G-coding the outline of a path

Hi g-code experts,

when I mill a path (let's say a straight line for an easy example), after that I want to mill a path that completely surrounds the first path. So in case of a straight line I would want to mill a rectangular path around that straight line with some distance to it. I could easily calculate that path and g-code it.
But when that first shape becomes more complex, it soon gets impractical to g-code the outline (at least for me). I tried running that first shape (a half circle this time) one time each with G41 and G42 and a tool-table entry that would give me the desired distance to the first shape, but then I still have to "connect" these two outline-paths to get the full circumference of the first shape.
My question is: Am I on the right track or how would you do this (for even more complex shapes)?

thanks in advance
frankbatzen

Thanks for your help, John. I was afraid that would be the answer. Following your advice I just downloaded an Autocad student version... Well, I guess I will be busy learning Autocad for quite a while now.

regards,
frankbatzen

how do i use/install REALIZE ? will it only work
for autocad drawings or other dxfs ?

cool, Thanks

Hi,

just wanted to report on what route I went: While Autocad + REALIZE probably would have worked for my purposes (thanks again, John!) I am now using CATIA V5. The nice thing is that the CAM is already built in and very feature rich. Works great. From my meager experience I have to say that the CATIA UI is somewhat less intuitive than the Autocad UI, though.

regards
frankbatzen