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I've been trying to find something better than using CorelDRAW with Roland drivers. I've located and downloaded 3 demos. If there are others I sure would like to know about them.
I tried Co Cut, but they didn't include a help file so I had to struggle trying it out. It didn't seem like much for $495. I had pretty much the same situation and feeling with Cadlink's ES Shortcut for $350. They said the help file was too large. Finally, I tried Sign Tools 3 for $205. It's fairly simple, but I got a couple of fatal errors in Corel while using it. I e-mailed them and never received a response. This doesn't increase my confidence level.
Does anyone have some real in depth experience with these, or any other plugins? I also have to keep in mind that I can get a discounted version of Flexisign (middle version)for $895.
I design in Corel 9 & cut with Gerber software & plotter. I've thinking about getting a Roland (might be starting my own shop) because of what I've read here about cutting straight from Corel. I'm just wondering why your looking for something better. I've never actually done it but I've read some posts here from people saying that cutting straight from Corel with a Roland works really well.
Glenn
-------------------- Glenn S. Harris
....back in the sign trade full time. Posts: 293 | From: Baton Rouge, LA, USA | Registered: Jul 2001
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I can (and do) cut directly from corel draw 10 to a roland pnc1000 and a roland pc-60. I don't understand why you would need to purchase any additional program. Once you get through rememering how to set things up it should be a breeze. Many sign programs will automatically "squash" or fit your cut material to the specific size vinyl you are using. With Corel Draw, you will have to do it manually... which will add a little to your time.
Perhaps the corel draw sign plug in does this, I don't know.
-------------------- Jeff Vrstal Main Street Signs 157 E. Main Street Evansville, WI 53536 1-608-882-0322 Posts: 670 | From: Evansville, Wisconsin | Registered: Sep 2001
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chuck, you got lots amoney.....hehehehehe i been cutting from corel to a roland pnc-1000 since 93 and version 3 of corel, and i also bought a pnc-1100 and i have no problems. and i use version 7 now. 1. corel WILL NOT PANEL OR TILE(but you can work around this) 2. all add on bridge programs leave a lot to be desired, they are only for cutting. 3.once you set up the page and line(.00004) and font in corel save it as PLOTTER.CDT then when you open corel you open template, choose PLOTTER.CDT and wala..your all set. 4. set up printer, if your only cutting with that machine set PLOTTER.DRV as your main printer, if not you will have to do a printer setup everytime you open corel. i been doing this so long its 2nd nature to me. my laptop is set as default to plotter so when i open corel its set up to cut. have you tried VMPRO.....get there demo...alot like corel, no gliches, and does what they claim it will do.
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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Thanks for the info. My main problem is my Roland salesman. He said a "real" sign shop uses "real" sign shop software. He also sells Flexisign. He did point out a few shortcomings with Corel, but there appears to be a workaround for all of them. Some of the demos I tried did have a quicker way of doing things. Chuck
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Real Salesmen earn Real Commissions so of course you have to spend Real Dollars.
We have signmate lite, signlab 5.0 and coreldraw in our shop.. IMHO corel draws circles (pun)around signlab for design, so we end up doing ALL design in corel draw and cutting with signmate lite. I do like having some of the features of a cutting program, ease of tiling, paneling, repositioning by color, are done faster/easier in signmate than in coreldraw. I don't think I would want to cut directly from coreldraw, but I certainly would not recommend spending a lot on a cutting program, since we use them like glorified print drivers. I think any cutting program in the 200 - 500 range would be a good buy to work alongside coreldraw. Print & cut also works very well from coreldraw since it will print both bitmaps and vectors to just about any device, simply create the cuts as a contour on a separate layer; print one layer and cut the other, registration is accomplished by drawing a bounding box (rectangle) on both the print layer and the cut layer (bigger than the objects), and use it to register under the knife, then with the cutting software simply autopanel to all objects with 0 offset. I'm awaiting delivery on a new Graphtec (Thanks, Howard for facilitating transaction) I haven't decided yet what to drive it with, I'll see how well it integrates with what we have, and I'm not sure if I'll put the Roland on another workstation for use, or if I'll shelve it.
