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wetstuff

"No cuttable selection"...

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Arggggg...  I open New .. set size .. Import either an .ai or .cmx file I made in DRAW .. I 'group' it .. center/center it .. but when I go to cut, I get the NCS..  it shows my original window size in Production Mgr, but not my image?

I had taken the original image (simple B/W, solid, .tif) into DRAW and 'save as' ... and tried both flavors mentioned above. 

The work flow seems similar to when do Flexi for lettering.    Is there something simple I'm missing .. does it have to be converted from a solid to an outline in DRAW? (the lettering in Flexi appears solid..)  Sorry to bother with these tedious questions.

Jim

Macuser

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If you take a tif file, and save it as an eps...it has not been vectorized so it is cuttable.  .eps can have raster images embedded in them.

You need to take the step to vectorize the image before you save as an eps, and then remove the raster.

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FM ...Sorry, I don't have Illustrator - only DRAW.  ...but Flexi (I only have Starter..) will load an EPS file but does not see it when comes time to cut.

H-G:  Iz'nt DRAW always vectors?  In the menu the only thing I can see is "Convert to Bitmap" .. There is no "make it Vector" or other action that I can see.

You can 'save as' two specific brands of vector files: Scalable Vector Graphics and Frame Vector Metafile  .. but Flexi will not import either of these .. whereas it will the three others ...'just won't present them to the cutter?!

..... half hour later, I've loaded FREEHAND MX .. I've imported the .tif image I made in Photoshop into FH and will export it as...? There's nothing that says; 'Vector' ... so I'll try the eps that has been mentioned before. (choice of generic or Mac - 'generic')

No Go ... same "No cuttable ....selected"

Jim

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Well,  you can start learning   www.inkscape.org.  It is FREE software and you can save it as .eps and will work in Flexistarter.  What is DRAW?  CorelDraw? 

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I think draw is part of the openoffice suite......and no its probably not going to do what you want.

Use inkscape, best free program for this there is...period.

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Arggggg...  I open New .. set size .. Import either an .ai or .cmx file I made in DRAW .. I 'group' it .. center/center it .. but when I go to cut, I get the NCS..  it shows my original window size in Production Mgr, but not my image?

I had taken the original image (simple B/W, solid, .tif) into DRAW and 'save as' ... and tried both flavors mentioned above.  

The work flow seems similar to when do Flexi for lettering.    Is there something simple I'm missing .. does it have to be converted from a solid to an outline in DRAW? (the lettering in Flexi appears solid..)   Sorry to bother with these tedious questions.

Jim

Macuser

in Flexistarter in the FILL/STROKE EDITOR BOX there is a dropdown box,, that should be SOLID FILL,  then A BOX will appear.   CHECK the box FOR WIREFRAME.  That will give you outlines. Your cutter will then cut the outlines that are showing.

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Corel DRAW ... supposed to be the counterpart to Illustrator ... Freehand is another vector program. 

I had not clicked on 'solid fill' .. or 'wireframe' before, but I did just now.   

Before that, my basic step was, I placed an image (a .cmx export from CorelDRAW) in a 6"x2"  Flexi window.  I can see it well.. The image has a red frame around it so I can reshape it, etc..  I click on the outside of the 'page' size and the image is resting comfortably..  I made sure the actual image was smaller than the window..  I made sure Solid Fill/Wireframe were selected .. then hit cut. 

The job was sent over - it was cut - the 6x2" outline that is, there is no image in the preview window of Production Mgr .. nor was anything beside the box cut?!  When I send letters to be cut; I can see the box and the letters - only the box this time.

And .. when I put Flexi lettering inside a box like that .. it cuts the letters but not the box.  The box only seems to define the size of the working area?  Maybe that's a clue.. 

