point ceiling-I don't know that I've seen a limit. I would have to think it depends on your computer's ability to handle the computations, so it probably varies among users.