Hope I'm not "Cocutting" people to death....but I have a couple more questions before I go for it.
1.) Are you able to apply "round" corners to inside and outside pointed corners? Does it work reliably?
2.) Can you open up .cdl files from Signlab in Corel or Cocut? I have a lot of these type files. Or can I simply export them as .ai files, open them up into Corel or Illustrator and resave?
3.) Does Cocut work with XP?
4.) All in all, how do you like the program?
Thanks...and I'll try to stay off this topic from now on.
Oops...forgot to mention...the question on corners is important because I tried them on my demo and they stunk...wasn't sure if I just wasn't doing it right or what.
Corner rounding is the only good thing (imho) about Signlab. I hate the drawing and editing tools.
[ September 24, 2003, 05:19 PM: Message edited by: Todd Gill ]
Posted by Curtis hammond (Member # 2170) on :
i use cocut pro all the time
as far as corner rounding in cocut. It may do that on its own. I never used it or looked for it. So i don't know. However there are several corner rounder utilites for corel around. I have one but never use it. I have rounded corners on objects in corel using corel's tools ..
You can cut with cocut AI files thru Illustrator just fine. I do it all the time.
Not sure about importing CDL (signlab))? into corel and cutting. Cuz i do not use signlab. However, I do cut and paste objecs back and forth from a lot of other programs and cut them.
Anything that will open as vector in corel will likely cut. Im happy with it. I got my copy $150 bux used by posting around for it.
Posted by Roy Frisby (Member # 736) on :
Signlab reads cdl files, PERIOD. Files from signlab can be exported in several formats such as eps, ai, etc., but only signlab will read cdl files.
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
i cut straight from corel...i used to use a bridge program called PRO-CUT when i had corel 4. reason was corel 4 would only do up to 30" cuts. back the it was nessacery to make longer cuts. corel 7 and up will set a page size of 150' x 150'. so i use 7 now and have cut direct from corel to plotter up to 10-12 feet long!!!!!! also corel 4 wouldnt do a drop shadow like corel 7 does and thatr was another reason for the bridge program. from what i gather nowadays these used to was bridge programs have some design capabilities that corel dont, so having use of one may have some benifits.
Posted by Bill Diaz (Member # 2549) on :
Todd, I use Co-Cut Pro with Corel 9. Tech support is via e-mail and is good. Answers to your question= 1. Yes, I round corners on all vehicle work. 2. Don't know, 3. Yes, but I had to download a patch for XP--this has probably been fixed by now. 4. Yes, I like the software.
Posted by Todd Gill (Member # 2569) on :
Thanks for your comments folks.
Question for you Bill: You say you round corners all the time...but do you do it with CoCut's corner rounding feature? And if so...does it do a good job without screwing up adjoining lines to the rounded corners?
Thanks.
Posted by Jane Diaz (Member # 595) on :
No, we have never had is screw up rounding corners. When you ask it to round corners, you can set that for whatever radius you want for both an inside or outside radius. We leave it on .03 inch (outside radius) for most things. It rounds the corners without making it too noticable at that setting. It also asks you for narrow objects, if you a) want to use a smaller radius or b)do not want to round or c)adjust curve. You also have to use a serial port instead of a parallel port for a proper plot. Even though it takes a second to respond, that has never been a big problem with us. There are some features on there like putting outlines, registration marks, panelling etc. that we do not use because we do all that in Corel before we send it to CoCut.
Posted by Todd Gill (Member # 2569) on :
Thank you Jane....I think I will try and re-download the demo and work it some more.....I am very interested in a consistant corner rounding feature....I'll keep you posted.
Posted by Howard Keiper (Member # 1250) on :
This is not meant to be a wise-guy question, but just what does rounding corners do?
Also, what are (is?) smalts??
howard
Posted by Todd Gill (Member # 2569) on :
Hi Howard,
Signlab and other software programs have a "round corner" feature which allows you to specify exactly what radius all inside and/or outside corners you would like applied...and then does so.
Say you have a very sharp, pointy corners on the letter "T" and want to "round them" so they weed easier....you select the "T" and enter the inside/outside corner radius desired and bingo-bango...it does it without distorting the rest of the letter....just the corners are affected.
Also...it's good for changing the look of a font....say you spell "Howard" out in impact bold, then add a more extreme corner radius....you can end up with a cool, different look.
Signlab does this well...but other than that I hate the program. And the version I have doesn't work with XP as Cadlink tells me.
Posted by Todd Gill (Member # 2569) on :
Ok,,,,guess I'm stupid. I can't get CoCut Demo to cut to my SummaSign D750 Pro. I made sure I designated that plotter in the Cocut setup...and all the port settings jive....
Is it that the demo won't cut at all? I was under the impression it would cut, but with "X's" through the image.
Any help is appreciated.
Posted by Curtis hammond (Member # 2170) on :
it should cut fine, are u operating it from the corel program? Did u set up the correct serial port in the cut window? You must select the output device (cutter) from the list. Then set the serial port number .. also, there is a list of available drivers on the cocut site. You could try gettin a driver from there for your cutter.
Posted by Todd Gill (Member # 2569) on :
I'll give that a try Curtis...
Maybe I didn't get things set up right from the get go.
I downloaded the demo, then I installed CorelDraw on the computer.
Then I typed a test "word" in Corel, copied it and then opened up Cocut and pasted it in and tried to cut...but nothing happened.
I'll investigate some more.
I thought Cocut would somehow appear within Corel? Did I screw up?
Posted by Curtis hammond (Member # 2170) on :
good try, but that is not it.
u install cocut then go into corel and add it via Tools/ options/ customize / toolbars / application scripts.
Cocut is a script that runs thru corel. No need to cut and popaste of anythign like that. You will add a ican to your tool bar. You will click on this icon to activate the cut module.
their directions should give you detailed directions on how to install it into your ersion of corel. .
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