QTPLASMAC integrated cad/cam

Hello, I finnally got my cnc plasma table running been a little over a year in the making. Very thankful for all the people on this forum who helped me get it going such as Tommylight and Rodw. With this being said im not perfectly happy with the qtplasmac interface. It is light years ahead of mach 3 but still missing some. From my understanding the way it works is the qt takes over the Z axis entirely and automaticly inputs Lead ins and feeds from the material specs, Its like 70% of the way to being a cam software in itself. This kindof makes a mess if you want to use sheet cam or something similar.  you will have options double up that have to be over ridden, aswell as theres not really a great way to run sheetcam via linux as far a i know. So I am embarking on the wild journey of creating a open source cad/cam intergration into qtplasmac. I think with the modern advancements of ai I can have this project shipped in a few weekends. My qeustion for everyone on this forum is what essential features would you like to see? what improvements could be made? My goal is to give a little back to the community and make my software free/opensource or if it turns into a massive project make it so cheap that it can be sold on a one time very minimal fee to cover dev costs with no encryption so pirating is easy for anyone who cant pay the cost. 

This interesting,I have thiked on this in the past, and certanly there are a lot of tools all of them are separated eforts, I think the features that software  should include but not limited to:
-Open DXF natively and generate the G-Code,
-Includethe database aproach used in monokrome to optimize holes.
-Ease of use, from final user stand point.

sorry I thought I answered. Because the QTP post is shipped by Sheetcam its set up for it to be master (to be polite to Les). But there are some variables at the top of the post to make QTP to be the master. In this case, it just sends the tool number to QTP and it retrieves that numbered tool from it's list. QTP has a tool that takes an exported sheetcam tool library  and converts it to  QTP format. read the docs.

Finally Sheetcam has both widows and Linux versions of their software and a single license allows you to use both.

You should also look at monokrom as recent advances by Joco with the internal cam is pretty amazing! Plus it also does its own hole processing by replacing any hole gcode with optimized leadins.

Rod you should check out the new V8 Sheetcam. Increased license price, no linux version,
marginal support, company sold and lead developer left the ship (if I understood right).

Anyway, I do most prototypes, one-offs of everything. Sometimes 2 or maybe even 10 but not more. And never again.
I find the Conversational tools to work well, but could be expanded upon.
I already have G-code when it enters QtPlasmaC.
Nesting of several G-code files would be very helpful. Positioning, rotation. Some tools exists in Conversational.
Interactive positioning would be nice. Moving lead-in positions would be nice, but I see the problem.
Very rarely, if ever, I go via dxf and Sheetcam.

@tcbmetalworks, focus on the features you like to have.
I'm sure it will spark some interest when you show us.

I ran sheet cam for a long time on my mach 3 plasma table. Maybe I am a little confused with qtplasmac its my first time using it. I just dont understand why you would have a materials tab and then end up setting all your speeds and feeds in sheet cam? Is this only for the conversational? Either way all in one would be much better. I am trying to keep it super simple so that I can teach people super easy how to run my machine. There also is no automatic nesting in sheet cam and I know this is not a easy task but, for a basic version should not be to crazy. This is what I have done so far, all internal to qtplasmac  

What is monokrom? Im happy to use pre-made tools would save me alot of effort.

Good start!

Materials, there are two ways (at least). One is to set all options in Sheetcam and that overrides the settings from the Materials tab.
Sheetcam is then the master of everything. That's what you have seen.

An other way is to set material index from sheetcam, it uses then the material index from the Materials tab.
Still, you need to select that when you sit with Sheetcam.
For that you need to go in the post processor code and change to false line 24
An other way, that I use, is to set material myself when I am at the machine.
Sheetcam only makes the cutting movements, not the material selection.
For that, insert comments in the printouts on line 171 in the post processorNote the initial ";" comment in the printout. Plus useTool=false.

Automatic nesting isn't needed, at least to start with.
Being able to read in several G-code objects and interactively
place them on a sheet would be golden.

I like your start and hope you continue.

I will continue working on it everyday, I know theres a way I can make this work with multiple programs but it really makes it hard for me to train someone on it. a built in 2d cad would be amazing too, even if its just super simple. My goal is to have it be the MS paint of cad lol.