dcbevins

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Posts posted by dcbevins

  1. Posted

    I played with the beta some, but it had some strange behavior, so I ditched it.  I think it may have been sharing some settings like directory locations with the 1.0 install, not sure.  I just renewed a few days ago for a year.  I would like if it transfered over, but can live with out it.  I talked to them, (via chat,) a few days ago about a CorelDraw 2017  plug in.  They said they should have it by the end of the month.  I might try the 2.0 again then and see if it honors my subscription code.

  3. Posted

    One thing often overlooked, is the software.  That is, cutters must take vector graphics.  If you plan on hitting the ground running, but don't know anything about vector graphics, you will stall at the gate.  For some, its just a few days to get the hang of it.  For others months.  Just count that hurdle in your equation.

    • Like 1

  4. Posted

    30 minutes ago, JLS Design said:

    tried several things to get it to weed correctly, and nothing worked.  I added the lines manually, and like I mentioned above, if I moved it a 1/8" or so, the weed line would go through the letter, and not around the letter. 

    When I said manually, I meant drawing lines in the artwork it self, not via the weed tool in the cutting software.  That is I would do it in Inkscape or CorelDraw or Illustrator.  Not sure I was clear there.  Obviously, if your using the cuttings softwares weed tool, you want it to work.  I was just giving a last result to fall back to.

    • Like 1

  5. Posted

    Near the top of the eagle head, it looks like an open path.  This could account for the weed lines going through the eagle's face.  Not sure what is going on with the letters.  I don't have SCALP and am not sure if it's auto weed line adding ability.  One could just manually draw weed lines.

  7. Posted

    I think they use the cario engine now and or poppler internally to import eps in Inkscape, (no longer ghostscript.)  Maybe you could go Inkscape to pdf, pdf to artcut.  Postscrit, .ps might do it.  A simple design as eps shouldn't be a problem.  You run into problems with eps with advanced effects like transparency or gradients.  

    Maybe you could post one of the eps files that is failing in artcut.  We here could take a look for something obvious.

  9. Posted

    I worked at a place once upon a time that made a pile of dough doing reflective decals for a coal mine.  It was printed and cut on a Roland Print Cut machine onto white reflective adhesive vinyl.  Also, plain cut vinyl on reflective aluminum plates.  They needed all sorts of exit signs, something called a "Man Door" sign.  Road signs, (stop, speed limit, ect), vehicle identification numbers, machinery operation instructions and safety warnings and so on.  They liked hard hat decals that were reflective, but it wasn't as much money in that.  We also did corporate stuff for them, like embroidered polo's and hats.  One of the challenges was interfacing with their purchasing order system.  Everything had to have a unique code.

    Just thought I'd mention it, if your in that niche and can find some underground operation like a mine to approach, it could be sweet.

  10. Posted

    Vinyl stretches and shrinks somewhat.  After it is cut, tension might be relieved and causing it to contract.  Precision can be lost.  Compounded it for heat transfer vinyl where the heat might cause distortion.  

    Compensating in your design can help, designing with some give.  Sometimes you can make a base color and lay on top of it.  Cutting squares or diamonds as registration marks can help.

  11. Posted

    Setting origin to a specific place is handy.  But it would seem to me there are ways to save vinyl even without it.  If you have a piece of vinyl for some reason is stripped to backing paper to one side, and want to cut where the vinyl is located, other than changing origin, seems you could just trim it with scissors and use the default origin.  It is still good to know how to set the origin.

    If I have something expensive on the cutter, (say reflective,) some type of nesting option is great.  Nesting is available in some cutting software.  It groups all objects into the tightest space to minimize vinyl use.

    • Like 1

  12. Posted

    What software are you using?  In vector software, there are boolean operations one can do on shapes.  They are often named differently.  CorelDraw calls them Shaping tools.  Illustrator calls them Pathfinder.  I think Inkscape calls them boolean tools.

    If you make a rectangle, say 10x8 like you suggested.  Place it over the pattern, you should be able to use one of those boolean operations to cut out the shape, (think cookie cutter.)  It might be called intersection, or trim depending.

    It might be that you mean something totally different, but that seems what your asking.

