cjj98xj 0 Posted December 7, 2007 :help: Just bought a 12" cutter (MH365) and am slightly beyond confused. I've never used a graphic program like this, ever. So you can possibly understand my dilemma. I've downloaded the Signblazer PDF guide and have been reading it, but I think I'm only confusing myself even more. I guess I'm a slow learner, but I need help to get some stuff cut quickly. I have all the software installed, and it appears to be working properly. I have the cutter hooked up and it appears to also be functioning correctly as well, as far as I know. I have a high-res .jpg file that I need to get cut in short order. If I can, it will get me some good business. What are the quickest easiest steps to import a .jpg file and get it cut? It can't be all that complicated, can it? I sure would appreciate any help you could offer to a newbie like myself. :thanks: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gg 1 Posted December 7, 2007 1st thing, you can't cut a jpg. it must be a vector file, I don't have SB but If I understand from other post you can trace the jpg in SB and then cut, Ihave inksacpe I trace in, and export or save as eps to cut.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dgreenh 9 Posted December 7, 2007 Not to get you even more frustrated, but YES it can be extremely complicated. The artwork is the most crucial element in cuttng vinyl. Garbage in = Garbage out = wasted vinyl. Cutting, weeding and applying is usually the easiest part part of the whole process. No, you can't cut a jpg, it has to be vectorized. I don't know how good a job SignBlazer does tracing jpg files, it really depends on the image you have and the detail involved. It takes some skill to trace and clean up a raster image like a jpg. It can be learned but not overnight. You might want to post your image in the Vectorizing forum here and see if one of us can make you something that is cuttable out of it. There are several helpful people that do really high quality work. You can try to vectorize it yourself at vectormagic.com, or download Inkscape and try that as well. Go to the vectorizing forum, there is a lot of information in there. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cjj98xj 0 Posted December 7, 2007 1st thing, you can't cut a jpg. it must be a vector file, I don't have SB but If I understand from other post you can trace the jpg in SB and then cut, Ihave inksacpe I trace in, and export or save as eps to cut.. I may be able to get an .eps file of the image already made. If I can do that, can I just import and cut? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dgreenh 9 Posted December 7, 2007 Probably but sometimes even if it is a vector file it will need some clean up, welding and trimming to get rid of the crossing lines and overlaps. It really depends on how it was drawn. I used to only design for print, display and screen printed t-shirts. Now I am having to go back and convert these designs to something that will cut. I didn't realize how sloppy I was in my designs until I got my cutter. :- I will add that some files that are saved as eps are not vectors either. You can save a jpg in an eps file but that doesn't make it a vector image. We have run into that a few times on this forum as well. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kenimes 42 Posted December 7, 2007 Post a cpoy of the file in the vectorizing category and someone will give it a go at making it cuttable for you. Then you would just need to import the vector .eps and cut away. If you can get the file in .eps format like you mentioned.....make sure it is vectorized well, and that should work too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
