I haven't posted here much since joining up a while ago.. It's been way crazy in my other job as an escort...( NO,NOT THAT KIND!!)
I'm a guy who has tried to make his own signs for years, who works in the transportation industry at present escorting heavy and oversize loads. I occasionally sell a set of door signs to a fellow escort, and I make all my own signs for my own trucks. Someday it would be nice to stay at home and have an income from signmaking, but right now it isn't happenning, mainly due to me being way at the bottom of the learning curve.
Anyhow we just got finished with a large prison cell moving job, and now it's time to think about spending some of that money I made driving the same 323 miles each day. ( By the way, whomever is responsible for Fine Lines Autobody's sign in NH three cheers! Even the other escorts who are a normally jaded bunch, were commenting on the Porsche thru a wall x 2!)
I bought a Roland Stika ( I know, I know!)which comes with the DR Stika software a while back, but it really isn't too good at anything except straightforward lettering.I did purchase an old copy of Flexi with a dongle from a guy, but I have yet to make it work with a WIn 98 system I have.
I was thinking of going out and buying Vinyl Master Pro for the $499. it seems to be going for, but before I spend what normally is a weeks wages in the oversize escort biz, I would like some input from the pros.
I would like the ability to vectorize from digital photos, for reproducing old time signs to hang around my place, and also the ability to design a complete sign start to finish in several colors, strip apart the colors and cut each, and use clipart and text from many sources. It would be nice if I could create my own fonts but that isn't a must have yet. Printing out a proposed sign on paper with my inkjet printer would bea nice thing to have also. I do plan on upgrading to a Summa or other quality cutter in 30 inch or so,and will be looking to cut sandblast resist with whatever new machine I eventually purchase. ( Along with all the normal vinyl cutting I already do with the Stika )
I did get the VMP demo disc a while back, and it seems like it has most of my desires covered. Customer service scares me, as I did ask them a few questions in an E mail and nothing was replied.
Any thoughts?
Posted by Tim (Member # 1699) on :
I guess Joe must be sleeping!
Sounds like a job for corel. Should work with a roland no problem, and give you all of the above wants and needs you requested.
Mr Grundy or Old paint, know most of the ins and outs of setting up to cut from coreldraw to a roland plotter, and maybe they'll see this and offer some assistance.
Posted by Dave Grundy (Member # 103) on :
Bill....YEP CorelDraw is all you need to cut to a Roland Stika. That and the free Roland Windows driver that you can download from their website, or you might even have it on a CD that came with the cutter.
If you have Corel already you are all set, if not pick up a copy of an older version Like maybe ver 8 or 10 or whatever. They should be available for under $100. Once you have those things, you can start cutting.
I have never used a Stika, but there are drivers for them listed at the Roland website, so I know that you can cut to it from Corel directly.
PS...having Corel will allow you to do all the things you mentioned and tons more.
Posted by Mike Pipes (Member # 1573) on :
Hey Bill, having started off with a Stika myself I can confirm you can use CorelDRAW and print directly to the Stika. It's been a while since I've done it but I believe you just set the pen width for your paths to .001" or .003" and you're good to go.
When using CorelDRAW, you can put each color in the design on its own layer, then you have the option of selecting which layers you want to print.
Posted by Bill Foshay (Member # 4526) on :
Thanks for all the replies so far.. Interesting that nobody has suggested VMP..
Just to clarify, I have three computers.. My internet machine runs WIN ME, the Laptop and the sign machines both have Win 98. I didn't see any hot need to have the latest software, so I chose to stick with tried and true.. Besides th eversion of Flexi I have says it will run on Win 98, and it is old enough to predate newer versiions so I doubt it would work on a newer machine.
Where should I look for Corel Draw? Ebay? or is there some other place I could just call and order a copy?
Thanks again!
