xpfguy

Are there any Mac users out there?

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I have used both an HP and now my mac book pro, I find it easier and faster to do my designs with the mac book with SCAL pro4, I have gone all back to mac as I was PC for a couple years and could`t be happier with the switch.

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How is the lag time on the macbooks? I use an imac mostly but have been considering buying an additional macbook pro and was wondering if the processor bogs at all with illustrator? I know even my desktop will slow up sometimes when rendering large tracings or 3D images. 

I use a 2013 Macbook Pro with Illustrator and Photoshop both running and never get any lag.  I do have 8 gig of ram however.  

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I'm still running the iMac although I just upgraded to Yosemite last weekend. There are some plug-ins I want and couldn't run them without the upgrade,. So far no ill effects. I had to buy an upgrade to my font manager but through the upgrade it works much more seamlessly with AI CS5. In the old version I had to shut down AI and restart and often reboot the whole computer to get new fonts to show up in AI but the new set-up they just appear like they should when I turn them on or off. Very happy. I'm a mac convert and just really have good luck with them. 

 

Not sure when/if I'll get a new laptop. Would like to but don't really enjoy design work or even basic typing on any of them. I seem to always accidentally brush over the finger pad and do weird things that mess me up. Portability would be cool though. 

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I just upgraded to Yosemite last night.  Now I can't open AI CS6.  A popup comes up saying I have to install a legacy Java SE6 runtime.  When I click the link for that I just get a blank page...

Damn

Cal

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Hi Guys,

 

I'm new to the forum and i'm a complete novice with vinyl cutting in general. I have just purchased a Graphtec CE5000-60 to use along side my Imac. what software would you guys recommend to start using? I have just tried to use graphtec studio but with no luck so far!

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks in advance 

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I use Cutting Master 3 which came with my Graphtec CE6000 via the plug-in though Illustrator.  I create all my designs in Illustrator or Indesign and trace in Illustrator and use the plug-in to send it to the cutter.  It works perfectly for what we do.

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Hi Guys,

 

I'm new to the forum and i'm a complete novice with vinyl cutting in general. I have just purchased a Graphtec CE5000-60 to use along side my Imac. what software would you guys recommend to start using? I have just tried to use graphtec studio but with no luck so far!

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks in advance 

I would take a little time and do the research to make an informed decision. I realize that's exactly what you are trying to do here with this post. Just remember that each of us have our own favorites and they may or may not work for you. 

 

I use Adobe Illustrator and a cutting program called SignCut Pro. My reasons for this are that AI is the most widely accepted professional program. It's a mother bear to learn but once mastered it kicks butt. SignCut Pro is about the only truly cross compatible cutting utility that I could find (I don't run Graphtec so Cutting Master will not work for me) that I liked. It will work on either format and has possibly the industries best live tech support if you run into snags. Your Graphtec comes with a pretty good cutting utility of it's own as mentioned and most folks that I hear tend to be happy enough with that as their cutting tool so you may just be needing to decide on a design program. There is Inkscape which is free and competent and a myriad of other paid for programs out there including Flexi, Vinyl Master, Corel, SCALP etc... some are multi use and will cut as well as design. IMO your long term game plan should be thoroughly considered because which ever program you choose will take a fair amount of dedication to figure out and why waste time learning one that won't carry you through the long term? 

 

<edit> I just re-read your post about using Graphtec Studio and remembered that another forum member was trying to use it and having trouble importing and/or exporting files. Seems like it's very proprietary and might limit your options. 

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Used to use a MacBook Pro 13" now using an iMac with a Titan cutter and the sure cuts a lot pro software ... Never a problem very happy I'm almost ready to expand and try other software

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Hi, I'm new to this forum as well to vinyl cutting machines. I have a Mac and am thinking of getting a design program. What would be a first time purchase for a machine and what software program? Or do they come together when you buy the machine. I want to make vinyl stencils for sandblasted glass. Thanks for your help.

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Hi, I'm new to this forum as well to vinyl cutting machines. I have a Mac and am thinking of getting a design program. What would be a first time purchase for a machine and what software program? Or do they come together when you buy the machine. I want to make vinyl stencils for sandblasted glass. Thanks for your help.

Here is the UScutter buying guide,  MH cutter is not Mac,   But buy the best that you can afford.. They do come with software..

 

http://www.uscutter.com/index/page/static/subpage/buying_guides_new

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Like skeeter said the MH is specifically NOT mac compatible. I don't know of any of the other offerings that have a problem connecting to a mac. Most of the cutters will come with some form of software but not all those software are mac compatible. (Sure Cuts A Lot is mac compatible I beleive but not a well loved program) There are other options available that work just fine but they are going to cost you in addition to the cutter and it's software. I suggest calling in and talking with someone directly rather than trying to figure it out online. Your end use and volume will probably determine where you want to be. If you are just sandblasting glass and light stuff then regular machines will work just fine. I actually just use cheap vinyl as a blast resist for glass work. If you plan to go for heavy blast resist then you are going to be looking at a high end cutter with enough pressure to cut through the thick stuff. At the upper level there is less problems with everything including compatibility. The budget machines are serviceable for hobbyists but are more finicky. Many of us have started out with budget machines and upgraded later. I don't even think this is a bad way to go because you learn so much from a budget cutter that will help you out later but like Skeeter said, buy the best machine you can afford because every jump in price from machine to machine is fairly dramatic in quality of the machine as well. 

