Stone Templates from Digitisers

Bring in a countertop template measured on site with a digitiser — a Prodim Proliner, a Laser Products LT-55 or LT-2D3D, or any other that writes DXF — as a Stone and tile drawing: each piece's outline with its cut-outs, and the profiles of its finished edges where the template says them, ready for the shop drawing, the Stone quote and the machine.

Bringing a template in

1. In the digitiser's software, export the template as DXF (or DWG), full size:

   • Prodim Factory: open the measurement (or the drawing, or its pieces) and Publish it as DXF.
   • LPI Template (Laser Products): export the job as DXF.
   • Any other: export DXF.

2. Choose File › Import › Import Stone Template… and pick the file.

3. Check the options (they are remembered for next time):

   Option	Meaning
   Units if the file doesn't say	Digitisers write full size; a file that doesn't give its units is read in these.
   Join ends closer than	A digitiser's lines rarely meet exactly: ends this close (0.5 mm to start with) are joined into one outline.
   Layer rules	Your shop's layer names (see below).
   Keep the file's texts	Texts that don't name a cut-out or a profile are kept, on the Dimension layer.
   Label the cut-outs	Each cut-out whose kind is known gets a label inside it (Sink, Hob, Tap hole, Socket), as the quote counts it.

4. Click Import. A new drawing opens, for the Stone and tile industry. The messages say how many pieces and cut-outs came in, and how much edge of each profile.

Prodim's own files (.prl, .prl8, .prlp, .pld, .bvn) and LPI Template's (.ltp) aren't published, so they aren't read: opening one says to export DXF instead.

What comes in

• The lines are joined end to end into closed outlines. An outline that isn't inside another is a piece; one inside a piece is one of its cut-outs. Each comes in as a closed polyline of lines and arcs on the Cut layer, its corners points shared with what meets there (a whole circle comes in as a circle).
• Each finished edge whose profile the template says is marked with a line along it, on the same points, on that profile's layer: Edge Full bullnose, Edge Ogee … (not plotted: the mark says how the edge is finished; it isn't a cut). Mark more, or change them, with the Edge Profile tool.
• A text naming a profile (POLISHED, FBN, OGEE …) beside an edge gives that edge its profile; one naming a cut-out (SINK, COOKTOP …) inside a cut-out gives it its kind.
• Lines that close no outline — walls measured, appliances, splashback lines — are kept on the Dimension layer for reference.
• Dimension, text, title and border layers are left out.

Layers and layer rules

None of the digitisers publishes a layer convention: each shop names its layers in the digitiser's software. Layers are read by their names:

When your layers are named otherwise, say so in Layer rules: one rule a line, or rules separated by semicolons, tried before the names above:

FRONT*     = edge Full bullnose
colour 1   = edge Polished
SNK*       = cutout Sink
APPL*      = reference
TITLE*     = ignore

A rule is a layer's name (* and ? stand for any letters) or colour and an AutoCAD colour number (the line's own colour, or its layer's), then what its lines are: outline, cutout and the kind, edge and the profile, reference (kept, not cut) or ignore. A line drawn twice — the outline, and the same edge again on a profile's layer — counts once, with its profile.

Then

• Check the outlines, then mark the edges the template didn't with the Edge Profile tool.
• Lay the pieces out on a slab's photo with the Slab Photo tool.
• File › Reports… › Stone quote prices the job. See Stone and tile.

See also: DXF, Drawings from other programs.