     

  14. Posted

    Can you give an example?  A picture of something you are trying to accomplish?  The way I think about it is if I wan't to cut an arc, I design an arc in my design program.  That might be a dedicated vector design program like Inkscape, Illustrator or Draw.   The cutting software itself might have design abilities.  Maybe you are asking how to arch text.  What software are you using?

  17. Posted

    I don't have Adobe products so I can test with those.  But window_decal_resizer2.eps I can open with CorelDraw.  No vector components I can see. About 125 bitmaps.  Inkscape opens it too.

    window decal resizer2.psd crashes Corel Photo-Paint 2017.  Gimp opens it and seems to preserve layers.  Seems all bit maps.  Skarekrow says there are paths in there but I don't see them in Gimp, thought that isn't surprising.  Maybe if I had Photoshop I could see the paths.

    I too think to make it cut ready, its going to be redrawing or autotrace and tweak.  That is you will be doing the redoing, not the guy you got it from.  Mark's trace seems a good starting point.

     

  18. Posted

    Using vinyl to color the entire substrate isn't idea.  It is hard to get good alignment.  Magnets, glass, metal, all are hard.  I avoid it when ever possible.  If I have to, I tend to put down vinyl larger than the substrate and trim it down.  If I have a job with high volume that needs the whole substrate colored, I try to find precolored substrate or outsource to a screen printer.  I have never seen pre colored car magnets though.

    • Like 3

  19. Posted

    You would have to post the after autotrace results and the cutfile to get concrete answers, (it might be the same file.)  I can open a cdr, but others might want the cut file as an eps, pdf or svg if they want to have a look.

     Off the top of my head, I wonder if you are not deleting the bitmap after tracing and it is included in your cutfile.  I also wondering how many colors are involved.  For NOTHING to happen, it would seem there would have to be no vector components at all in the file.  Nothing there to cut.  But it might be something else confusing the cutting software.  What cutting software are you using?  Is it true cutting software or some faux print driver?

  20. Posted

    Get the trial of SignCut Pro for windows.  The trial is limited.  This will get you a method of seeing if the settings are right.  Once you get it to cut, look at the com port settings that SignCut is using and try them with the Plot extension in Inkscape.  Also, Signblazer might be an option.

     

  21. Posted

    I've tried Vector Magic a few times.  But honestly, I find little difference between it, Inkscape, Illustrator, CorelDraw and others in the autotrace results you get.  The varying approaches each take might suit an individual best, but the end results all approach each other.

    • Like 3

  22. Posted

    1 hour ago, bassboy3313 said:

    I know it can't be the cutter itself since when opening the .eps file in flexisignpro and "breaking the design apart, it shows all the individual lines that were created for some reason. So it has to be either the way I am saving the .eps from inkscape or the way flexisign is opening the .eps

    I don't think you understand what Break Apart means.  In most vector software there is an option to break apart a curve into subpaths.  This creates a new set of curves/objects.  But if it is a curve before you break it apart, it isn't really individual components, it is one curve, one path.  Looking at the file, there is no reason I can see it should not cut fine.  Applying a break apart operation to it would make it several objects instead of one.

  23. Posted

    Maybe if you posted the inkscape file as svg and the eps file also from inkscape on dropbox or some such service, someone here could look for something obvious in the file.

    Inkscape I think use the Cairo engine for things like eps and pdf.  It will fail at some things, transparency being notorious.  It will rasterize some effects also.

    Post the files so we can have a look. 

  24. Posted

    Sue is right about that low res image.  It says it is a 39 dpi image opened here in Draw.  You might get power trace to give you something to start with. But is going to need to be cleaned up, or just manually traced as opposed to power trace, which is essentially drawing it over by hand.  It is not as hard as it sounds with some practice.  Would help if you knew the font involved.

  25. Posted

    Ironbar, I don't use a stylus a great deal.  My graphics tablet collects dust mostly.  But I would be interested if you do give it a try, purchase or trail, that you comment here on how well it can actually adapt to sketching styles and turn chicken scratches into curves.

    For everyones information, apparently there is a bug in 2017.  Install it, play around, decide you have seen enough, uninstall, X8 dies.

    It seems to write some incorrect registry entries, killing the previous version.  They have a solution on the forums.  Ugly that they let that happen.  Good I guess they were fast with a hotfix.