engs0062 0 Posted June 27, 2007 Hey everyone. My name is Lee and I have yet to purchase my cutter, but have done hand drawing and cutting decals for demolition derby cars, including my own. I am currently in Graduate school obtaining my teaching license for 5-12 Social Studies, with an undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota in History. I have an abundance of experience with Photoshop, hand painting, etc., and generally find myself playing with graphics and images on the computer. So, I figured I would get into this business as a backup, and for pure enjoyment. I want to specialize in race car (mainly dirt) graphics, along with various other jobs. Anyways, shoot me suggestions for starting out! Thanks! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TaterNuts 3 Posted June 27, 2007 Sounds like you are on the ball... One thing tho, Photoshop is for raster images... Vinyl cutting uses vectors (ai,EPS) if you are familiar with this, then your pretty much already ready to go... Your cutter will pay for itself in a very short time... Somepeople have pd for there machine on there very frirst order... You say you want to do race car graphics??? Check the competion in your area... Do a little research... I sponser a few cars (free decals) and I get calls all the time for lettering... See what the competion in your area is charging... If its a full service sign shop, then you can drasticaly undercut them and still turn a profit. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
engs0062 0 Posted June 27, 2007 Awesome, thanks for the information Tater. My intro was cut short, as I was at break during class last night Anyways - I have done some research and have played around with Inkscape and Adobe Illustrator CS3. I believe I have successfully vectorized some .jpg images I have created in Photoshop. However, I am still confused on how you cut the different colors with layers, shadows, etc. Do you suggest I wait to purchase my cutter until I have my LLC signed up and ready for tax purposes? Or do I go ahead and buy it, do a few jobs to pay it off, then start the LLC (as I am looking to purchase a laptop to solely use with my cutter)? Any information would be extremely appreciated. Again, thanks a lot everyone. Lee If I could email my number sign (sign placed on top of a demo car, normally a steel piece about 20 inches long and 15 inches high) that I believe I vectorized that would be great to see if I got the steps down (however; I get this message: The file "Number Sign.eps" was saved with a format (Encapsulated Postscript Output) that may cause data loss!Do you want to save this file in another format?". The next step would be to import the image to the Signcut software and cut. But I am unsure of how to do all the colors, outlines, etc. I already have holographic diamond plate green and silver vinyl to do the job. Any tips? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kenimes 42 Posted June 27, 2007 Welcome to our forums! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TaterNuts 3 Posted June 28, 2007 getting that error is normal... Starnard eps doesnt need all the adobe mumbo jumbo... LLC??? whats that? LOL Just kidding... And for those who dont know it means, Limited Liabilty Corporation... Well, Get the machine... I have a freinds friend, brothers, neigbors babies mama cousin, step dad that went for months without a vendors license... I just cant think of his name... LOL... Some places that sell vinyl require you to have a Tax Exemption form with the vendors license number on it, some dont.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
engs0062 0 Posted June 28, 2007 Sounds good, thanks Tater. I know I could ask this in a more specific thread, however; I am getting responses from you so figure I will shoot. I designed my logo in photoshop. I then opened Inkscape and started a new file and tried to reciprocate the logo I just made. I got a start on it and saved it as an .eps, opposed to the default .svg. I closed out the program, went to class, came back home opened up Inkscape and went to open my .eps file and it says error. It is not listed under All Image files...........so why can I save it as a .eps within Inkscape and the program will not open the file? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TaterNuts 3 Posted June 29, 2007 I really dont know about inkscape... I used it a few times and decided that I wanted a program that would work for me... LOL Did you try to import the file under the file menu instead of open? Did you select all files instead of all images? Those would be where i would start. You said in an earlier post you have illustrator? I would proabaly use that If i were you, because I would choose maybe MS Paint over InkScape... As far as diffrent layers go for doing multi colored graphics... its all dependant on which software you use to cut with... My WinPCSign, Flexi, and then sign cut all what diffrent parameters on how you color them on the screen, if you know what i mean... Basically, WINPCSign uses a pen as you layer color, and has a seperate fill in color incase you wanted to print out or export a proof to a potential customer... SignCut wants the fill in color and so on... Its kind of hard to explain.... But if I have time, and interested... i can show you some images and explain a little better Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kenimes 42 Posted June 29, 2007 InkScape will allow you to save in formats that it cannot read. Once you have saved the file in .eps, you then should also save it in InkScapes' .svg format if you intend to modify anything on that file at a later time. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
engs0062 0 Posted June 29, 2007 Great, thanks for the information guys. I'll play around with Illustrator and see what I can do. I did try the import option within Inkscape, and chose to view all files and it would still not open it - so kenimes your statement makes perfect sense. Tater, that would be great if you would be willing to take the time (sometime) and email or message me on processes of layering, etc. Up until now, I have done everything by hand (for the number signs I make). I buy rolls of vinyl, print out fonts on the computer, cut them out, then traced on the vinyl. I would then hand cut the vinyl. Very tedious - which is fine because I like doing those type of projects Layering was simple because I would place the number I just cutout and would tape it on the layer that I wanted to outline, then eye the outline and cut. Anyways - an explanation of how you do all of this using a software program (Signcut in particular) would be great. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
