First Impressions, The day after installing SCAL Pro

[vinylmotivations 143]

First of all I wanted to thank Marcus and USCutter for allowing not only senior members of the forum, but also a few others of us to try out and review their new flagship software Sure Cuts A Lot Pro.

A more thorough review is to follow after learning the ins-and-outs of the software as well as after putting the software through its paces.This will serve as my at a glance, list of first impressions.

I will start out by saying I was and to a degree still am unsure if this software is really for me and daily use in a business environment. Time will tell. Also there are a few issues that I will cover that a few folks have already addressed here on the forums.

Pros and Cons.

Pros

- Appears to be very basic, and simple.

Shapes, lines and text are VERY easy to create as well as line up utilizing the grid pattern and carrier sheet style design.

- Opens fast, appears stable and doesn't appear to eat up much for system resources, so it doesn't look like you'll need to have a top-of-the-line machine to run this software.

- Menus and buttons are few and well laid out, although there are a few things I would LIKE to see (covered in a bit) there is not a surplus of buttons to confuse or scare a new user away from the software. Inkscape, Corel and Illustrator can be VERY intimidating to a new user with 18 buttons down the right side, dockers, windows and other miscellaneous buttons etc. along the top.

- Functions such as Rhinestones and a very capable auto-trace function that are both very easy to use make this good starter software to ship with a cutter to provide a full solution.

- Cutter options - Offset and over-cut are easy to set, as well as a WYSIWYG or Origin style placement when cutting. Also cut by color options to allow for layering and multi-color projects. Multi-cut also allows setting up for multiple passes for thicker media and contour cutting through backing when using a carrier sheet.

- Pages - Have multiple files open at a time on different workspaces to accommodate multiple jobs at a time or one master project from several other project files.

- Weeding tools - In a different location than say, SignCut- but very useable and function... easily.

Cons

- EPS Support, according to what I have read, this is coming- agreeably this is kind of a big deal, and important to have as something archaic like Signblazer elements had this, but for a first release, this is still very promising software.

- Tools, font windows and other items aren't dock-able.... having dock-able windows gives a more pleasant workspace use experience that doesn't allow things to hide behind one-another. Granted once laid out, you can save your workspace, but also to re-save your workspace you must FIRST delete the old saved configuration, and then re-save it.

- Zoom functions leave things to be desired, as a few other members have suggested (zoom to selected, zoom to drawing, etc...)

- No option to have nodes visible 100% of the time or when selecting with the node editing tool. The only time nodes are visible is when in "Preview" mode. Please correct me if I am wrong.

In summary there are a few things I would like to see, learn, or put an emphasis on.

1. File support. EPS, CDR (Corel, maybe? or not..)

2. Better zooming options (Zoom to selected, or Zoom to drawing at the very least)

3. Options to make nodes more visible, other than in just preview mode so they can be seen when editing with the node tools.

4. Expanded shape library, more like what we saw in SBE

For those of you looking for the 3.035 Patch, it can be found here at http://www.craftedge.com/bin/SetupSureCutsALotPro_3_035.exe

More info to come as I tear into using SCAL Pro and put it to the test!

Thanks!~

Matt

Owner/Designer @ Vinyl Motivations

[BannerJohn 1,324]

Have you actually been able to cut with it?

[vinylmotivations 143]

1000th Post LOL Yeah!

Not as of yet cutting anyways, Working on getting it to communicate with my CE5000. Spent most of the time familiarizing with the software and getting the rest of the details ironed out.

Not sure of anyone here that has this software and a Graphtec- or read that it has worked. Dakota maybe?

[Jay2703 704]

Zoom with the mouse would be nice too.

[arty-rc 719]

I spent some time last night trying to get my Graphtec CE-5000-60 to cut .All it did was to roll out vinyl. I had no luck but will be trying again in the morning. I'll let everyone know how I make out with it. Being able to open eps files is a must.

[vinylmotivations 143]

Zoom with the mouse would be nice too.

Using the scroll wheel? Or by selecting? You can select the magnifying glass under the draw tool and drag/select zoom.

In selecting the Graphtec driver, for the CC100-20, I am able to make my CE5000 move, though I've forgotten mine is on GPGL, so going to change it to HPGL and see what happens.

[BannerJohn 1,324]

Thanks for posting. IT's nice to see a review from someone who actually took the time to check it out.

[vinylmotivations 143]

Thanks for posting. IT's nice to see a review from someone who actually took the time to check it out.

Keeping a promise that I made to Marcus in agreeing to accept a copy in return for a thorough review, which is still to come. I felt a "First impression" post was necessary based on all the criticism on here from a lot of folks who purchased it. Sounds like it will just take some patience.

