posted
Hi folks, I just printed a re-order of 2 decals & did some one-time adjustments of the quantity of each graphic & relative placement of both inside Omega.
I was then able to print this order of 80 pcs. of each in 2 runs of about 12 feet.
I seem to have failed to send the file to plot the second time, but only noticed this fact after closing the file in GSPplot & closing WITHOUT saving in Omega.
Now I have the second run ready to cut, & the cut data is not there. I don't think there is much chance of me re-building the file correctly, but even though it is not too expensive of a job to just reprint, if there is some salvage trick, I would like to learn it so I'll be that much more familiar if I ever need it on a more costly challenge.
I seem to remember something about a file created by the system (the .prm file maybe??) that will have the data I need if I access it NOW... before shutting down, or before re-sending another file of the same name (?)
I will leave everything on & untouched for awhile in hopes of a response.
I am unclear on the details. Did you forget to turn on the cut lines?? If so, If you homed it,you are golden. Even so, we have lined the bullseye up with the yolk on the edge, and still being dead on. Could you clarify?
""Good judgment comes from experience; and a lot of that comes from bad judgment" - Will Rogers Posts: 3485 | From: Beautiful Newaygo, Michigan | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
Doug I feel your pain! I will interested to see if anyone out there has a fix as this has happened to me more than once. I have run edge jobs and before I can send them to plot someone in the shop jumps on my computer and close the plot file. Good Bro!
posted
Heya Buddy, I know what your going through. I have been through some sticky situations with the Edge like this before. I see you posted this on another forum, hopefully Roger Hoeft from Hyatts will reply, if anyone know what to do, he will! If he doesn't reply soon enough, I would send him an e-mail. Roger is a GREAT guy, and is Always willing to help! I am not sure that Roger checks in daily with the web forum or not, I would just drop him an e-mail! Good Luck!
-------------------- Devin Fahie Sebago Signworks Rt. 302, Raymond, Maine 207-655-6622 devin@sebagosignworks.com Posts: 96 | From: Raymond, Maine | Registered: Jun 2003
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posted
thanks for the sympathy & optimism etc. I tried calling a few of the "gurus" I could find numbers for.
If the PRM file is the one I can make use of (once I know how) then the copying it elsewhere is a good idea... I will do that, thank you. I will also giove the file a new name if i decide to run it again, then since this guy reorders a lot, I may be able to use the first batch if I can get it cut later.
Rick & others... for clarification I have 2 decal designs that are always ordered in pairs. This time it was 80 pairs. One is larger then the other, so I did some repeats in Omega to create a file with 40 pairs of each to output as one job of about 12' in length. I output it with cutlines & sent the file to print & to cut.
After one set of 40 pair printed, I clicked the icons to send the file to cut & print again, then printed the second set.
Then I closed the plot file, went to Omega closed the Omega file (without saving the new 40 pair repeats layout) & output a different job & printed it.
At this point both my 40 pair prints are done along with my other print so I load the vinyl in the cutter & proceed to cut the first 40 pairs - no problem. When I zero'd in on the target & hit GO for the second 40 pair cut, my plotter was about to cut my 3rd job instead of my second I thought I sent the file to cut twice, but maybe I didn't. Problem is I can open the file again, but when I try to rebuild my layout, things will be off a little.
I'm pretty sure I heard a solution to this... but if it has something to do with the .prm file, I don't know how to use it. I tried to open it in GSPplot & in Omega & it is a bunch of ascci code text or some such nonsense.
posted
I just looked at the prm file. It is only 3 kb. I think it only saves repeats, or color correction & other parameters done in GSPplot, so I am going to just try my luck sending the cut from my attempt to rebuild the 40 repeats & see how many line up & how many need to be reprinted.
posted
Doug, You are probably shafted on this one. There are several issues of course. If you simply hit "repeats" in composer and it accepted your default amount, you might get away with it, but if you resized or moved any of the original shapes prior to repeating, I doubt you will be able to hit the cuts.
Additionally, you must send the files to the plot program in the same manner as before....Output Selected or Output All. And, when in Plot, you have to remember if you took off the weed border or used the conserve materials command (F4).
Just for reference, I seldom do repeats in composer unless I am trying to nest shapes to save space. That creates a much bigger file to store for the future. I would send the file to Plot, then use the repeat feature there instead. While it might be immediately apparent, that can also save your butt on a few occasions. For example, if you hit 25 repeats in Plot, it is still one shape repeated 25 times. Assuming you set up the print with the "Home" command, prior to printing, if you see you are running out of vinyl (or have an unfriendly splice), you can let it print the first 19 good prints, stop, reset, back up to home and then set the plot menu to 19 prints instead of 25 for the remaining colors.
ALSO, with the plot program, I never exit my plot/print job window for a file until I am completely through cutting a printed image. You can have several plot/print jobs open at the same time, so that shouldn't cause a problem.
I hope this helps some...but by now you have probably already fixed it or ruined it!
Mike Jackson
-------------------- Mike Jackson Golden Era Studios Jackson Hole, Wy www.goldenstudios.com/ Posts: 390 | From: PO Box 7850 | Registered: Nov 1998
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Doug, I think you are probably hosed. It's pretty stupid of me to say now, but, I found out with that twitchy program called Omega....I save after almost every move I make...
