Letter Sizing and Banners

[lonestarcountrymusic 3]

I'm a little confused on how to understand the sizing of the font size, and along with that im just curious on if there is a way to get a scale lay out of the banner i want to make.  Now i do understand that my banner is 48" high and my cutter is only 24" so i have to do it in 2 cuts, but how do i go about getting that setup.  Then how do i figure out what size my font really is going to be cutting at?

[Buggie Pilot 4]

Go to File/Workspace Setup Size Set your workspace up to the size banner or sign you are doing. When you design your sign you can select your object (text or design) and it will tell near the bottom of your screen (object selected size). Then when you cut it your software will automatically tile it if it needs to

[lonestarcountrymusic 3]

well the problem is, i may not be looking at everything right, is when you pick your font and have to do the sizing then, it wants i guess a decimal  and even .4 seems bigger than what i think it should be.  Or maybe im adjusting the wrong thing.  i wish i could just pick letter size right then and there when i pick font, and pick it in inches.

[Buggie Pilot 4]

You can set it 3 ways

1) In the Text Dialogue box (as you have been doing)

2) On your screen Select it and Drag it by its corner and side handles

3) On your screen Select it and set its size at the bottom toolbar  where it says Object Size

    (pay attention to the keep porportional ckeckbox when doing it this way)

I usually type my text as seperate words this gives you more flexability when moving things around ( I also make them different colors, gives you more flexability when you go to your cutting screen

[Jay2703 704]

I think the issue you are having is with the fonts. Some letters extend above or below the text line. That adds to the size of the font even though it is still 2" font.

http://screencast.com/t/hYJxuxPC

Jay

[lonestarcountrymusic 3]

I guess my next question is  if i put it at 1.0  does that make it 1ft?

[Jay2703 704]

1.0 is 1 inch or 1 millimeter depending on how you have your units set.

You need to setup your workspace to be the size of the banner you are making. That will give you a better idea what your finished banner will look like.

Jay

[lonestarcountrymusic 3]

yeah i have it set at  48in X 72in   

[lonestarcountrymusic 3]

ok  that does not work.  I have the sign in as 48in X 72in, and i but in 12 for the height for the text and it is WAY bigger than the scale of the sign.

[lonestarcountrymusic 3]

and another problem im coming across is it wont let me drag my text into the banner.

[lonestarcountrymusic 3]

ok  i have that fixed.  now how do i know that when it cuts that it is actually going to the size of the limits i put forth for it?  and will it tile the second 2ft (bottom half?)

[Jay2703 704]

Instead of trying to tile the banner, why don't you just cut lines of text individually? It is a lot easier to install as seperate lines than it is as one big peice. If you are using different colors of vinyl, it will save vinyl too.

Jay

[lonestarcountrymusic 3]

well its all going to be one color text.  and i was hoping to get 2 lines in 24inches of vinyl.    when i apply it i will do 1 line at a time.

[lonestarcountrymusic 3]

Im curious if it will cut everything correctly.  When i click the cutter button it takes me to a view of the cutter and how it will look.  well the bottom half it shows on the vinyl for the cutter  the other half is not on it.  how do i know if it will actually cut it all.

[sarconastic 29]

a suggestion for you that alleviated some of my woes concerning this. Re-size your finished banner temporarily to say 12" x 18" this is 1/4 the size of your banner. when you go to the cutter screen rotate it across the vinyl, and then cut it. This way it will only use a couple feet of vinyl if it messes up and you can see exactly how the settings you have in there are working.

Also a note. the way Jay stated of doing individual lines of text is much easier when doing long banners. You really don't save a ton of time trying to cut it all at once and you then also deal with getting the edges to line up correctly. Both app tape and vinyl have a stretch percentage that you have to take into account when doing this kind of sign. For example R-tape 4076 has a 4% stretch ratio. So if your getting aggressive squeegeeing down the vinyl you could gain over an inch of stretch in the app tape. the vinyl won't stretch this much, but you get the idea.if you have a gap in tegh design where there is nothing but app tape that area can stretch and make alignment tough.

Good Luck

Kevin