OUTLINE TEXT ?? SHADOW??? PROBLEMS.

[Guest Terry]

I have red text - I then put a red outline around it in Adobe Illustrator with the swatch. I sent it to Flexi and I see the black outline, when I cut the red it's the correct size, but when I cut the black its the same size letters as the red ones. What the heck am I doing wrong? Does the same thing in Corel Draw if I place a black outline around the red text. HELP

[BannerJohn 1,324]

How are you putting the outline around it? What file format do you save before you send to Flexi?

With Flexi I have found that if you don't make the image black in the color bar at the bottom,it doesn't cut or see everything.

[Guest Terry]

I save it as ai. I see it fine, and it cuts fine, but its not any larger than the red text. Its like a have two of the same font laying over each other in the same size.

[BannerJohn 1,324]

The outline has to be bigger than the original. I don't know how you are creating the outline but it takes me about 2 minutes to do it in Inkscape. I have AI and Corel Draw,and I still use Inkscape.

Here is how to do it:

Open Inkscape.and enter your text. Adjust size. Copy the text and paste it below,above or whatever.This will be the background(outline). Select this and go to path,then click 'outset'. I usually do it 2 or 3 times to get a nice outline.

Select both layers, go to Object: then align and distribute. Alight horizontally and vertically. save as .eps file (Flexi,for me,seems to like .eps better than .ai)

Import to flexi and there you have it.

If you don't have Inkscape you can get it at www.inkscape.org. Its free and well worth it. Saved me a lot of time and headaches in the past.

See my post on 'tips and tricks' everything on that banner was done with inkscape.

[Guest Terry]

Thank VERY MUCH. I will try that, and download Inkscape.

[thredz 1]

When I do text,I do it in flexi.If I want an outline I go to the effects tab,then to outline.It brings up a box with the outline dimensions and color to select.It also has a couple of markers on the outline path that read width.I grab that marker and drag the outline to the width I want and then click the green check to create the outline.As for saving files,I never save any of my work as an .ai .That file extension causes me nothing but time and trouble in every program I try to use it in.

[BannerJohn 1,324]

Good advice if he has a full version of Flexi...the starter version doesn't have that ability. It would be cool if you could take a screen shot of your Flexi screen so I can see what you have that I don't.

[thredz 1]

Here's text in bunting condensed.Red,with a .025 blue outline.I brought down the effects tab so you could see the effects that come with it.I would imagine the newer version has more.But I am more than happy with the results and the price of mine,so I haven't bothered to check out the addons.Sorry about that.It says the upload folder is full.Here's the clip from one of my sites.

              http://effindrums.com/clip2.jpg 

[Guest Terry]

Thats correct, I only have the starter version of Flexi. But I also have SignCut, and WinPC. Billy your right about ai files, sometimes they come in out of proportion and other things.

[TaterNuts 3]

in WinPCSign, you can outline super easy... I would use that before Adobe.  Select your text, goto tools, outline... Size it, color  if you want to and click the check box.

[Guest Terry]

I installed the WinPC but it won't connect. When I hit the start button to cut nothing happens. What driver did you choose? I chose Refine mh721. Says com4 port is open but still wont work. Wonder if the Flexi program is confusing it, they look like the same program. Flexi is on com1 port.

[TaterNuts 3]

Well, if your flexi works on COM1, then set WinPCSign to that same port.

A COM port is only a communications port similar to a printer port... It doesnt matter if flexi is using that same port or not, its because that is where the cutter is.

Yes, I used the Refine MH721 Driver for mine, Works perfectly

[Daniel T 0]

Terry, 

if you are using Corel start using the wire frame to view your work before sending it to the cutter. another way around the the problem is to use the contour tool which is found in the Interactive Envelope Tool and Property Bar.  I have found that using the cutter takes a whole different mindset than just designing for visual or print needs.  hope this helps.

