kainth.c.s

Help required for sequence selection using Flexi Sign

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Hello Fellow members

 

I own a Creation PCUT CT0630 and use Flexi sign 10( Basic edition) for programming and the corresponding production manager for cutting.

 

I need your inputs on an issue which I have tried to resolve by contacting the software support as well as cutter support but have heared back from them.

 

is there any way by which we can manually select the sequence of the shapes.  For instance if I am to cut the word SINGH, it normally makes half of letter H first, then comes back does bottom half of S then so on , i.e. in a random way.If I export the drawing to dxf in autocad and change the lines to Polyline (PEDIT --Join) and import in flexisign afterwards, it cuts the full letter but not in the sequence, i.e. it cuts H then N but not in a sequence.  I also mailed SA international( Flexi Sign software) and also made a query to the importers of the vinyl cutter but haven't got any reply from them.

 

Please share if anyone came accross the way to do it.

 

 

REgards

 

C.S.Kainth

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No,   And I have never heard of any software being able to do that.  And what are you calling Flexi Sign 10 (Basic Edition)? Do you mean Flexistarter10?

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It shouldn't cut half a letter then move to a different letter, then come back, that's weird. The only way I would think that would happen would be if the letters were actually two separate objects. Typically a cutter would cut a full object/line, then move to the next.

 

Some software you can tell it to minimize vinyl movement, or cutter movement, or cut in the most efficient manor but what you're describing sounds like a glitch some where.

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It shouldn't cut half a letter then move to a different letter, then come back, that's weird. The only way I would think that would happen would be if the letters were actually two separate objects. Typically a cutter would cut a full object/line, then move to the next.

 

Some software you can tell it to minimize vinyl movement, or cutter movement, or cut in the most efficient manor but what you're describing sounds like a glitch some where.

I mostly use designs, but it does not complete the entire section of design before it moves on,, It comes back to finish those areas.  That may be 5ft away.   I use Flexi software.

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I draw in Adobe Illustrator and Cut with SingCut Pro so I don't know anything about flexi but when I had my P-Cut I would stack the lettering or design in a particular order within the layer stacking order and SingCut Pro would cut them in that order. This would allow the cut to progress though a long series of text from one letter to the next without hopping around which would sometimes through the P-Cut out of tracking. I stopped worrying about that stacking order once I got my servo cutter but used it quite a lot with my budget machine. As to half a letter I tend to think like the others that there may be an unclosed object that the program thinks are two separate. I have seen a lot of weird results when dealing with DXF files because those types of cad files are typically spline style arcs and often (if not always) have each individual segment a separate object, speaking from importing them into Illustrator at least. I bought a special plug-in to weld them all together since I often do file conversions and have to work with DXF's. 

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I use Flexi also.  It does tend to cut incomplete designs and lettering but does come back to finish up.   Why it does that I can't explain. 

 

In the Cut/Plot window there is a check box  titled Optimize Cutting Order, then gives a distance which you can manually set.  You might try unchecking that option or changing the distance. 

 

I don't know if this will help or not.

post-24657-0-18165900-1443049190_thumb.j

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Thanks a lot for your advice fellows.

dwp99: sure I will try playing around with this box.

 

Mz SKEETER Yes buddy, it is Flexi Starter Basic v 10

 

Also, try exporting it as dxf into autocad, change all broken exploded lines to polylines using PEDIT command followed by JOIN as option and selecting whatever area you want to join.  I tried this option and it does complete one letter now.

 

 

Wildgoose

If artwork is exported from illustrator straightaway as dxf file, it changes into splines, however I tried saving as AI in illustrator then opening in flexi sign and exporting as dxf.  I also work as a CNC flatbed router machinist in signage field and have been using a program for windows 95 for programming CNC routers.  I use this method in order to make the artwork readable by the prog. software as it can't read splines.  It does work and the DXF file you get from FLEXI SIGN consists of POLYLINES not SPLINES.  It can be easily checked as a SPLINE cannot be measured using DIMDIA command in autocad, however, an ARC or  POLYLINE can be.

