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Tincup19

Titan vinyl cutter with Mac

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Hi, I've recently got a MacBook pro and was wondering if anyone knows if it's possible or how to cut directly from the Mac using a Titan3 vinyl cutter. In the past i've been able to cut directly from illustrator on my PC but that machine is knocking on deaths door and was hoping I would be able to cut directly from the MacBook. Any information would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks. 

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All depends on what you have for software on the mac. May have to run windows on it.

 

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I have only used Illustrator. I set up the Vinyl Cutter as a printer on the Mac. When I open Illustrator and try to print from it the cutter does make some noises but doesn't actually cut anything. I've seen it says the cutter is Mac compatible but i seem to be missing something to get it to actually cut. 

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Where you using a plug in on the PC? Usually, a cutter will never print anything. I am sure you can get something for the mac, but I do not use one and can't be sure.

One of the few with mac's will chime in soon.

 

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Didn't you get cutting software with your Titan 3, If purchased new?   Sure Cuts A Lot software is given if you choose Mac software for Mac.

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bikemike - yes i downloaded a plug in from Saga CNC that worked on the PC. Apparently the Titan is a rebrand from SAGA.

MZ Skeeter - I'm not entirely sure. This one is a few years old and was in a different department. The belt broke and no one wanted to mess with it so they ended up getting something different. I took it upon myself to replace the belt and like i said got it running on a PC but I'm not using a Mac as the PC is essentially dead. 

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You can purchase, Sure Cuts A Lot software or Signcut for a Mac.   Or run Bootcamp etc on the Mac, I thought. 

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Yeah those are looking like the only two options as of now. It's just weird that the cutter seems to definitely be communicating to some extent with the Mac directly from illustrator but not to the point of cutting. 

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They will communicate to a point. However, they are not speaking the same language and have no idea what the other is saying.

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IMO go the SignCut route. ESPECIALLY if you are already an AI user. They have a plug-in and work great on the mac. Best part is they ALSO work on a pc so you can migrate between them if you need to. If you pay monthly you have 5 moves before they make you check in but if you buy the lifetime dongle you can load SignCut on all your computers and your neighbors your mother-in laws and cut from any one of them with the dongle. 

I am an AI guy and use the dongle on the original SignCut Pro1. 

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how does the plug in for SignCut work with Illustrator. Do you do the design work in illustrator then transfer it to SignCut then open SignCut and cut it from there? 

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   Download the trial and try it out, You will see how it works. 

You can just save the file from illustrator, and import into Signcut.   You surely would want to save your files anyway. 

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If it is truly a plug in, you should be able to cut from illustrator by going through the plugin.

Not sure how you launch the plugin from illustrator, in corel it is in a drop down menu.

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5 hours ago, Tincup19 said:

how does the plug in for SignCut work with Illustrator. Do you do the design work in illustrator then transfer it to SignCut then open SignCut and cut it from there? 

You can do it two ways. You do the work as normal in Illustrator and then there is a button to "Send to SignCut" and it will take over from there. I don't actually do it this way because it will also then be the main thing going on so I typically just save the file off as an "Illustrator version 8" and pull it off on a thumb drive and go use a laptop to cut so my main workstation isn't tied up while cutting. My laptop is a windows 7 computer. If it blue screens and causes issues (eye roll, why would I ever expect THAT to happen?) I roll the cutter across the room and cut from my iMac as back-up. SignCut likes version 8 of Illustrator the best. It will convert whatever file version you are working in for you if using the plug-in but in talking to the techies at SignCut they said version 8 is the best and is what it converts to when you send it to the cutter. SignCut is a working stand alone program as well so doing it my way is about as efficient as any other than down-saving the file. I do most 100% HTV work so when I down-save I also mirror the work so I don't forget to do it later and it's a nice workflow that has served me well. I keep the original working file in CS5 (my main version) for edits and continued client relations so I end up with two files for each job. I add an 8 behind the filename so I now it's version 8 even though you can see it from the thumbnail view. 

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