If I make variations I simply move them up and out of the way of the original, label what it is used for and save it with the original....ya never know when you might need that so-called "one time" image again.
Good luck to you...I hope there is a solution and if so, please share it with us. It would be very good to know as I've done the same thing before.
-------------------- Todd Gill Outside The Lines Potterville, MI Posts: 7792 | From: Potterville, MI | Registered: Dec 2001
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Hi Doug. Henceforth & hereafter, consider saving any file that you might get repeat orders on as a spool file. That way all of the print and cut information will be saved in one place, including the separation files. Then when this situation again rears it's ugly head, you can go to your backed-up spool file, to generate the proper cut info. Another advantage is not having to wait for separations to be rendered, when reprinting a repeat order. PS: Spool files are condensed greatly, so they also take up much less disc space.
From the quick plot program, just click on File...then scroll down to "Save to Spool File.
Hope this helps.
[ January 07, 2004, 12:29 AM: Message edited by: Ken Henry ]
-------------------- Ken Henry Henry & Henry Signs London, Ontario Canada (519) 439-1881 e-mail: kjmlhenry@rogers.com
Why do I get all those on-line offers to sell me Viagara, when the only thing hardening is my arteries ? Posts: 2684 | From: London,Ontario, Canada | Registered: Feb 1999
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posted
well, here is what I had done in composer...
The file had 2 designs & the larger one was set up 3 high to fit the 11.8" limitation. The smaller one was set at 5 high. It is a simple vector file so I had previously set it up for printing 9 rows of 3 of the bigger design, & 5 rows of 5 for the smaller ones. This had been done as a way to output at least 25 of each in one step since the file size was not an issue & doing repeats in GSPplot would have required each design to be output seperately (extra step)
Looking back, for this order of 75 of each (not 80)I should have left the file alone, & done 3 repeats of the file in GSPplot.
instead what I did was:
move the 9 rows of 3 up above the small design
uncombine the cuts, so I could select the last set of 3 & do 1 repeat (my preference is set to do one repeat horizontally with offset of .1"
after seeing what offset of .1" looked like, I nudged it 4 clicks to the right... then back 1 click to the left (I think)
then I selected the last 5 groups of 3 & specified a repeat of 4 with an offset of .25" (I think )
this gave me 75... but was too long for one run, so I selected the last 12 sets of 3 & deleted them
then I went down to the small decals, selected the 5 sets of 5, specified 3 repeats at offset of .3"... you guessed it... "I Think"
then I remembered I was running the job in 2 halves, so I deleted the last 7 sets of 3 & grouped the remaining 8 sets
lastly, I moved the group of 40 small decals up to & in line with the 13 rows of large decals & eyeballed a good spacing
I remember doing a select all to be sure I was inside my 11.8" I recall it was 11.737"
...so you can see my hesitation to attempt to recreate this exact layout. (Mike, I agree with your wise words... I should never close the file in the plot screen before the job is done... & Todd, I usually save every change I make, but today wasn't usual I guess!
anyway, I went back, followed the steps to the best of my recollection, & most of the way I guessed right. Only that last offset of .3" should have been .25", but the bigger decals made up 90% of the material I stood to lose, & it has all been saved. I only lost 1 foot out of 12'
There were some much bigger troubles today that are still not resolved, but it is nice to end my 12 hour day on an up note at 8 pm. good evening to you all!
[ January 07, 2004, 01:06 AM: Message edited by: Doug Allan ]
""Good judgment comes from experience; and a lot of that comes from bad judgment" - Will Rogers Posts: 3485 | From: Beautiful Newaygo, Michigan | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
There is a Backup folder in the Jobs folder that is saved automatically while you work. You may find it there.
Also, I do remember that this happened to me a year or so ago and Tony Teveris told me where to find the temporary file and rename it so I could use it again. It took me awhile to find it, but I did and it worked. If I can find that information, I'll repost for future reference.
***EDIT*** Okay, I found it. Here's an excerpt of the post where I put out an SOS and Tony responded:
TONY: "If there the will, then there is a way. If you schedule Plot from Composer either plotting selected or everything Composer creates a "temp" plot file in the system's (user's) "temp" folder with an "tmp" extension. The key is to find where "your" system "tmp" folder is. If you find the folder and the file you could rename it to a PLT file.
If you close the "quick plot" file in Plot or exit Plot it will delete the "tmp" file."
ME: "I FOUND IT! ... By the way, it was pretty obscure - the temp file was named ~tmpF203.tmp so it was a bit of a challenge to find it, but it's good to know that you can when you REEEEALLY want to."
posted
Thank you Diane. That is the exact post that I remembered seeing that had given me hope. As you probably read I have already solved my immediate crisis (incl. small donation to the thermal gods ) but for future reference I would like to clarify what you were able to do...
If you can't close the plot file w/o losing the temp file, it sounds like this is a way of salvaging an un-saved Omega file right? In this scenario, with the plot file still open, you could still print or cut it... but the temp file would be if you needed to reclaim the .plt file?
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