 

 

However, I noticed something strange in the production manager:

 

In the dialog box shown by dwp99 ,for the production manager, on the sheet size page, I noticed that the job percentage is 100%, but still job exported from Flexi sign to production manager changes size, i.e. a 20mm X 20mm rectangle gets shown as 23 mm X 23mm with the job percentage still 100%.

 

Any suggestions on this brothers? :huh:?

 

 

REgards

 

C.S.Kainth

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Under the panel tab you will notice in  the panel size section the 0.100in.  On your window it will read 1.5mm that's the panel red arrow around the object you are cutting green arrow.  Reduce it to 0.00mm and you will notice the measurements return to 20mm.

 

This panel option comes in handy if you make a mistake and lets say you mess up the M.  You can cut out just an M by reducing the size of the panel to just around  the M.  The cutter will start in the corner of the vinyl so there wont be any waste.

 

Another cool thing is that if you are making stencils you can expand the panel around what you are cutting to give a little extra border of stencil material to apply masking tape to. 

post-24657-0-41925900-1443131579_thumb.j

post-24657-0-78903400-1443132040_thumb.j

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Thanks a lot for your advice fellows.

dwp99: sure I will try playing around with this box.

 

Mz SKEETER Yes buddy, it is Flexi Starter Basic v 10

 

Also, try exporting it as dxf into autocad, change all broken exploded lines to polylines using PEDIT command followed by JOIN as option and selecting whatever area you want to join.  I tried this option and it does complete one letter now.

 

 

Wildgoose

If artwork is exported from illustrator straightaway as dxf file, it changes into splines, however I tried saving as AI in illustrator then opening in flexi sign and exporting as dxf.  I also work as a CNC flatbed router machinist in signage field and have been using a program for windows 95 for programming CNC routers.  I use this method in order to make the artwork readable by the prog. software as it can't read splines.  It does work and the DXF file you get from FLEXI SIGN consists of POLYLINES not SPLINES.  It can be easily checked as a SPLINE cannot be measured using DIMDIA command in autocad, however, an ARC or  POLYLINE can be.

 

 

However, I noticed something strange in the production manager:

 

In the dialog box shown by dwp99 ,for the production manager, on the sheet size page, I noticed that the job percentage is 100%, but still job exported from Flexi sign to production manager changes size, i.e. a 20mm X 20mm rectangle gets shown as 23 mm X 23mm with the job percentage still 100%.

 

Any suggestions on this brothers? :huh:?

 

 

REgards

 

C.S.Kainth

I guess I'm just a little at a loss as to why you would ever export as a dxf when heading toward a cutter. Maybe it's your background in CNC work but the cutter world does not use dxf files so you are stepping out of the normal pathway to success. Also if you are designing in AI then flexi can probably cut an AI8 file possibly even newer formats. 

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Hello everyone

 

Thanks for the info   dwp99 !!!!!!!!!!! :rolleyes:

 

Wildgoose Mz SKEETER

I have a lot of artworks which are presaved as dxf files.  Morever, in native languages we do have overline over the alphabet and that too joined as in case of letter T.  Doesn't matter which way I make the file in flexi sign, it remains as separate letters with overlapping boundaries which come upo as extra cut  marks while cutting. So I export them as dxf and eliminate the extra bboundaries so that there is only one overline.

 

 

 

Regards

 

C.S.Kainth

 

 

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If you have a file small enough to upload I would be interested to look at one of these converted dxf files. Just some text or something would be adequate. 

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@DWP99   I noticed on your CUT/PLOT screen,  that you have overlap checked.... I made that mistake somehow one time,  and noticed an area of my design was not cut that should have been.   Do you have problems with areas not being cut, when that is checked?   Once Monkey had that problem also,  and I told him to look at the overlap and make sure it was not checked, Sure enough, somehow his got checked. And unchecking it, fixed his problem.

