Import and export

Layouts rarely start from scratch: Zenom takes graphics from design tools and CAD, brings your EzCad setup along, and keeps projects safe with autosave and crash recovery.

Vector import

• SVG — Zenom’s own parser: viewBox transforms, nested groups, defs/use.
• DXF — element by element; anything unsupported is counted and reported by entity name, so you always know what did not come across.
• AI — all three generations of the format: modern PDF-based files, SVG-based files and legacy PostScript.
• Imports land as regular objects: editable, hatchable, markable; multiple objects arrive grouped under the file name, and every import is one undo step.
• Drag and drop files straight onto the canvas — several at once; one broken file does not stop the rest. Pasting an image from the clipboard works too.

Raster and 3D

• Six raster formats (eight extensions): JPEG, PNG, BMP, GIF, WebP, TIFF. Pixels are embedded into the document — no external file references to break.
• STL models import for relief engraving: orient the model, bake the depth map, engrave layer by layer (final on-machine validation of this mode is in progress).
• Trace Image turns a raster into vector contours with live preview — see Editing.

Moving over from EzCad

• Lens correction .cor files connect as-is.
• markcfg7 import brings the whole device configuration of your EzCad workstation — field, galvo corrections, delays — in one step; a referenced .cor file is picked up automatically.
• Pen library .lib import converts an existing base of marking parameters into Zenom pen presets.

Export

• DXF (R2013) — curves flattened to polylines at 0.01 mm tolerance.
• SVG — stroke-only contours in laser-marking style: the file describes trajectories, not a picture.
• Hidden layers and hidden objects stay out of the export; skipped rasters are counted and reported.

Project files that survive accidents

• .znm — an open, human-readable JSON project: workspace, all 12 pens, layers and objects, guides and rotary job settings travel with the file.
• Object library .znmlib with a folder tree for templates and blanks.
• Legacy AstCad files open read-only and are never overwritten in place — saving always writes the new format via Save As.
• Autosave every 60 seconds per tab, with a recovery dialog after a crash; if autosave itself fails (disk full, file locked), the status bar says so instead of failing silently.

Not in Zenom

• No PLT/HPGL import — convert to DXF or SVG first.
• No PDF import as a standalone format — save as SVG or AI from your editor (PDF-based AI files work).
• No G-code import or export — Zenom drives the galvo controller directly.
• Document export is DXF/SVG only: no PNG or PDF export of the layout.