 

I have an actual business that basically started from a hobby. I run Adobe Illustrator as a design program on my mac. I cut with SignCut Pro which is both mac and pc compatible so I can cut from about any computer. I actually cut from a windows 7 laptop mostly because it's more efficient for me to have the cutter away from my design area and I happen to have that laptop sitting around. I just transfer the designs over on a thumb drive and it works nice for me. If the pc crashes (I should say "when") I can fall back and plug my cutter into my imac and keep working! (takes a lifetime SignCut dongle to be able to do this)

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Thank you for taking time to respond to my post Ms Skeeter and Wildgoose. After reading through the different topics, I'm going to checkout the Graphtec CE6000 or the Roland. I'll look for distributors in my area, I'd like to see it run before purchasing. I once had an Ioline plotter back in the 70's! Lol. I was digitizing and cutting all my etched glass designs for pantry doors. But that was years ago, I'm sure software and machine have made asthonishing improvements. I won't be doing large items like that anymore since moving and no longer having a shop devoted to my glass work. I'll check out Adobe Illustrator too, any particular version I should get?

I watched part of the video on copyrights and the recent proposed changes as of July 2015.....any update on that? What a terrible piece of legislation that would be!

Thank again, Kind Regards, Irene

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If you can afford a Graphtec that would be a great choice. They probably have more support around my area than any other pro model and a reputation for being tough as tanks. I assume the rolands a re good too but have never seen one run. 

 

If you can find a CS5 or CS6 version of Illustrator with the CD that would be a way to get it without a subscription. The newer version is called CC (Creative Cloud) and updates itself as they make improvements. I just don't have a need to keep up with the Joneses to the pint that I want a monthly payment so I have hung onto my CS5 and just did some cool plug-ins to improve the workflow. BE warned that AI is often touted as being the hardest to learn. I did it so that pretty well guarantees you can to. Once you know it then it seems easy but that first while can be frustrating. There is a link in the Adobe Illustrator section that will lead you to a free version of an older version (CS2) which is functional enough to try out and decide if you want the spend money. Bear in mind compared to the newer versions it's pretty clumsy but the base functions of most of the usual things you need are there. I keep a copy of the free CS2 on my pc at my day job and use it quite often although I am always missing several of the updated things CS5 has and several functions are a little more tricky in CS2. The link is ostensibly [laced out there for those who own the original older version which they no longer offer support on. There are several other programs available too including PhotoShop but if you decide do download PS with it make sure you grab one of the combined options because i have trouble trying to use two separate downloaded at work at the same time because they have different product codes so I have to close one before opening the other. It's a big download and you have so create an Adobe account but that's free. 

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Mac Pro running the latest El Capitan OS, Adobe CS Cloud, Graphtec CE6000-60, Cutting Master 3 plugin for Adobe Illustrator.

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Thank you WildGoose for replying! Your insight to what I need is very helpful. I will keep all you said in mind. That free trial of Illustrator sounds interesting, I'll look on eBay or Amazon. Lots to do. Thanks again, it's very kind of you to take the time to answer my post.☺️

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Thank you WildGoose for replying! Your insight to what I need is very helpful. I will keep all you said in mind. That free trial of Illustrator sounds interesting, I'll look on eBay or Amazon. Lots to do. Thanks again, it's very kind of you to take the time to answer my post.☺️

You have bumped across a great forum. The folks here have helped me more times than I can count and I just try to return the favor when I can. 

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Tried a mac a couple of time and the display is pretty but if felt like I had put my gloves on the wrong hands and shoes on the wrong feet - sold sold them and went back to being PC except the ipad of course

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Can anyone give me some pointers on which version of IA to buy online? I can't afford the full version but would like to save png, convert to dxf, then cut on economy cutter. Thanks

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I think you can only buy the politician not his state so it comes with an expiration date when they go out of office. LOL!

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Icom,

 

I would watch ebay.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Adobe-Creative-Suite-5-Design-Premium-Mac-/252243166438

 

You will probably end up with the whole suite which will include PS and several other programs. As far as AI goes I have read that CS5 has a better trace engine for the type of graphics we do in the vinyl world. CS6 came out with a new trace engine that is superior to CS5 for tracing photos and that type of thing for high definition images but lacks for tracing black and white stuff. I have never pitted my CS5 against anyones CS6 to see if there really is a difference. IMO either CS5 or CS6 would be your best choices (CS5.5 might be also out there but don't quote me) After CS6 they went to the cloud. Previous to CS5 there were some things that I wouldn't want to do without and you will have more trouble finding good aftermarket plug-ins as well as possible compatibility issues with the newer mac platforms. 

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Thanks WG! Is that the full program for $105. Or is that the upgrade for existing ai programs? Seems really inexpensive ! Thanks, you've come through for me again. What about updates on the software, are you eligible for those coming from another individual or what?

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Thanks WG! Is that the full program for $105. Or is that the upgrade for existing ai programs? Seems really inexpensive ! Thanks, you've come through for me again. What about updates on the software, are you eligible for those coming from another individual or what?

I didn't look that close on that eBay sale. There are no upgrades to the older versions since the CC came out which does have the benefit of continual upgrades but the downside of a monthly payment.  

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