Woot, first cut ever on the LP24.

[NukleoN 34]

I read through a lot of posts, downloaded tips from many of you, read all the manuals and got a great cut straight away.

Here it is, smallish text (but I know some of you cut smaller). This is the Space Shuttle font (Helvetica).

Now to make some more decals! It's really cool knowing I can make any decal I want now instead of buying them and waiting for shipping and all that.

[haumana 1,220]

Way to go!

I will shamefully admit that the first text that I "test" cut for blade depth, etc. was mirrored and useless. Hahahaha.

Good job! Now you're going to turn into a cutting and cutting forum addict! I would suggest you totally raid the "Graphics Request" section for all the freebie vector artwork you can possibly get your hands on.

[ammo 6]

also you need to download inkscape at inkscape.org

learn to vectorize then you can cut just about anything there is to cut

[NukleoN 34]

Thanks for the props. I am an artist in the video game biz 20 years now, so you can bet I will be doing custom EPS files all over the place.

Thanks for the word on Inkscape...gonna check it out. Trying out Sign Blazer's vectorizing feature now. Downloading Inkscape too.

Oh, the first United States  decal I did, I didn't weed it very well. When I tried to lift the vinyl one of the t's came up and a dot on an i. Is it better to burnish down the decal before even trying to weed? That's what I did the second time and it worked better.

[haumana 1,220]

I've only tried vectorizing in SBE a few times ... I thought is sucked, but that's just my personal   Inkscape is a much better option. Vinyl Dragon even did a video tutorial that you can search YouTube for.

There was someone here who post pics of the space invader "aliens" as wall art. It was very cool!

.ai files will work too.

[NukleoN 34]

I'll probably try a bunch of things till I find the software which works best for me. I plan to do all my art in Painter/Photoshop, vectorize them in Inkscape (since that seems the way to go) and then cut from SBE. SBE seems easy enough, it's just got an old interface, but some of the Photoshop hotkeys work straight away (like Undo which is kind of a standard anyway).

What's your favorite program to print from? I am gonna try out SignCut too. SBE was fairly straightforward tho.

[ammo 6]

i use SB ,but its all i got also...lol 

[haumana 1,220]

printing?? Hahaha. I haven't needed to print via SBE yet. Kudos to those who have.

[NukleoN 34]

I am really impressed with Inkscape. Works flawlessly so far. Now to try SignCut. Oh yeah I mean't CUT from SBE not print.

[Guest oldthredz]

I always use SBE to vectorize i love it once you get the hang of it and master node edit its fantastic i even go with sbe before adobe illustrator just downloaded inkscape will see what happens next been useing Sbe For Over 2 years now

[ammo 6]

I always use SBE to vectorize i love it once you get the hang of it and master node edit its fantastic i even go with sbe before adobe illustrator just downloaded inkscape will see what happens next been useing Sbe For Over 2 years now

if you like to vector in sign blazer then you will love inkscape alot easier and less node editing when you do import it into signblazer

[NukleoN 34]

I thought it would be fun to post a few things I've learned since my first cut:

Inkscape rocks for vectorizing, and is very easy to use for editing too. Fewer nodes=less memory required, better for the LP24.

Illustrator is nice for those comfortable with Photoshop.

SignCut is now my preferred cutting software. The weeding tools are incredible, and easy to use. Good weed lines make all the difference with decals..especially text or complex graphics.

Currently: Beating my head on contour cutting. PM me if you know how to contour cut on an LP24 with SignCut! Thanks.

[CRD 9]

http://forum.uscutter.com/index.php/topic,25246.0.html