Making Designs ready to cut

[sewon 0]

I am just full of questions, this is my third post this morning. I am brand new to vinyl cutting and have a lot to learn about graphics.  How do I know for sure a design is "cut-ready".  If I load a regular JPEG or whatever into SignBLazer elements, then what?  I noticed there is a Vecorize option, but when I tried it, it said it wasn't the right type of file.  Any tips you can offer to get me on the right track, will be greatly apprecited. 

[JoeCamaro 11]

A jpeg is not cut ready, you need to vectorize it. You will know it is good to cut when no lines overlap. I dont use SBE so I cant be of much help.

Joe

[nonabelle 5]

I am just full of questions, this is my third post this morning. I am brand new to vinyl cutting and have a lot to learn about graphics.  How do I know for sure a design is "cut-ready".  If I load a regular JPEG or whatever into SignBLazer elements, then what?  I noticed there is a Vecorize option, but when I tried it, it said it wasn't the right type of file.  Any tips you can offer to get me on the right track, will be greatly apprecited. 

hi sewon, i see ur on the ball, but ur in the right place. when u import ur design in sb as a jpeg, u then change the mode to monochrome, then u vectorise. monochrome and vectorise r under the same tab. ur get it so easy.

[sewon 0]

I see the Vectorise tab, but I do not see where it says you can change it to Monochrome.  I am working in Sign BLazer Elements, does that possibly not have it?

Thanks.

[nonabelle 5]

yes it has it. that's what i use, so first import image, click on it then go to top where u will find image tab, then with image selected(a box will be around image) go to monochrome(should be before vectorise) change the mode to mono, then go back to image and select vectorise. once u vector it. u will have two image colors one blue and one black delete the black one. the blue is ur vector. hope this helps.

sheila

[firemalt 10]

Just typed this up in another thread for basically the same question...

Before you can cut an image' date=' it must be converted to an .eps format (from a .jpg, .gif, .bmp, etc.) I would recommend downloading a free program call Inkscape, which you can find at www.inkscape.org

Once the image is converted over to the proper format(.eps), you can open Sign Blazer (or whatever cutting software you may have). I have Sign Blazer, so that's the software I'll explain how to do this in. Once SBE(Sign Blazer) is opened, you will need to import the image. You can do this by going to the menu at the top of the screen, and click on "File"... scroll down to "import" and click once.

A new window should open. From here, you'll need to find wherever you have saved you .eps file(s). Once you have found them using the folders to the right of the new window, double click on the image/image name. A small window will open titled as "import mode", just click on "use full postscript interpreter" once, and you should have an image appear within the SB work space(the pink-ish box).

If you need to adjust the size or edit the image, this would be the time to do it.

At this point you would want to turn on the cutter, connect it to your computer, and feed some vinyl into the machine not you haven't already. When you're ready to actually start cutting the image, go to the top menu and click once on "cutter", and a new window will open. In this window you can see the direction the image by the cutter, which can be changed. From here you can also change the quanity, and the "easy weed" options(cuts a box around the image).

Click on the "cut!" button, and another small window will open, showing you the total size of the cut that's about to take place... one more click(can't remember what the button actually says cause I'm not on a comptuer with SBE, but you'll know which one to click). After you click it... the cutter should come to life.

Good luck!!![/quote']

[phrog 0]

In SignBlazer a picture file HAS to be IMPORTED.

The only files Signblazer opens are its .SBD files

I have found that upping the resolution of the picture before importing to like 600 dpi in photoshop and slightly bluring it helps alot on getting a cleaner vector.

After importing the picture, Click IMAGE and Click MONOCHROME (If it won't let you click monochrome make sure you have selected the picture [black handle lines are running across it])

The Monochrome adjustment box comes up defaulting to 50 (This is how you set how much of your picture is black and how much is white) ( SBE doesn't always use black, sometimes it may be yellow, or blue or another color) set the level higher for darker and click ok. You can change the color of the picture by clicking on the color bar at the bottom of the screen. I generally use black.

With the monochrome picture selected (black handle lines across picture) Click the IMAGE button up top the on drop down click VECTORIZE and the vectorize box will appear. Click ok

the picture will turn blue.

Click on picture and drag sideways a black image will follow your mouse.

This black image is the orginal picture which you can now delete.

Click on the blue image and click the NODE EDIT button to clean up your vector image.

And remember to save it as a SBD file