posted
i know this should be easy to do... but i'm not finding it in the manual. I'm using Illustrator and Vinyl Express Expert on a Mac system, but the answer should be true for most software (Including FlexiSign).
my client gave me an Illustrator file where she coverted the type to outlines. after she made the outlines she changed the stroke from 0 to 3pt (to heavy up the type).
when i go to cut on the plotter, the plotter either cuts the original letter and ignores the stroke, or i have the option to "convert strokes to outlines" and it cuts the INSIDE and the outside of the stroke.
I tried "expand" in Illustrator, but the inside lines still show up. I tried "merge" in Vinyl Express.
-------------------- :: Scooter Marriner :: :: Coyote Signs :: :: Oakland, CA :: :: still a beginner :: ::
Posts: 1356 | From: Oakland (and San Francisco) | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
Scooter. I'm limited on the technical side but my understanding is that the "Stroke" function does not create a new path, it's merely a "shadow" so to speak, perhaps even "bitmap"
If you want to thicken the letter you may need to use a bolder font. If you have Flexi, you can just outline it and leave out the original path, but in illustrator I am not so sure.
RobC
[ January 11, 2002: Message edited by: Rob Clark ]
-------------------- Rob Clark Rob Clark Design 11 Lassig st Moore Park Queensland Australia 0741598092 Posts: 421 | From: Australia | Registered: May 1999
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posted
Scooter, try Object/Path/Offset Path. Three-point stroke is .042". Enter that value and you'll get a new set of lines which should be in the right position. Unfortunately, you'll have to manually delete the original lines from what I can tell. We use Freehand which allows you to keep the original lines or not, whichever you prefer. However, I couldn't find anywhere in Illustrator that gave you a choice. Hopefully there isn't too much text and it won't be too hard to do.
posted
whew - turned out to be tougher than i thought! i tried outlining in the sign software and it seems to work, but i haven't tested it on the cutter yet. (both the letter and the outline show as paths, so i'm not sure if the machine will cut boths paths or not.
Diane, i liked your idea. deleting the inside lines is one of the reasons i hate Illustrator (lack of a decent measuring tool is my real frustration with that program). i tried your technique and you got it right... almost. (i made the same error three times until i figured out the problem).
the offset or the outlines needs to be 1/2 the stroke thickness! (because the stroke fattens from the middle outward).
-------------------- :: Scooter Marriner :: :: Coyote Signs :: :: Oakland, CA :: :: still a beginner :: ::
Posts: 1356 | From: Oakland (and San Francisco) | Registered: Mar 2001
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I'm with you on Illustrator missing some basic functions that CorelDraw comes standard with....the measuring and scaling functions are a biggie left out by Illustrator.
http://hotdoor.com/ has a program called CadTools. This is a "plug-in" for Adobe Illustrator and works great for setting new scales and measuring and the like....the version I have has one major bug....won't properly scale up or down "image" files....but works great with anything vector.
Hope this helps.
-------------------- Todd Gill Outside The Lines Potterville, MI
Posts: 7792 | From: Potterville, MI | Registered: Dec 2001
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About the strokes...I don't know if this is the same thing or not....but I have Signlab, and when I import shapes, text or whatever from Illustrator, I SOMETIMES get a warning before I cut out of Signlab that "Shapes have thick line attributes, weld now or cut as is?" and if I just cut the thing...it seems to cut fine, or if I go back to the shapes on the "artboard" in SignLab (out of the cut menu that is) and select the shapes and apply a "weld" to each individual shape....then the warning goes away and it too will cut fine.
Don't know if this is remotely similar to what you're describing...but you might want to take an offending shape and apply a "weld" to it as a test...maybe it will weld the shape, outlines, etc into one cutabel shape.
-------------------- Todd Gill Outside The Lines Potterville, MI
Posts: 7792 | From: Potterville, MI | Registered: Dec 2001
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posted
Alright... Here's how you do this in Illustrator.
Once you have the text with the stroked path, use the "Object > Path > Outline Path" from the menu to make the stroke into a filled path.
There's a couple things to keep in mind here.
1. If you want to keep the original path, give it a fill color BEFORE you convert the stroke to an object. This keeps the original and then makes the stroke into a filled path on top of it as a seperate object.
2.) If you dont want to keep the original path, remove the fill color before you make the stroke into an object.
3.) If you dont want to keep the original path but you dont want just the stroke either (ie: yer just fattening up text or an object), follow method #1. Then while the text and outline is still selected, look for the Illustrator palette on the screen that has the "Pathfinder" tab in it. Click on the pathfinder tab then click on the "Unite" button (Directly under where it says "Combine") and the outlined path and original text/path will be welded together.
-------------------- "If I share all my wisdom I won't have any left for myself."
Mike Pipes stickerpimp.com Lake Havasu, AZ mike@stickerpimp.com
Posts: 8746 | From: Lake Havasu, AZ USA | Registered: Jun 2000
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posted
thanks Mike, and others, for the help. i heard back from the Vinyl Express tech support person, and he sort of had an answer too. i'm surprised that what seems like a simple thing to do turned out to be (relatively) complex. (at least i don't feel so dumb for asking the question now!)
here are the various methods i found. maybe this will help somebody else in the future!
within the cutting software:
i can delete the stroke from the Illustrator file (set it to 0.000), make a new OUTLINE - of the same color - in the cutting software, and then "weld" the new outline to the source path (the converted letter).
OR, i can set the stroke to 0, make a new outline and delete the source image (letter) -- as long as i choose the outline "WITH BACKING" option (which wasn't obvious until he pointed it out).
the kicker is that random letters (a capital "P" in one case) don't want to be outlined. must be a bad path, open path, path with too many points, or some other mysterious case. all the other letters in the line worked fine and other cap Ps worked fine. just that one. that one was the one i'd been doing my tests on...
we learn from our mistakes, and i made a lot of learns yesterday.
-------------------- :: Scooter Marriner :: :: Coyote Signs :: :: Oakland, CA :: :: still a beginner :: ::
Posts: 1356 | From: Oakland (and San Francisco) | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
Your sample is the prove that a plug-in like NCS MagiSign added to Adobe Illustrator avoid the nightmare related of this kind export/import process !
Using my solution, this process could be resumed to the following steps :
• Object->Path-Outline Stroke
• In option, following the design, Pathfinder->Trim
• Select the paths you want to cut using the "Group selection tool" (white plus arrow) and click on the plot button in the NCS MagiSign palette.
Stroke is a PostScript way to enlarge a path width from its center. Meaning the value must be divided by 2 to correspond to obtain a right offset. Meaning the outline you would apply in your software would be the half of the stroke value.
So whenever you create your own artwork, avoid to use any stroke value and prefer the Effect -Path-Offset path (AI 9 & AI10) which is really an outline and works "live", meaning if you change your design or text, it is modified on the fly.
-------------------- Philippe JACQUES info@magisign.com
Take a look at our NCS MagiSign plug-in for Adobe Illustrator :
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