[BannerJohn 1,324]

everything worth learning takes patience. I've been using Flexi for 6 years and still learning.

[vinylmotivations 143]

It looks like 3.036 was just made available

[slice&dice 2,450]

It looks like 3.036 was just made available

Nice. Maybe by Monday, they'll have 3.037 ready.

C'mon BannerJohn, you want to talk Patience? I have a business operating, customers are asking for their jobs to be done, on my desk is a stack of orders for design phase, cutting, weeding and taping, then applying to substrates.

I have NO TIME for hours of watching tutorials, talking to support people, downloading new patches, fixes, upgrades, drivers, what-not. I would have thought they had BetaTesters screw around with all that, and THEN release a fully-ready disk to the public for $200. (or $50 or whatever they think it's worth).

My promise to Marcus was to obtain a fresh disk for evaluation, install it and use it, and offer my feedback.

Well, it simply failed to work out of the box. That's the unvarnished truth.

Period.

Back when my SC cutter first arrived, I unpacked it, assembled the stand, plugged in the serial cable, and opened SignBlazer Cutting Setup, chose the LiYu, Com1, and had vinyl rolling & cutting, all in less than an hour from delivery of the equipment to my doorstep.

BTW, my learning curve for making signs in SBE was close to zero.

Click, click, it works. It has always worked.

I have yet to see a single person say that about this new "Pro" software.

And let's be serious here, we are NOT comparing SCPro to Flexi.

We're comparing it to SBE, aren't we?

[speleopower 46]

Yup I just installed and got 3.035 working on my computer.....and the first time I opened the updated software a new version is available hahahaha

Also, yes the learning curve for SBE is close to zero for sure. Now that I have Sure Cuts A Lot cutting from my computer I will give it another go after doing the 3.036 version.

Dang it.....

[vinylmotivations 143]

This is what I get under the cut options when the graphtec driver is selected :*(

[slice&dice 2,450]

oooohhhhhh, are you having FUN yet?

[vinylmotivations 143]

Meh. When I run into things like this, It's a welcomed challenge.

My day job I am a commercial Audio and Video/Visual Service Tech. I LIVE for solving problems with broken stuff.

[slice&dice 2,450]

More power to ya.

I was all gung-ho when the offer to get a free disk to try was made by USCUTTER's head honcho, and honestly, my excitement was at a peak for several days, waiting for FedEx to bring it, so I could jump into SCALpro and be amazed.

Well, I am indeed amazed now.

But not in a good way.

On Monday, I'll probably take a few moments to step back, calmly and objectively, and see if there's anything redeeming about this guinea-pig-experiment-gone-haywire.

[BannerJohn 1,324]

Nice. Maybe by Monday, they'll have 3.037 ready.

C'mon BannerJohn, you want to talk Patience? I have a business operating, customers are asking for their jobs to be done, on my desk is a stack of orders for design phase, cutting, weeding and taping, then applying to substrates.

I have NO TIME for hours of watching tutorials, talking to support people, downloading new patches, fixes, upgrades, drivers, what-not. I would have thought they had BetaTesters screw around with all that, and THEN release a fully-ready disk to the public for $200. (or $50 or whatever they think it's worth).

My promise to Marcus was to obtain a fresh disk for evaluation, install it and use it, and offer my feedback.

Well, it simply failed to work out of the box. That's the unvarnished truth.

Period.

Back when my SC cutter first arrived, I unpacked it, assembled the stand, plugged in the serial cable, and opened SignBlazer Cutting Setup, chose the LiYu, Com1, and had vinyl rolling & cutting, all in less than an hour from delivery of the equipment to my doorstep.

BTW, my learning curve for making signs in SBE was close to zero.

Click, click, it works. It has always worked.

I have yet to see a single person say that about this new "Pro" software.

And let's be serious here, we are NOT comparing SCPro to Flexi.

We're comparing it to SBE, aren't we?

By your own admission you took all of FIVE MINUTES with this before giving up.. Maybe you should have waited until you had the tme to give it a proper evaluation before blasting it at every opportunity and on every post (which you seem to have plenty of time for).

[slice&dice 2,450]

It.

Did.

Not.

Work.

The.

Disk.

Contains.

An.

Inoperative. (for me)

Program.

Five.

Minutes.

Was.

All.

The.

Time.

Needed.

To.

Discover.

That.

It.

Did.

Not.

Function.

With.

My.

Cutter.

What part of "It Failed to Cut" is not being understood here?