Bill
Posted by Dave Grundy (Member # 103) on :
Bill..If you use E-Bay for stuff, then by all means search for a copy on E-Bay. My recommendation would be either ver 8 or 10 or 11. Ver 9 had a problem with it's contour that I found annoying Ver 8 will work with Win 98. Both 10 and 11 will work with Win 98 and ME.
Posted by Curtis hammond (Member # 2170) on :
has corel 9 for about 30 bux,, corel 7 is there for about 5 bux
And when you get a few extra bux you can get cocut. its a plugin program that will allow you to use autocad, corel, freehand, and illustrator as cutting solutions too.
With cocut as a bridge you will have 4 seperate cutting programs. If the need ever arrises.
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
with a roland you can cut from any of those programs without a bridge program. ive done those and other programs like ARTS & LETTERS EXPRESS 6.0 and ive also cut from corel print house...as long as the program you are using communicates to the plotter thru a printer port and does it with HPGL....you need nothing else....ive also drawn building plans from AUTOCAD straight to my roland.
[ May 25, 2004, 06:05 PM: Message edited by: old paint ]
Posted by Mike Pipes (Member # 1573) on :
Yep, what OP said. I've used AutoCAD to cut vinyl before and while it's not the most intuitive program for art design, it will work without a bridge program.
CoCut gives you some more sign-related commands that streamline the workflow a little more.
Posted by Dave Grundy (Member # 103) on :
Bill...I never mentioned VMP because it is geared to designing and cutting vinyl. Corel gives you all of that PLUS PhotoPaint for bitmap editing, Capture for capturing screen shots and Trace for tracing. PLUS it has a great selection of import/export filters. I am sure that VMP also includes a trace program but probably not a bitmap editing program.
Corel is definitely the best bang for yer buck.
Posted by Kissymatina (Member # 2028) on :
I had CorelDraw 8, which didn't work too well with Windows XP, so I upgraded to 11. I sold 8 to another 'head in chat one night so I can't help ya there. Check ebay and maybe spend a few minutes on Corel's site to see which versions work with which O/S. Yes, 8 woulda worked with XP if I didn't need to see the wording on the toolbar/dockers.
Some here say to use a sign program for signs. Well, I do more than signs, I don't want to have to do the same file in several programs. Draw may not be perfect for signs, but the little bit it may lack I can handle on my own. It's flexibility is worth more to me.
Posted by Bill Biggs (Member # 18) on :
don't bother with vmp they don't service their product. Bill Corel is the ticket
Posted by Curtis hammond (Member # 2170) on :
Just FYI Corel 6 came with a broshure that offered a module to drive cutters. I personally called Corel to inquire about this module when it was first offered. Corel is not just for desktop publishing. There are RIP programs that will take Corel files and RIP them to printing services too. So who ever thinks that Corel is just for desktops and not a complete graphics solution may be selling themselves short.
I have a good friend that uses a dedicate sign program and there is nothing he can do that I cannot do using corel.
Best of all. you get a real person to help you if u ever have a challang using Corel. Plus there are hundreds of sites that offer tips and tricks. Can't lose..
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
ok now i will say this: sign programs make doing some things a lot easier then if you do them in corel. sign programs are great if you want to cut by color. in corel you have to seperate each one and cut it individually. distortions are handled a lot better in some sign programs....SIGN WIZARD, VMPRO, FLEXI, CASMATE & INSPIRE are the best. SIGNLAB is the worst. to do a perspective shadow in corel is a pain....sign programs handle this task like nothing. SIGNLAB is a great program...for node editing, better then corel. same for flexi. SIGN WIZARD is one of the best for setting text on an arc....corel does this good also, but in SIGN WIZARD you do it right on the desktop without opening any other window. the worst sign programs are LETTER ART, AND GERBER GA 6.0, these got left somewhere in the 80's type programing. and the whole secret is "work with what you are the most comfortable with" and for me its corel!!!!!! i have corel 10 running just fine on XP, so i know you can use 10, 11 or 12 on XP.