Jim

I suspect ..even tho' I can see this image, Flexi cannot either 'nest it' or

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 Have you vectorized the file in Corel Draw? I don't use Corel Draw. But in Corel Draw, can't you SAVE AS an .eps file,   the design, to your documents folder?  Then import that (.eps) into Flexistarter?    I have been using Flexistarters for 4 years and no problems.  I also don't set any workspace when I import, It is always on Architecture D  and my designs scaled up are larger than 24" x 36"  ...  I import most all my designs from my documents folder. or from cds.  No problems. 

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....  I have to take a break from this!  I can either export or save about 20 types of files from three programs ... incl. a 'editable EPS' out of Freehand ... (oddly, no .eps available in CorelDraw?)  .. I can get them in the window, but they simply do not make the jump into Production Manager?! 

I have a little time on Friday morning..  I appreciate your patience.  It's a pisser when I can't make the leap from letters to art.  Cheers.

Jim

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what version of Flexi are you using?    Flexistarter?  what?    What version of Windows or what are you using?  

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FM ...Sorry, I don't have Illustrator - only DRAW.  ...but Flexi (I only have Starter..) will load an EPS file but does not see it when comes time to cut.

H-G:  Iz'nt DRAW always vectors?  In the menu the only thing I can see is "Convert to Bitmap" .. There is no "make it Vector" or other action that I can see.

You can 'save as' two specific brands of vector files: Scalable Vector Graphics and Frame Vector Metafile  .. but Flexi will not import either of these .. whereas it will the three others ...'just won't present them to the cutter?!

..... half hour later, I've loaded FREEHAND MX .. I've imported the .tif image I made in Photoshop into FH and will export it as...? There's nothing that says; 'Vector' ... so I'll try the eps that has been mentioned before. (choice of generic or Mac - 'generic')

No Go ... same "No cuttable ....selected"

Jim

Don't you have HELP and HELP TOPICS?   Here is a tutorial for vectorizing.  In Corel it is called Powertrace  

http://www.corel.com/content/pdf/cgsx3/tutorials/dr_4.pdf

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Hang in there Jim, Corel has Pretty long learning curve to it.

There are a lot of videos on youtube that have helped me. I need to watch some of them again :thumbsup:

Bring your bitmap file(jpg tif..) into corel and iin the menu bar there is a dropdown for bit maps, click on trace bitmap,this will vector your image,

although not very good results most of the time,just play around with it you can't hurt anything. When you get a result you like export as an eps.

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Sorry H-G .. it's on a non-conected computer.  ..the files kept coming over as bitmaps tho'.

BUT .. I'm getting a little farther.  In my CorelDRAW 11 for Mac I simply could not figger how to 'save as' a fricking vector file.  All the export formats in history are useless if it leave DRAW as a bitmap

Ah-Ha... Corel TRACE !!!  ..I had it all the time, as a stand-alone app.  It took 10sec. to 'save as' a vector.

I imported it into Flexi .. can see it in the production window, etc.  I just need to figure out how to trace it so the Summa will cut out the centers of things like the letter 'O'...  Right now I get a great outline, but my Xacto skills are not good enough to do all the centers of my object.

... "A journey is comprised of single steps."  Aw' Hell....

Jim

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If your in corel "combine" the outer lines with the inner lines and you should be able to cut the centers. :thumbsup:

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Well after such a long journey, I thought I'd at least share were I was headed...

dash.jpg

I started with a Pos. (for screen printing) which came off a 3rd Gen. Xerox .. scanned the Pos. in my old Epson flat scanner .. imported into Photoshop output'd as a .tif  My Mac version of CorelDRAW 11 does not have a trace function (PC does) ..but there is a very nice, stand-alone TRACE app that seems to work great.  I should be able to do almost everything in Pshp where I am more comfortable. 

Classic Chinese Curse:  Weeding this little sucker was a chore. 

I have the Summa's pressure set at 40g with a 36deg Clean Cut blade.. cutting Oracal 651.  I might try the 60deg, CC blade with more pressure next time  ...but at least I know how to do one thing, so it's on to the next hill.  Thanks for he help.

Jim

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