I don't understand why Corel can't fix their .plt export file format. It's been broken for years and will still stay broken until they bother to fix it once and for all. Coreldraw X8.0.0.450 still yields jagged text (bad curves) when exporting and then importing into another program for cutting with a vinyl cutter. It's ONLY the .PLT files from Coreldraw (any version after X3 at least that I can find information on - it might even be broken in earlier versions but I know at one point it USED to work properly. I gave up trying to find out what version this was though) that have this issue and no matter what suggested fixes for changing your .plt file resolution to zero (you can't do this in X7 or X8 by the way, it won't let you dial in 0. It makes you have 0.0001). I've tried ALL suggestions to get this to work and it simply WON'T do what it's supposed to be doing - producing smooth curves. Any other type of export file format doesn't have this issue. It's just .PLT.
Also, there are a LOT of complaints about this out there on the Internet if one Google searches them out and even several on these forums too. WHAT'S IT GOING TO TAKE TO GET COREL TO FIX THE .PLT FILE EXPORT ONCE AND FOR ALL SO IT GIVES SMOOTH EXPORT FILES? (AND YES, I'M SCREAMING!!!)
SVG (good curves ) vs PLT (bad curves) file imported into Sure Cuts a Lot 4 Pro - guess which is the SVG vs the PLT...
Zoomed in at 730% in wireframe view
Some source files to play with. The text has been converted to curves, welded together and recombined.
3835.plt file format testing.cdr
It appears the smallest resolution you can set it to is .001. I set it to smaller values (.0001, .00001) but the output was the same as when set to .001.
Note that there are no true curves in the PLT export. It converts the curves to small line segments.
One workaround is to scale the objects up when exporting & scale down when importing into other software.
I did a test at 10x scale. Black line is original size & red line is 10x scaled on export & reduced on import.
Hello Pogo, thank you for your reply and for taking the time to try and reproduce things. Appreciated! In older versions of Coreldraw (way back when, like 9, 10, 11, 12) you could set the resolution to zero and that resulted in a smooth curve. As long as you're unable to set it to zero it will be broken down into the line segments. It actually USED to work way back when but hasn't for years now since Corel made this change.
I do like the scaling workaround though you offer, it's the only thing I've ever seen on this in years that is suitable! I would never have known about that. Thank you for that contribution. If I may ask, how did you come across this information? I'm just purely curious because I've never seen scaling have that effect on file formats. To me, the workaround suggests a problem with the implementation of the PLT format itself. Scaling up and then scaling down vector files shouldn't alter the original file at all would you not agree? But in this case it does...
We cut vinyl everyday using PDF export to Roland and Mimaki devices path is as smooth as the original file. We send files for metal bending, laser and water jet cutting and routing.
The most obvious answer to you question is that most people do not require the .plt file format for cutting anymore.
What device and software do you use?