Kronick Designs

Illustrator to VinylMaster

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So I usually create my designs in Illustrator, save them to a flash drive and then import them into VinylMaster. For some reason today it says that it can't cut the design because the image isn't in vector format. I am saving the work as an Ai file when I'm finished in Illustrator. If I leave on "editable image", certain objects are off center, but if I check the rendered image, it makes me trace it again even though it's a vector image anyway.

What am I missing here...?

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not everything created or edited in AI are vector. same goes for .eps, .pdf, etc ...

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I will paraphrase the others, and hopefully clarify.  Vector file formats can have bitmaps embedded.  Thus a vector file can contain non vector components, which obviously your cutter can't deal with.  If you have all vectors in your vector file, exporting as a bitmap and then going through the autotrace process again to make vector again is a bad practice.  If you have all vectors in the long run you will be much better off using those and not doing the vector to bitmap to vector autotrace dance.  Autotrace can fail on an epic scale at times.  Best not to count on it and find a better workflow.  It might have worked this time, might work the next, but it is foolish to think it will work every time.  Maybe in Illustrator you were using some bitmaps and autotrace is the only option.  But Illustrator has an autotrace.   Why not trace it there and have all true vector before going to VM?

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Learning something new everyday. I wish I had a better grasp on AI ... and a lot of other software :lol:

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Beware of customers bearing eps files!

Just last week one of my customers sent me eps vector files for HTV on Hoodies... I was tickled...getting cut ready files seldom occurs.  AND, of course, 3 out of 6 turned out to be raster images she brought into Photoshop and then saved as eps files.  She had no idea she wasn't providing files I could cut.

The best though was a few years ago...a t-shirt file that came in as an AI vector file...again, I was tickled...until I looked at the wireframe outlines.  OMG.....it was a mess of pieces on top of pieces...see attached.  Scarecrow came to my rescue on that one...welding & simplifying it for HTV.

SN_Vector File.jpg

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VM should import AI files directly. Maybe there is a legacy format that works better than whatever version you are working in. Try down-saving to version 8. When you are at the save (if first save) or "save-as" part it will pop up a new window and let you choose which version you are saving in. I build and save my files in regular format which is CS5 for me and then once I have a cut ready file I save it as version 8 and put a number 8 behind the filename so I can easily see it's cut-ready. If I'm working on HTV which is 90% of the time I mirror the work at that time too. 

If you are still struggling please post a file that you are fighting as long as it's not copyright protected. Or make an example file that will let us help you figure out what's going on. 

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Guest Grundy

The gentleman from Grundy is correct. Just make it vector from beginning. Hey Grundy former Big Stonian here. Lol

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