SignCut Pro 2 Beta

[dcbevins 340]

Anybody tried the SignCut Pro 2 Beta yet?  I just noticed it today.  I would like to know it will take my current license/registration without breaking anything or over writing my current install.

 

http://www.signcutpro.com/new-features/ 

 

The Optimized Area, (nesting) would be nice to have.

[Wildgoose 4,200]

I see a few new additions like the center cut and perf cut but my version already does optimized. Nesting is actually different but it does that too if you tile a design it will nest the components. Maybe the new optimized will separate the components for you. Like you I wonder if the upgrade would mess up your regular version. I run a dongle so I would probably have to pay to get it. Maybe Therese will chime in with better details of the exact differences. 

[dcbevins 340]

I think I need to have a long talk with you about tiling.  I never grasped the complete how to do it, mostly when physically assembling.  I am not sure if you need to cut tiles so there is an overlap, or just that they buttress right next to another tile.  I am not sure how to best go about aligning the tiles when applying them to a surface and if i need some kind of registration marks.  It really hasn't been an issue as my cutter is pretty large, but it is a void in my knowledge base I would like to fill.  I had not considered tiling as a way to do 2D nesting.

 

Ok, so I have downloaded SignCut Pro 2 Beta.  I haven't cut anything, but it polls my cutter, so all seems well.  SOMETHING happened with SCP1.  SCP1 would open with a blank screen after installing SCP2, only showing the menu's.  I reinstalled SCP1, keeping the settings and now it opens fine. 

 

CorelDraw and Inkscape both now have an option to send to SignCut or SignCut Pro 2.  The Inkscape Plugin sends to SCP2, but the dimensions come in wrong.  This doesn't happen in Corel.

 

The download installs three separate programs, SignCut Pro2, SignCut Draw, and SignCut Spooler.  The spooler seems just be just a traffic cop for com traffic.   I haven't looked at it much, though there is not much to it.

 

SignCut Draw is a full blown, albeit minimal, vector design program.  It has shapes, node editing, text, envelope effects and so on.  I wonder if it will be a part of the subscription or sold separately.  It also has, for lack of a better phrase, "Advanced Tiling."  It adds an ability to frame objects and manipulate them in a way I don't entirely grasp yet.

 

SignCut Draw has Nesting, in the sense I meant it as rearranging objects to minimize vinyl usage.  

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5yfubv0se28jir0/prenest.png?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/s5lmo09yttm4gax/nest.png?dl=0

Nesting is something I have been wanting, but have been holding off buying something that does it.  Maybe this will fit the bill.  It is a little quirky how it is set up.

 

I am not sure my cutter can do pouncing or perforations, but there are options now for that.  The center cut thing just seems like contour cutting, but with out the precision.  It just seems to start outward from a middle point you jog the knife to.  The spooler might be cool if your working over the network or have multiple cutters.  All in all, not much new in Version 2.  If SignCut Draw is going to be a separate thing and not included, then there really isn't much new.

[Jburns 239]

I was thinking nesting was related to CNC cutting, with acrylic, polycarbonate etc. would it be difficult to weed and mask vinyl lettering with the nesting function?

 

EDIT: I see your pics- it nested the objects along a line or section

[dcbevins 340]

You wouldn't want to weed, mask and apply individual words or sentences a letter at a time.  But there are plenty of cases with letters, words, sentences, graphics, or groups of those, that are too be applied individually.  The ability to sort them into a minimal "packing" or "nesting" arrangement can save a great deal of vinyl over time.  I used a version of flexi at another job that could do this.

 

If i remember it correctly, it could nest items across jobs.  You could set a threshold for the material type and it would try to fit as many independent objects as it could in a kind of job merge before cutting.  So it is a very useful thing to be capable of.  Most of us just do it manually in the design software and that works.  But with some jobs an automated way is nice.  In a environment with multiple people submitting jobs, and the desire not to have to constantly change materials out, that kind of thing is great.  But that level is a whole other ballpark beyond just the basic nesting ability I want now.

[dcbevins 340]

EDIT: I see your pics- it nested the objects along a line or section

In that sample, I set the media height to 40", so it "nested" all those objects into that 40".  I don't know why I picked 40".  I have no 40" rolls.....

[Wildgoose 4,200]

The center cut could be handy for certain applications like sandblast stencils. I always have to add a box out a ways to be sure I get some extra all the way around the design and that tool would do it automatically it sounds like. Placing the design in the center of the vinyl. 

 

dc- I'll attach some screen shots of the way I use tiling to nest. Here is a sign I did a week ago. 3ft x 8ft. I separate the red by tiling around the individual pieces I want it to group and X-out all the other spaces including using a short virtical tiling line at the ends so it doesn't cut any extra length which it will if you leave open. It will then stack the tiles into the vinyl in a reasonable form of nesting. I do this on parts of builds that I am comfortable aligning without registration marks although I have also done this WITH registration marks and just pulled the marks into the tile area and it worked the same way. I messed up this one a little because I started out with 48 width of vinyl in the media width rather than the 24" I actually built the sign with but it was throwing extra tiling lines in there automatically and I didn't want the pic to be confusing. 

 

When you say the beta version polls your plotter does it do it automatically? SC 1 will poll my plotter (Summa) but I have to get the vinyl loaded and then press the "Read Cutter" button to get the info. Not a big deal but sometimes I forget. polling is sweet for cutting scraps because it tells you exactly how much room and how many copies you can stuff in there. 

[skener 11]

Downloaded the beta and do like the look of it and the drawing program is a great addition , really like signcut and the customer service is great.

[kayhold 1]

I am using the beta - well trying to.

My current settings won't work in the beta, though.

 

My offset is at .47mm and 1.7mm overcut which is perfect on SCPro1 but in the beta, it leaves me with hangnails and no amount of adjusting will remove them. 
Hopefully they fix it soon, because I am really loving it otherwise.

[dcbevins 340]

I had the beta installed, and fiddled with it some, but it would die each time a time period would run out.  I'd have to go fetch the new version.  The CorelDraw plugin stoppd working.  It would get confused and seem to take settings from the installed version one.  That is it wanted to open the wrong files at times.  I am just using version one now until they sort it out.