I got some stuff figured out and made a few stickers

[jeff g 0]

First off, I have the artistic ability of roadkill...I can't draw a straight line without a ruler and I've been asked to stop singing at a church service.  :notsure:

Anyway, I came up with a sticker design and a license plate design for a couple of the motorcycle groups I belong to and they both beat me up trying to get them to work.  :lol:    I downloaded a couple of logos from brandsoftheworld.com and tried to scale them up to cut.  Didn't work for me.  Maybe I just don't have the right software, but I tried with Adobe Photoshop 7.  They scaled OK, but wouldn't vectorize worth a damn.  They would look good on the screen until I blew them up to full scale and then I could see all sorts of rough edges or totally distorted lines.  The Pcut did it's job beautifully, though...it cut the full size logos EXACTLY like they were shown in full size.  Totally useless stuff and I wasted a LOT of vinyl trying to get some nice graphics.  I've been playing with these on and off for a couple of months.  Text and hand created stuff cut fine, but these graphics have been beating me up.  Today I had a few hours to play with, so I blew the logos up and then with MS Paint and pixel by pixel, I fixed the edges and then saved them as monochrome .bmp files.  They vectorized just fine and I got my designs to cut AND look good in the process...something that has been eluding me for a while.

I think, with my limited graphic abilities, I think I'm going to stick with straight text stickers, graphics that I create myself, and my pipe patterns.

This is a helmet/bike sticker I created for one of the groups I belong to ... Suzuki Two-stroke Owners Group International.  It's red, even though it shows up as orange in the picture.  I made one in black also and it looks great against a chrome fender.

http://www.3cyl.com/jeff/plate1.jpg[/img]

Here is a license plate that I made.  The "K" logo gave me a LOT of trouble getting it to cut correctly.  The logo I downloaded wouldn't scale smoothly.  Took an hour with MS Paint to get it to almost work to my satisfaction.  It's still a little rough...I'll be working on that.  I will be peeling off the blue "K" and replacing it with a green "K" as soon as my green vinyl shows up and I get it perfect.  I'm going to make up a couple each of these plates with the Kawasaki logo (green), the Suzuki logo(red), and the Yamaha logo (black) to use as give aways at the 2 stroke meet held annually at Deals Gap in May.

I really admire you folks who can just come up with a design and implement it.  I couldn't draw my way out of a wet paper bag.  :-[

[tservice 3]

Looks very good. If you are having problems with anything go ahead and ask we all try to help.

[dgreenh 9]

Looks good but it sounds like you worked too hard on it.  That pixel by pixel editing gets old on about the 3rd pixel.  Post your images in the vectorizing section and someone here can turn it into a vector file that you can resize without getting the jaggies.

I attached the K for you in an eps format.  Should import into whatever you are cutting with.

If you open an eps file in Photoshop it turns it back into a raster image.  Maybe you need to play with Inkscape or SignBlazer, they are vector programs  .

kawasaki K.eps

kawasaki K.eps

[jeff g 0]

Thanks, That may have been waht was screwing me up all along.  I'll try it in Signblazer and see what happens.  I know that we all have our strong points and I've been reading all the posts and trying to do the best I can.  Graphics just isn't one of my abilities.  I can build a high performance 2 stroke motor that will hold together forever, I can fix MS Windows from command line, and I think that if I really tried, I could network AT&T's computer system to a Buick, but graphics and graphic software just beat the crap out of me.

[tservice 3]

Don't let the graphics beat you, heck I am like you if, someone wants a straight line I need a straight edge. We are here to help, if you post something to vectorize and someone does it for you just ask how they did it. Don't forget to thank them, alot of people take time any from the work and family to help others here.

[dgreenh 9]

alot of people take time any from the work and family to help others here.

You make that sound like a BAD thing. 

[jeff g 0]

Looks good but it sounds like you worked too hard on it.  That pixel by pixel editing gets old on about the 3rd pixel.  Post your images in the vectorizing section and someone here can turn it into a vector file that you can resize without getting the jaggies.

I attached the K for you in an eps format.  Should import into whatever you are cutting with.

If you open an eps file in Photoshop it turns it back into a raster image.  Maybe you need to play with Inkscape or SignBlazer, they are vector programs  .

That worked like a champ :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:  I took your .eps and put it straight into Signblazer and cut it several times.  Stretched, scaled, and original.  Looks GREAT with NO distortion.  Thank you !!!!!  When my green vinyl shows up, I'll scrap my "K" and use yours if you don't mind.  What software do I need to get to be able to convert to a vector file so that I don't have to bug everyone with requests?

[tservice 3]

Not a bad thing at all. My point is that if someone is going to take time out of their day to help someone then a simple thank you will go a long way. Takes all

[firemalt 10]

Looks good but it sounds like you worked too hard on it.  That pixel by pixel editing gets old on about the 3rd pixel.  Post your images in the vectorizing section and someone here can turn it into a vector file that you can resize without getting the jaggies.

I attached the K for you in an eps format.  Should import into whatever you are cutting with.

If you open an eps file in Photoshop it turns it back into a raster image.  Maybe you need to play with Inkscape or SignBlazer, they are vector programs  .

That worked like a champ :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:  I took your .eps and put it straight into Signblazer and cut it several times.  Stretched, scaled, and original.  Looks GREAT with NO distortion.  Thank you !!!!!  When my green vinyl shows up, I'll scrap my "K" and use yours if you don't mind.  What software do I need to get to be able to convert to a vector file so that I don't have to bug everyone with requests?

You shouldn't need any other software than signblazer(if that's what came with your cutter). Go to brandsoftheworld, find the image you want, make sure you download a .eps file, open signblazer, click on import, click on the downloaded image, add text, and cut!

That other "Stogi" design could easily been completely designed in signblazer within 2 or 3 minutes. You just have to practice and play with all the features... don't get me wrong, I'm new around here as well, and a complete n00b compared to alot of people on this site, and I think I'm learning by trial / error.

[dgreenh 9]

Believe me, trial and error is how we all learned.  The tools are much better now than when I was suffering through the learning process.  If you have SignBlazer, you just about have everything you need.  I played with the trial version and was wishing that my refine had come with it.  Inkscape (Free download) does a good job vectorizing most of the time. 

The K came from Brands of the world.  I just deleted the awasaki off the end of it, so knock yourself out using it..

Thanks are always welcome, I like to see the final product if they use a file I vectorized too.  It does take time and desire to help people out but I enjoy doing what I can to help.

[jeff g 0]

OK...where is the smiley for banging your head on the keyboard?!?!? 

In the last hour, I've found that Signblazer actually IS a graphics program, vectormagic can be my friend, and I've been beating my head against a wall thinking that I had to phart around with Photoshop to create my graphics...I hate that program.

Thank you all for the help and the insights.  I'm going to bed now...have to be at work in 8 hours.

Thanks again,

Jeff

[Cutrix 0]

I'm getting dizzy looking at that

[jeff g 0]

Me too. 

[Jerry Bonham 1]

Thanks guys for the good words about SignBlazer Elements.

When you have learned SBE then look at upgrading to SignBlazer Pro.

This will blow you away with all the vector special tools.

Next year (early) i will be posting lots of info about what is in it and what it can do.

hey, the guys the SignBlazer team here really appreciate the praise.

We are not buried in a dungeon as most think.

While i am writing this Melbourne first cyclone is on its way.

Unreal to watch it.  it will hit in about 20 minutes so we will most likely lose power.

Better go, all the best for the season and the new year

Jerry from SignBlazer