skarekrow 1,842 Posted September 29, 2014 I'm doing most all text based work in VinylMaster these days. It's one of the main reasons I bought the program. It's got Both Inkscape and Illustrator beat in the Text department. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CajunCustom 29 Posted September 29, 2014 so being in that in view outline its a red x i assume i have to start it over from new ? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CajunCustom 29 Posted September 29, 2014 hrmm might have to go look at that Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skarekrow 1,842 Posted September 29, 2014 It's got Both Inkscape and Illustrator beat in the Text department. Inkscape's pretty hard to top in other important ways, though. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CajunCustom 29 Posted September 29, 2014 what version did you go with ? and can you add text to images or is it a separate file Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skarekrow 1,842 Posted September 29, 2014 Vinyl Master Pro.. Red X ? Not sure what's up with that. Screenshot? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skarekrow 1,842 Posted September 29, 2014 VM's got a font manager that's proving to be pretty handy. And the process modules for laying out text effects are quick and easy. Drop shadows, in&out-lines, transformation tools, etc. Photoshop, Inkscape, and VinylMaster have got me covered pretty well for paint and vinyl. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CajunCustom 29 Posted September 29, 2014 gonna check out pro thats quite a lick 598 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wildgoose 4,200 Posted September 30, 2014 It's got Both Inkscape and Illustrator beat in the Text department. Inkscape's pretty hard to top in other important ways, though. What's it got in text that isn't available in AI? You have my attention Skare Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CajunCustom 29 Posted September 30, 2014 i downloaded the trial im checking out a video now seems alot of what i see so far ive seen in adobe Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CajunCustom 29 Posted September 30, 2014 the vinyl cutter part of the software seems sweet Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skarekrow 1,842 Posted September 30, 2014 Probably nothing that Illy can't do... it's just the ease of use. It's purpose-made vinyl software and seems better fitted to some file creation chores. Sorry I'm so slow to answer.. got a few irons in the fire this evening. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skarekrow 1,842 Posted September 30, 2014 Pretty sure illy cant touch the built in font manager of Vm. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skarekrow 1,842 Posted September 30, 2014 Sure, there's is other font software that can do more as well. Just not included with Illy. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skarekrow 1,842 Posted September 30, 2014 It may just be my lack of experience but, IMO, Inkscape is easier in text creation with effects than Illustrator. It feels way too 'technical' with Illy, for lack of a better word. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CajunCustom 29 Posted September 30, 2014 WoW i just imported a vector and added text did some cool stuff to the text put send to cutter and it shows what will be cut and its perfect , everything that ive been trying to learn made so simple in seconds 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wildgoose 4,200 Posted September 30, 2014 I think it's all about getting used to a program through a lot of dedicated effort. I occasionally play with inkscape but always find myself aggravated at it's apparent clunkiness. I'm sure for your ability with it it's a smooth workflow. I have never seen anything that you could do in Inkscape with text that AI couldn't. Bear in mind I am using CS5. The older versions are much more work to do the same things. I keep a free copy of CS2 on my work computer at my day-job and it never fails that I need to do something and spend a half hour finding it the hard way, if at all. The new CC version (which I haven't even tried the free trial yet) looks to have a decent font manager. I actually have font manager pro so I use that. The CC also has some wicked live text effects that look fantastical. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CajunCustom 29 Posted September 30, 2014 i have cs6 , inkscape , getting adobe ps 6 and looks like the program skarekrow mentioned Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skarekrow 1,842 Posted September 30, 2014 I believe one could spend a year or 2 in Illustrator learning what you can easily get in a few months with a dedicated software like Vinylmaster. It's true there are many things that Illustrator can do that Vm or Flexi cant... but those things probably aren't needed for the average (pro) user. (Heck, I've spent over 20 years with Photoshop and dont need a third of what it has to offer for the type of work I do.) Also, It's unfortunate that the current trend with Adobe seems to be to lure it's users to into their cloud based paradigm. That future scenario even has me looking at Gimp (Open Source) to replace Photoshop. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CajunCustom 29 Posted September 30, 2014 I have Gimp also works rather nicely Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wildgoose 4,200 Posted September 30, 2014 I believe one could spend a year or 2 in Illustrator learning what you can easily get in a few months with a dedicated software like Vinylmaster.It's true there are many things that Illustrator can do that Vm or Flexi cant... but those things probably aren't needed for the average (pro) user. (Heck, I've spent over 20 years with Photoshop and dont need a third of what it has to offer for the type of work I do.) Also, It's unfortunate that the current trend with Adobe seems to be to lure it's users to into their cloud based paradigm. That future scenario even has me looking at Gimp (Open Source) to replace Photoshop. Totally agree. Especially the monthly/yearly subscription bull crap. That's why I haven't tried it out yet. I don't want to know what I'm missing and get conned into paying them a monthly payment. I don't use the rest of the suite so the cost it too high for my needs. Not saying it wouldn't be nice to have the other tools available but my PS skills are lacking anyway so I tend to stick to AI most of the time. Wouldn't mind trying out some of your techniques Skare with the quick clean and trace which definitely seems faster in some instances than my methods. I have Aperture for raster processing but it is lacking in some ways and I'm not wonderful with it. It doesn't work back and forth seamlessly like PS is designed to. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wildgoose 4,200 Posted September 30, 2014 i have cs6 , inkscape , getting adobe ps 6 and looks like the program skarekrow mentioned Cajun, you just need a little time and practice and you're ready to rock and roll. If you have CS6 and the time to learn it you should be golden for design work. SCALP will cut for you ok but there are certainly better options out there. SignCut, VM, Flexi to name a few. I run all my design on a mac so it drops a couple options out for me. Wouldn't trade back after making the switch a few years ago though. I design in AI and cut with SignCut Pro. If you get to needing tips on AI just post up and there are several of us on here with enough skill between us to get you through the tough parts. Like Skare said about PS there are things in AI that you probably never need to worry about because they are geared toward print or web based graphics so once you muscle through the basics it's not that complicated. One of the toughest parts is that Ai is involved enough that there are a lot of quick keys that are best set to memory. You don't HAVE to use them because there are pull downs all over the place but the quick keys are stupid fast comparatively. The other tough part is learning how AI goes about things. Similar to the Order of Operations in math. There are certain rules that it follows and some of those can trip up a newbie to the point of frustration. There are a few posts in the Illustrator section on some set-up tips and some of these basic things that might help you if you decide you want to go farther with AI. I run CS5 so some of the locations are a little different in CS6 but other than a different rendering engine and layout look I think CS6 is supposed to be nearly identical. That's why I never upgraded from CS5, no real advancements from CS5. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skarekrow 1,842 Posted September 30, 2014 No argument here... Illustrator is a great tool. And the keyboard shortcuts can really cut down on the time. Many of the same shortcuts from Photoshop work, but many are also different. It's one of the reasons I can move so fast through different operations in Ps... I have been using lotsa keystrokes for lotsa years. Now why did they not make the pen tool in Illy Identical to Ps? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skarekrow 1,842 Posted September 30, 2014 ...and Sorry, Cajun... we completely hijacked your thread. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CajunCustom 29 Posted September 30, 2014 Its no problem im all over the place trying to input as much information as i can before i get my cutter , i just did my first mock up in ps6 so i must be doing something right Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