Danielt

[Guest Terry]

Won't work on com 1. But Flexi and SignCut both work on com 1. I never installed a product key for winpc and when the program starts the name and licensed to.. say nothing. Is your name on yours and did you get asked for a product key#? I would like to use it, looks just like flexi only with LOTS more features.

[Guest Terry]

WOW TATER, it works on com1. It kept telling me com1 was not reconized but I used it anyway... It works. This winpc program is great, it's just like flexi only more options. Now back to the outline shadow like you said was simple in WinPC.

                                                    Thank You, EVERYONE  :glasses:

[TaterNuts 3]

Good, Im glad it worked, I have been using this software for years, Any questions, Let me know...

Its similar to flexi, however, in WinPCSign, my fav feature is WYSIWYG cutting, you just setup your screen for the size of material and lay it out, and it will cut the same right on the roll...

What version are you running?

[Guest Terry]

it says basic 14.0

[TaterNuts 3]

Ok, just wondering, you get any successful cuts yet?

[Guest Terry]

Yes it works fine, but no matter what color I choose everything shows as black in the cutting step. Plus I get two panels that show up.

[BannerJohn 1,324]

Its similar to flexi, however, in WinPCSign, my fav feature is WYSIWYG cutting, you just setup your screen for the size of material and lay it out, and it will cut the same right on the roll...

Flexi has that feature too. I might put WinPC onto my wish list.

[TaterNuts 3]

In WinPCSign, ON your cutting control panel there is a box that says material... Put the width of the material that you are using in there. I always do it a little short, like, if im using 24 inch vinyl, i put in 23.5 that way i dont take the chance of going over the edge and cutting into my protection strip.

There is a box sort of towards the bottom that says 'all colors', and to the right of that are you color selections... You can click on an individual color selection and it will only cut that certain color.  or select all colors to cut it all out.

Hope this helps, anything else, let me know! 

And BannerJohn, I have flexi also, how do you set it for WYSIWYG cutting, I like to lay my decals out and save vinyl.. In production manager of flexi, it just allows me to duplicate an item or whatever... Maybe Im just confused? Dont know???

[Guest Terry]

Very nice program, FAR better than my flexi basic. And to upgrade they wanted like $500.00 - $1000.00

Ok I got the panel down, but when I choose a text and then choose a color for the text, it shows as black in the cut stage window. No matter what color I choose it still shows as black in the next cut window. The choose all color button still shows one color only... black. I'll shut down and restart.

[TaterNuts 3]

When you have your text selected, you choose a color first, then goto tools, then outline, then set your width of the outline, and how many out lines that you want... Then, before you click the check box, Change the outline color, then click the check box.  Now you should have 2 diffrent colors.  Goto the cutting control panel, and select the color that you want to cut... It should cut only with the color that you select.

Something to rember,  When you are using WinPC, you can have a fill color, and a line color... The line color is what the program sees to cut, and you can change the line color by selecting the object,  going to the color pallette and right clicking for line or pen color, and left standard click for the fill color.

Also, There under the view tab, click wireframe, this will toggle the feature on and off... Its much easier to see all the vector lines with way.

Another hint...  After you create an outline, and it looks good in wireframe mode, but cant get the color seperations to cut right, you can convert it all to bezier curves and segments... This will allow you to color each closed path individually.  You can also re-group if you would like be selecting the objects that you want to group together then goto shape then group.

Also, to select more then one vector object at a certain time, click one of them, hold down the shift key and click the other.  This will allow you to group diffrent objects together if you would like and not affect anything else.

As with all programs, this program is going to take some practice and patience to learn... It is a very affordable and powerfull program once you get to know it and get used to it...

You can always find me on AIM directly if you would like, you can find my AIM id in my profile on here.

Im glad to help, so dont be afraid to ask... And i got this program that will allow you to view my screen and I can show you exactlly what to do...

[Guest Terry]

Ok Great, I got it now. It will take awhile, but it is a GREAT program for it's price compared to flexi. Thank you again, I love it.