darcshadow

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Posts posted by darcshadow

  1. Posted

    Yes, Inkscape can be overwhelming at first glance, but once you start playing around with a little you'll find you only use a handful of the tool to do 90% of your work. Inkscape can do quite a bit more than what is needed for cutting vinyl.The text tool, circle, square, beizler and node edit tools are really the main ones you'll need.

    Inkscape can be used as a cut program, but that's not what it's good at and since Vinylmaster will come with you're machine it'll better for cutting.

    Don't let the idea of designing in one program and cutting in another scare you off. That's quite common, I would guess it's actually more common than using one program to do it all.

  2. Posted

    If you can save the file without the demo thing going across it, you might be able to find someone one here that you could send the files to and have them save them off as an EPS that you could then open in most any vector program. Unless the design is complicated and not easy to reproduce I'd suggest just redoing it. It'll give you the practice of working with what ever the new software you choose.

    I know I'm probably starting to sound like a broken record (do kids know what that means these days?) but I highly recommend giving Inkscape a try. It's free and very powerful.

    Signblazer Elements is another free and very good program, although it is very old and feels a bit clunky.

  5. Posted

    I believe any thing and everything created is technically copyright protected even if not registered. The catch there is it becomes hard to prove ownership of non registered work.

    There is a fair use clause that does allow some usage of stuff for personal use, but that's kind of a gray area and can come down to a matter of who has more money in the law suit. I remember a story from years ago about a teach who drew some mickey mouse pictures and hung in her class room. Some how Disney found out and came after her. I don't remember the outcome but I know it was a mess.

    Basically, if you didn't create it, assuming that you are not allowed to use it.

  10. Posted

    For sq ft, you simply multiply length by width so you have a 1'x6' roll, you have 6 sq. ft. of vinyl.

    But honestly, the cost of vinyl and materials is insignificant for most designs. The real cost is your time. Often times it's actually cheaper to make a large decal than it is a small one. Sure, you're going to have more cost in material but often times a larger decal is easier and faster to weed so you have less time involved. People don't think that way though so they will willingly pay more for a larger decal even though in terms of material it only cost you a few pennies more.

    I don't do shirts, but from what I've read on here, most try not to let the customer supply the shirt. The reasoning being that if you screw up the shirt you can't simply replace it with one from your stock and the customer has to then get you another shirt. Can turn into quite a hassle and an unhappy customer.

    • Like 1

  12. Posted

    I don't use SCALP but my guess is when you import the flag, it's just a single layer. You would need to create multiple layers and the move each color to it's own layer.

    Some cut programs allow you to simply cut by color, so no need to worry about multiple layers, just pick the color you want to cut and go. I don't know if SCALP has that option or not.

  15. Posted

    I maybe wrong and others can correct me, but I don't believe there are vinyls designed for heat transfer to non fabric materials. If you're putting a decal on a mug/glass, standard vinyl is what you'd use.

    You maybe getting confused with sublimation, which uses heat to transfer a printed image to a mug.

    • Like 2

  21. Posted

    2 hours ago, Wildgoose said:

    Enlighten me on what part is NOT complicated. I guess if you mean anyone can go to the hobby store and buy a child's toy rocket and send it a hundred feet in the air then I agree. Actual professional rocketry and that pursued by NASA is everything about complicated. 

    The rocket part is simply a controlled expansion of gasses directed out of a nozzle. Think bottle rocket. The science for it is pretty basic, just a simple chemical reaction.

    The term rocket science has become inaccurately associated with all things rocket. It'd be like if you called everything associated with building and flying a jet airplane Jet Science.

  22. Posted

    10 hours ago, Primal Decals said:

    @eprcvinyls inkscape is just another design style software. Vm and or scalps is for cutting and doing some designing . I have my preference of using Ai for 98% of designing in and 2 % in scalps for designing and then cutting  .Cause i feel it was the easiest to learn and do what i do daily .

    To be clear, Inkscape can be used for cutting, but it was not designed for cutting. I started out using signblazer for everything but it just wasn't up to the task of some of the things I wanted in terms of design. Inkscape was free and can do some very complex operations so I started playing around with it for the design, then save it off and import it into signblazer. The down side of signblazer is that it does not have an over cut option and with the MH cutter, you need an over cut option. Turns out, Inkscape has a basic cut ability, and it has an over cut option so I switch to using Inkscape for design and cutting and for me, it has worked great.

  23. Posted

    9 hours ago, Wildgoose said:

    It ain't rocket science...

    That statement always makes me chuckle. The actual science behind a rocket is not complicated, it's the mechanical, aeronautical, and electrical engineering to make a rocket fly and hit the target that is the hard part. Anyone can make a rocket, controlling where it goes is a whole different story. :D

    • Like 1