-------------------- Mike O'Neill
It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value. - Arthur C. Clarke
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Most people are awre now that you can cut directly from CorelDRAW. However, there are quite a few issues and it can be clumbsy. The reason we developed SignTools for CorelDRAW was that we were not happy with the 3 sign making packages we we had and kept going back to Corel to design. We then started cutting directly from CorelDRAW. While working back late one night in February 1997 I had this great idea... what did we need to turn CorelDRAW into a an efficient sign making program? The answer was simply... extra tools such as shades, decorations, effects, weed boarders, multicopy etc. 5 years and 3 versions latter and I believe we have the most powerfull and easy to use add-on for CorelDRAW.
SignTools 3 contains 30 sign making tools in an easy to use application. Unlike other add-ons it works from within the CorelDRAW window.
Here is what you get:
14 Shades & Decorations
SignTools contains 14 shades and decorations to choose from. It makes creating text effects as easy as a click of a mouse button.
Innovative Text Tools
Bold/Italic - Ideal for fonts that don't come with bold and/or italic options. Descriptive Text - Create amazing ready-to-cut text effects. Price Formatter - Handy for price cards Auto Numbering - Creates consecutive numbers - choose font, height etc. Stripe Effect - Cuts stipes into text
Time Saving Design Tools
SignTools comes with an easy to use Border Maker and Pinstripe Maker. Both tools are very powerful and will save you time.
Powerful Productivity Tools
SignTools has 9 productivity tools to help you to get your designs ready to cut. Included are sophisticated panelling tools for large plots, Multyicopy, Weedbox, Remove Overlaps (quick weld for script lettering), Color Separator, Registration Marks and Vinyl Saver for optimizing your files to use less vinyl.
Direct Cutting
Version 3 of SignTools is the first version to include direct cutting. You can now cut any vector object created in CorelDRAW by simply clicking on the Cut button. You have the choice of cutting a selected object or all objects. Included are over 140 plotter models to choose from, as well as generic HP-GL plotter drivers which are compatible with most cutter plotters. So if your plotter is not in the list, refer to your plotter's manual to see if itis HP-GL compatible. The plotter drivers are very accurate and it is not necessary to place hairline outlines on objects to get the plotter to cut. With SignTools you can design in full color.
The demo d/l'd and worked flawlessly. You have some nice features in there for the price. It's a pity the demo couldn't show more about some of thefeatures, particularly cut options. I wouldn't expect to be able to cut with a demo, but it would have been nice to see if the program has a cut preview screen. Can it rotate objects within the cut screen? Does the program poll the plotter for vinyl width? Is that autonumber feature a serialization tool? The minimize vinyl wastage feature looked good, as did some of the text tools. One thing I did like was that just about everything was a one click operation, nice job. Any chance of seeing a full blown demo, with cut disabled and/or a time limit? I see the Graphtec 4100-130 is not supported, I doubt the hpgl driver would use all the features the machine has, are other drivers coming?
-------------------- Mike O'Neill
It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value. - Arthur C. Clarke
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Mike, We only have 8 of the 30 tools functioning in the demo because many people would just use the demo with a driver. Regarding the "Cut" Tool, it doesn'y come with a cut preview. It works on the WYSIWYG (Wht You See Is What You Get) principal. The reason for this is to keep it simple. You can rotate objects by using the "Vinyl Saver" tool. With "Vinyl Saver" it will automatically rotate objects if they will fit.
SignTools doen't poll the plotter for vinyl width, but you can simply place object at the bottom left of your Corel page. The "Auto Numbering" tool allows you to create a set of sequention numbers...options include Font, Size (true size), with or without Weed Boxes. The generic HP-GL driver will work with your Graphtec 4100-130 although it may not take advantage of some of the plotters special features.
-------------------- Andrew Gourvelos A Signs Sydney, NSW, Australia Posts: 104 | From: Sydnet, NSW Australia | Registered: Mar 2000
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