How is this total and complete failure to cut, AS INSTALLED FROM THE DISK AS PROVIDED, in any way a reflection on my personal time management skills?

[sharbold 2]

I purchased a copy of Sure Cuts A Lot Pro and installed it on my computer. Downloaded the Corel plugin from the website and installed it. Both installs went smooth. I created a design in Corel then sent it to SCAL via the plugin added a few weeding lines the sent it to my MH 721 cutter which cut the job perfect.

Sam

[vinylmotivations 143]

Awesome Sam!!! Good to hear that it takes off and works when all things are set up correctly.

I think my own errors are lack of drivers installed properly WITH the software.

[BannerJohn 1,324]

It.

Did.

Not.

Work.

The.

Disk.

Contains.

An.

Inoperative. (for me)

Program.

Five.

Minutes.

Was.

All.

The.

Time.

Needed.

To.

Discover.

That.

It.

Did.

Not.

Function.

With.

My.

Cutter.

What part of "It Failed to Cut" is not being understood here?

How is this total and complete failure to cut, AS INSTALLED FROM THE DISK AS PROVIDED, in any way a reflection on my personal time management skills?

http://forum.uscutte...post__p__291844

I asked before..did you download the patch so that it WOULD work with your cutter?

[vinylmotivations 143]

USCutter has been searching the market for an improved sign making software to provide to our customers. We have worked with the developers of Sure Cuts A Lot to include sign making specific features that will be exclusive to USCutter in the Sure Cuts A Lot Pro package. After months of work, we are now launching Sure Cuts A Lot Pro with a introductory pricing of $49.98. This deal will only be available for one more week:

http://www.uscutter....product_id/2283

Since this is new software, I would like some help from forum members in supporting new users. Therefore, I am soliciting three members that will promise to do three things:

1. Add a thorough review of the software to our website.

2. Thoroughly learn the software and its features and help forum members with requests posted to this forum.

3. Help us identify features that should be included on future version of the software as it is developed.

If you are interested in doing the above, I will send free copies of Sure Cuts A Lot Pro to the first three forum members that publicly respond and commit to assisting other members on an ongoing basis. This offer will be strictly limited to the first three responses.

Slice- Marcus asked us to do a few KEY things...

1. Add a thorough review of the software to our website.

- Of the software.... not just the disc shipped to you.

2. Thoroughly learn the software and its features and help forum members with requests posted to this forum.

- Learning, in saying this, there will be a curve of a sort- you can't expect something just launching to work flawlessly. There are several folks who've reported success with USCutter models.

3. Help us identify features that should be included on future version of the software as it is developed.

- Learn the software and find out what it can do better....

Just my 2cents worth.

[slice&dice 2,450]

I really do not feel like 'playing footsie' with critical-functionality patches, updates, bug fixes, etc.

The most simple and effective solution at this point, IMO, is to return the disk and pretend I never heard of SureCuts.

Bad taste in my mouth from the way this entire thing has been presented, from the top-down.

Just my 2cents worth.

[mopar691 281]

I agree slice. They had 6 people going over this software from this forum for over a month, You would of thought these issues would of been dealt with before but apparently(from my understanding) they were just to work on the design side of this program. Maybe I am wrong but one would think things like this would get noticed before launch.

Send it back and move on. Use SBE untill you are at a point in your venture you can migrate to a program such as flexi. I would not suggest anything else for any business. I have tried them all, and hated most while others were a joke, and the best ones I have found was SBE to start with and build a customer base/income, then Flexi and never looked back. Best investment I have ever made.

I still use SBE when I am on location for shirts and on the fly decals at shows. In the shop everything is Flexi, the design side is very powerful, really nothing I cant to in there that I cant do for anything normal in ai. Photoshop for the wraps and all my files open in flexi in their native format. No skipping around program to program.

[vinylmotivations 143]

From what I read Mopar, there should be no reason Slice isn't up and running. Every major release has its issues. ie. reference iPhone 4 fail.

To each is their own, I REALLY like Corel and the plugins for the Graphtec cutters. SAI, the writers of Flexi actually WROTE a version of production manager FOR graphtec, Cutting Master 2 works VERY well as a plugin. It doesn't have any rip features but nor does several versions of Flexi until you buy the more expensive versions.

SCAL Pro is designed to be a replacement/upgrade to SBE- and is a very viable one once everything is working as it should be. It seems several users are up and cutting and working well with it. Also, reference the numerous issues folks have had with SBE be it ports, not cutting properly, file incompatibility etc. Every software has its issues just this one is new and needs some time to mature in this revision. Scal 2 and 3 have been around for a few years in the craft community.