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Jagged lines in font when blown up - help!

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Hey guys, probably posting a bit too much here but I'm running into a lot of issues being a newbie! When I drag the EPS for this file in from AI, the lines are jagged around my text when blown up in scale - this is how it prints too which is a HUGE issue. In Illustrator the lines are perfectly smooth. Does anyone know how to get them smooth?

 

This happens with ALL fonts, even the standard ones such as Arial and Times New Roman when made in graphtec studio.

 

Thanks!!

post-95873-0-13452000-1446618394_thumb.p

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I'm not familiar with AI but when you save the file as an EPS, is the lettering being saved as a font, or as a path? I suspect it's being saved as a path, and if so I would assume there is a setting someplace to improved the font to path conversion, or just keep it as a font.

 

If you could post the eps, and the ai version of the file I'm sure someone here can point to what needs to be done.

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I'm not familiar with AI but when you save the file as an EPS, is the lettering being saved as a font, or as a path? I suspect it's being saved as a path, and if so I would assume there is a setting someplace to improved the font to path conversion, or just keep it as a font.

 

If you could post the eps, and the ai version of the file I'm sure someone here can point to what needs to be done.

Thanks for the reply - here is the EPS - http://www.filedropper.com/mcmpart1 and here is the AI - http://www.filedropper.com/mcmpart1_1

 

What I have found is that blowing the image up to a massive scale in AI and then importing it in EPS format into Graphtec Studio produces much better results in Studio... any ideas?

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I would save as an AI file then export as an eps and import the eps file. Sometimes programs don't play nice with one another when dragging and dropping, or copying/pasting.

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I don't know where it is happening or why, but it seems like the curve's are being converted to polygons somewhere in your process.  Some software can't deal with certain splines and convert them into line segments. I would think any cutting software could deal with such splines.  Maybe Graphtec can't.  Regardless, that seems to be what is happening.  Usually if software can't deal with a spline and it is converting it to line segments, there is a sample setting someplace to at least decrease the raggedness via creating more sample points.  I see this frequently when trying to deal with an Auto-Cad file.  Auto-Cad won't support bezier curves and conversion often results in the rough approximation via the line segments.

 

http://phrogz.net/svg/convert_path_to_polygon.xhtml

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Is this happening in AI? or only evident after you bring it over into the other program? 

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Go to... (In Graphtec studio)

file

preferences

display

and on the top right change curve quality to max.

 

Give that a shot.

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Thanks for the responses. Exporting the file as a DXF in AI makes the result much better on the larger designs BUT strangely when I bring the size down in Graphtec Studio the design looks awful.. very odd!! Will have a try of what's suggested here, thanks!

 

Happens with all fonts and designs whenever they're exported from AI as EPS files.

 

This doesn't happen in AI, only in Studio.

 

Thanks for the detailed response david.. I see now what is happening. Any idea what I could do to work around this? I like Studio because it's very simple!

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I downloaded the eps you posted.  It is fine.  There are no line segments in place of curves.  Something is triggering that conversion.  You mentioned drag and drop between programs.  Maybe the system clipboard or something with the drag and drop is mangling things.  Try exporting a file and importing a file thru the programs menu's with no drag and drop or copy and paste and see if anything changes.

 

If Studio will take and svg file, try exporting as svg.

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Ah sorry I should have been clearer. I've been saving it as an EPS from AI and then opening it through Graphtec Studio. Copy and pasting it in AI effectively seems to take a screenshot of it in AI and paste it with no line information etc, and the image isn't vectorised so blowing it up in scale makes a horrible result :( Sadly Studio won't take an SVG file. I did play about in the options earlier and there were some relating to turning lines into polygons which I turned off, but unfortunately it didn't have any effect. Do you know of any other free cutting programs I can download to try it out in them? I get the same result through cutting master too sadly.

 

Thanks again for your replies!

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I believe SignBlazer will work with your cutter. Do a search on here, there are several links to downloads of it. But since the EPS file you posted has the straight lines rather than curves, it's not the cutter program that is the problem. It is your conversion from AI to EPS.

 

When you save the file as an EPS, is there any option about converting text to paths? If so, try turning that off.

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Try a free trial of a commercial option like SignCut Pro.  Note though it has a limited cutting area in the trial.   If it works, maybe throwing money at the problem is the way to go.

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^^^^That's what I use. I bought the Dongle so I can quickly hop computers if I need to. It's also mac AND pc compatible. SignCut is awesome!

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Thanks for your replies guys. I've actually taken that cutter back since I was having some issues with it (not related), but I do have a Roland GS24 on the way and since I may experience the same problems I think it's worth experimenting a bit. Here's an image from AI when I go to save the file as an EPS - http://postimg.org/image/vn2hrwwph/ - Anything here relevant?

 

I'll give Signcut and Signblazer a go, thanks :)

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Thanks for your replies guys. I've actually taken that cutter back since I was having some issues with it (not related), but I do have a Roland GS24 on the way and since I may experience the same problems I think it's worth experimenting a bit. Here's an image from AI when I go to save the file as an EPS - http://postimg.org/image/vn2hrwwph/ - Anything here relevant?

 

I'll give Signcut and Signblazer a go, thanks :)

You won't need to convert it to an eps for SignCut. Just downside it to AI 8. When you go to save a new file leave it in AI native format and the second page will let you choose which version. It will warn you about saving legacy files but ignore it. (I don't use CC version but it should be basically the same) These will import directly into SignCut Pro. There is a plug-in that will let you just send to SignCut directly from within Illustrator. I run my cutter on a second computer so I don't use this feature but put the files on a thumb drive and just open them in the cutting program. 

 

Since you are switching to Roland you will not be working with Graphtec Studio anymore. Hopefully your new software compilation will work together better. FrustratedinHawaii (a forum member who is around from time to time) uses Graphtec Studio and is often... frustrated.... with it's limitations when importing files from other design programs. 

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