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Wildgoose:

Please find the files enclosed.

 

These files are in pdf version. If you would like to have them as dxfs please send me your email id ( I am not allowed to attach dxf files through this reply). These files have been named as what I did to them

 

I noticed that whenever I send the file to cutter after joining them as polyline, it completes one shape before moving to the other

 

Regards

 

C.S.Kainth

text as PEDIT.pdf

text converted Exploded.pdf

text straight from flexi.pdf

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Yeah only the PEDIT is really ready to cut. 

 

Try this string of text to see if it cuts in order. Either from front to back or vise versa. 

Test Text.ai

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I have looked into this problem before and just found a morass.  What I found is that from most vector programs, as eps, svg, ai, cdr, the stacking order is what the cutter is using.  On a single layer, objects will be cut as to what is in front of or behind another object.  It gets more complicated with multiple layers.  

 

So that we are on the same page, look at this manual for a CorelDraw plugin and see if it describing the problem you are facing.

http://www.coreldrawtools.com/artworkoptimizerstandard/Artwork%20Optimizer%20Standard%20Edition.pdf

 

Ecut, another plugin for Draw has a Route Optimization feature:  http://eng.e-cut.ru/index.php?view=function&functionid=52

 

I have had my finger on the button to buy this plugin, but haven't done it, and they have no X7 version.  Still might do ecut.

 

If this is the problem you are describing I can say that with Draw using "Arrange" > "Order" > "To Back Of Layer" and "To Front Of Layer" does change the cutting order on my vinyl cutter (SignCut Pro currently).  As things in a design tend to get authored in a random manor, correcting all this to optimize cutting can be a pain.  The bottom most object in a layer seems to be what is cut fist, going up.  I seem to remember with multiple layers it follows this rule, but does each layer as a set before moving to the next layer.  This might mean you could isolate things via layers, group all the things you want to be cut near each other and put them on their own layer.  I just haven't tested enough to say definitively.  I don't see why this shouldn't be the same for Illustrator.  The whole dfx issue might cloud everything.  But, the items on the bottom of the layer stack should cut first.

 

These guys posted a script that purports to do this kind of optimization for Illustrator.  I have never tested.  https://forums.adobe.com/message/6934202

 

Maybe this is enough food for thought that be a clue to the underlying problem.

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dc I think you are right on track. I know with SignCut it will work it's way through the stack unless you tell it to optimize and then it runs some sort of algorithm and decides what is going to use the least movement as it works through. I don't know that all programs have as easy access to the stacking order that AI has. (talking about the stack within a layer rather than layers) I have looked at a few programs for that option and it appears it's a higher end option in Flexi but I couldn't figure it out in Inkscape. In AI you see each item and can just move them around if you don't like the order. Doing a large job with lots of small items would be a PIA without one of the script like you linked. I would also expect that manually setting the stacking order would mean releasing compound paths to get the middle of letters cut first where thankfully SignCut will do that with a check box. 

 

I used to spend a lot of time making my stack ordered for my budget cutter but the best cure to that worry was a servo motor. 

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@DWP99   I noticed on your CUT/PLOT screen,  that you have overlap checked.... I made that mistake somehow one time,  and noticed an area of my design was not cut that should have been.   Do you have problems with areas not being cut, when that is checked?   Once Monkey had that problem also,  and I told him to look at the overlap and make sure it was not checked, Sure enough, somehow his got checked. And unchecking it, fixed his problem.

 

Mz SKEETER

I haven't noticed any problems cutting, it always cuts everything and leaves nothing uncut.  The only time I have a problem with a design not getting cut is if it is to large for the width or length of the vinyl.  With my Summa cutter I can only use about 13.5" in width of the 15 total width of the vinyl.  Anything  over the 13.5 doesn't get cut.

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