Where does everyone get images

[barrypatch 0]

I am thorougly enjoying my LP 24" and have used it quite a bit.  I feel confident doing lettering and keep finding more things to monogram.  I am wondering where everyone gets their images.  I have lots of clipart, because I am in the personalized favor business.  I am finding it difficult to look at a regular jpg and figure out if it will cut okay and weed okay.  Does that make sense?  I have been looking for angel wings and a big tree with about 12 branches and large leaves for days. 

I am wondering if there are places to go to get "vinyl ready" clip art or easy ways to manipulate jpgs.  Does this make sense?  :-)

Thanks.

Nancy

[mars 45]

Hi Nancy,

I would start in graphic request category under general help in the home page.  Do a search for  words describing the images you are looking for before you ask for something there may already be a suitable image posted on the forum.  As to working with the clipart you have try looking at the tutorials in vectorizing and the specific category for your cutting program - SBE has csome good ones - Inkscape also is worth learning to use.  Read the many posts in those areas.  Ask specific questions when you are stumped, but try to do things yourself - and ask about the points that are giving you problems and you will get answers that are most helpful.

-Mike

[barrypatch 0]

Thank you, I do want to learn to do this myself.  I get all these ideas and need to learn how to make them work.  I am using inkscape and SBE, I am going to start reading posts there.  I learned how to vectorize a graphic in inkscape from a great tutorial someone posted.

Thanks!

Nancy

[zaxxon 1]

This is a nice blog where you might be able to find some images. Not everything may be fit to cut, but a lot of the links have archives of pretty nice stuff in them to expand your collection a bit.

Link: http://tutorialblog.org/free-vector-downloads/

--Zaxxon

[fargo_182 0]

I have found for myself anyway that the easiest way, is to use  gimp or photoshop, or any other paint program, then use inkscape to vectorize it and adjust the lines to the width you want and such.

Some say to sketch a drawing, and then scan it. Same principle as a paint program.

[kenimes 42]

www.brandsoftheworld.com has some good logos and such, ready to download and cut.

[Guest Schramm]

I am really starting to belive that I am the only one on this site that actually buys anything!!!  I do love the free sites but I have found that you have to fix each one of those images.

NOTE:  Brands of the World is great as long as you are working for one of the companies (or cutting sports team stuff for family).

[bk2design 1]

I am really starting to belive that I am the only one on this site that actually buys anything!!!  I do love the free sites but I have found that you have to fix each one of those images.

NOTE:  Brands of the World is great as long as you are working for one of the companies (or cutting sports team stuff for family).

You're not the only one.

I admit, I have downloaded a bunch of stuff from sites but I have bought the collections that I actually plan on using to make money with and have tossed out the garbage.

[Guest Schramm]

For those that have not bought the collections with a disc and a book you are basically just downloading a ton of CRAP that will be hard to find, load you free store space til there is none left and for what?  NOTHING!  What do I mean?  I buy a lot of stuff from istockphoto, vectorstock and others but when I do I load all the downloads into a file and print off the images onto sheets that I then put into a personal catalog.  It is time consuming but over the last 2 months I went over all that crap that I have downloaded over the last year and free'd so much space on my drive it is not funny.  I download all those images once I determine they are worth keeping onto discs and then write on the disc and printed pages how to find those images and then store them!  It is impossible to find a image when you need it if all you ever do is right click and save as all the time.

I have found that 92% of the freebees that are handed around are junk that need so much repairs that you cant fix them.  Just the other day I down loaded a medallion (loved the look) however when I pulled it into the program to clean it the thing had 30 layers to it!!!  Many times I have found that it is not the cutter that has issues it is the image that was free that is costing you all the money!!!

Food for thought, buy your stuff as nothing in life is free!

[tlzimmerman 11]

Alternatively to buying things is making them yourself.  I have several tutorials with videos on how to vectorize in inkscape, and I will be making more when I get time as well.  Learning to design things yourself solves the problem schramm describes with free downloads....sometimes I use them for ideas but more of the time I end up recreating it myself so it cuts and weeds better.

Here are some links if you want to start learning how to make your own stuff. 

http://forum.uscutter.com/index.php/topic,16381.0.html

http://forum.uscutter.com/index.php/topic,13275.0.html

[Guest Schramm]

Well let me take what you are saying a bit deeper.  Here is where the books and collections that you pay for come in handy.  Right now I am in the process of back painting glass for a backsplash for my neices bathroom.  I go to my book and show here all the things that she could have incorporated and she just choose one thing (see image below).  Now that is really simple and for me, it took 2 minutes to open it and cut it.

Now what if you want to do something intricate?  Well the free crap that you get is not really something that you want to re-create.  It is more of one of those things that just need to be repaired.  The reason people take the free crap is because it is free, kinda like someone offering you a free car only to find out that it will cost $3000 to get it running!  Nothing in life is free.

The big difference is if you have the books and the software, you can take what are called elements and panels and combine them and ad words and other elements to come up with some pretty cool designs.  Are the collections expensive?  Yes but for good reason, these designs are well thought out and are 100% low node vinyl ready!  I dont know of 1 quality sign shop without at least 5-10 design books and software.

Will you still need designs after you buy these?  Yes, I ask for things from time to time but it is much more rare then if I didnt have these.  I am not saying empty the bank but maybe do what I have done and that is collect one at a time until you have design software that you can use!

Just my thought.

[azdecals 3]

Along the "making your own, and vectorizing your own" route.

I recently signed up to do a shirt for one of the boys on our little league team.  One of the easiest things (I thought) would be the land o'frost logo

As it turns out I spent a crap load of time trying to vectorize it in SBE.  The yellow and red was heck. 

I ended up just importing the image into SBE, then drawing something close.  Once I got the design close I double clicked the drawing I made and went into polyline mode.  From there i just stretched the polyline following the .jpg file underneath the polyline.  It was super simple and alot easier than messing with the vector. (or smoothing out the lines).

azdecals

[JoeBlow 5]

I'm one who has spent a small fortune on vinyl ready clipart over the past 20 years.  Even as late as yesterday I bought 5 graphics, I set myself a monthly buget and buy to that.  There's a lot companies selling great graphics online.  If you can't afford complete graphic Cd's, just buy as single graphics. I have subscribed to quite a few graphics companies over the past 5 or 6 years, one was the "Graphics Factory" who I was with for a couple of years, and over that period of time I downloaded hundreds of great vinyl ready graphics.  Subscriptions to these types of companies are very cheap, and you know that you are buying "Royalty Free" graphics unlike some of the eBay discs .   Just Google and check out what they have to offer,there's great graphics out there.

I have NO connection with the "Graphics Factory" other than being a previous customer. Here's their site as an example only.

http://www.graphicsfactory.com/

[NukleoN 34]

I say paint/draw it yourself or if you're not into that, hire an artist for a truly custom, unique piece you can own (work for hire) and sell. An experienced artist may not want to impart the copyright, or you may give them ideas but it's a way to get some designs unique to you. Once you have the EPS you can sell the decal forever or as long as you get buyers. You can always add-text or change colors per customer request.

There are royalty-free collection-CD's too.