slice&dice

Top 10 things for working within SBE

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Here are my top ten things to know about SignBlazer:

 

1. WorkSpace is a primary function. That pink rectangle is your lifeline.

You can access the WS from the File menu, but I prefer to have an icon right there on the main toolbar. (It's easy to add icons, just drag & drop from within the Configure Toolbar dialogue box -- right click on the toolbar anywhere and it's available for customization)

2. "Select" and "Text" are items you'll be using all the time, back and forth, first one and then the other.

3. Export (File menu) is terrific, allowing you to create Sample Proofs for customers (.jpg files)

4. "Arrange" is an excellent menu, you'll get to love it.

5. "Manipulate" menu contains the Expand Outline feature.  Very cool.

This can provide your text with a "contour effect" if used properly.

6. Sometimes letters are squeezed too close together within a font type. To spread them out, use the "Edit --  Edit Text" menu and play with the little boxes to KERN and LEAD the text.

Kerning and Leading are vital for good design appearance.

(Leading is for multiple lines of texts, and allows for controlling spacing between the lines)

7. The "Draw -- Library" is amazing. Get to know what's in there, and you'll be able to grab what you want & benefit from those graphics all the time.

There's a barber pole graphic that I've used to earn $580 by making signs for several local barbers.

There's also a car on a lift, comes in handy for any mechanic shop.

8.  Arrows. Always. (the Library has some also, but you can draw an arrow in four steps --- practice and you'll get used to it.  Takes four mouse clicks -- a)start of arrow and b)end of arrow = length

c) now slide on back with the mouse and define the parameters of the arrowhead d) finally, create the width of the shaft.  Done.

9. IMAGE menu will allow you to take a line drawing and convert it to a vector.

10. Alignment is very important ("Arrange" menu or use the Align icon on the toobar)

 

That's my top 10, you may have to check out the Help function and get some practice.

 

299178.png

 

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Nice post. Kern & Lead are extremely important and useful, especially with some fonts and placing text on a curve. Couldn't live without it...

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Nice post. Kern & Lead are extremely important and useful, especially with some fonts and placing text on a curve. Couldn't live without it...

 

Thanks, it was interesting to delve into the program and come up with that list.

We use SBE daily and it's become second nature, but for those who are looking at it for the first time, learning a new application can be daunting and confusing.

Hopefully this gives a feeling of "ease of use" because that's how I approach SignBlazer --  designing is simple & quick, and before you know it, signs are ready to cut.

 

 

 

I hate to reveal my advancing age this way, but when I first learned in Jr.High school to work with printing (Letterpress) we had a thing called a "California Job Case"  that was placed upon a cabinet known as an "Adman"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Job_Case

We used em and en spacers, and actual lead bars for leading (hence the name).

 

Oh, nevermind, let's just stick to SignBlazerElements!

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Thanks for the info. I hate to admit it but, I've been usingSign Blazer fo  at least 5 years now and just now noticed the "commrce"  section in the "Library". Duuhhhh!! Great stuff.

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Slice, thanks for the link to this....

Tomorrow is a fresh new day for discovery....  Lots of new territory here for me.

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*bump*

 

More Features of SBE that are terrific

 

11. Rotate Across Vinyl (once your vinyl is loaded into the machine, a single checkbox sets the right orientation)

 

12. Border (allows several border designs, including fancy ones)

 

13. Weld  (especially for script fonts that overlap)

 

14. File Backup  (Settings menu) --  I have this turned off, BTW.

 

15. Skins  (if you like a different look)

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16. buy a windows 3.1 computer as the program will feel more at home....Ha ha ha!

 

Sorry slice just couldn't pass up the opportunity to rib you. You should seriously attempt to get possession of the ownership rights to that program and then you could market it (and maybe do some updates)

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16. buy a windows 3.1 computer as the program will feel more at home....Ha ha ha!

 

Sorry slice just couldn't pass up the opportunity to rib you. You should seriously attempt to get possession of the ownership rights to that program and then you could market it (and maybe do some updates)

Fair enough.

 

When I first got into vinyl cutting, I had answered an ad on craigslist for a machine by Ioline and the guy included the dedicated computer (which was running Windows 3.1 and some legacy cut/design program, I forget the name of it).

After a few disappointing results, I realized that I had to get a new machine that actually works and that's when I turned to USCUTTER.

 

And I've never looked back.

 

Ownership rights for the SignBlazer program are difficult to sort out.

I was briefly in contact with one guy who was personally close to Jerry, but nothing came of that conversation.

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You are a big fan and I flip you crap a lot about it but it's probably one of those "what you get used to" kind of things

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You are a big fan and I flip you crap a lot about it but it's probably one of those "what you get used to" kind of things

 

You want to see a REALLY big fan?

http://www.computerandlaser.com.au/SB_Support.htm

 

I will say one thing about USCUTTER -- they get a lot of my admiration for recently placing VinylMaster into the mix and providing it as a valid PROFESSIONAL solution to not having any continued development with SignBlazer Pro  (a.k.a. HotShot).

 

To this very day, I start that SBE program (the one with the colorful fancy updated icon for the Hybrid version) and know that I can knock out signs dawn to dusk without breaking a sweat.

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Yep-- I have had it since 2009 - and i have  alot of files still in the SB format. Cool program for what it is! Heck I just used it the other day- the new version above:) 

It runs fine on Windows 7 and opens light years faster than my other programs.

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