What should I upgrade to?

[Design Girl]

I’ll give you a bit of background information to get an idea of what type of software I need.
We do carving and etching signs on glass and practically use the plotter just to cut stencils on vinyl so I don’t need any color but would like to upgrade to have more flexibility and save time.
I’m currently using Composer (Graphic Advantage 6.2) with a Gerber Envision 750 plotter on Windows XP Professional 2002 and the artwork program we import/export art files to is Illustrator CS3.
Any suggestions???
Thanks a bunch!

 

[WrapperX]

If all you use your plotter for is cutting etch mask what more do you want? What's wrong with the machine you have now? What's your budget?

 

[Design Girl]

The machine is fine but the software is limited!
Just an example....can't make the simple change from centimetres to inches.
I don't need to change my plotter but I would like to know my options to be able to set up a budget.

 

[J Hill Designs]

if you design in illy just size correctly in illy and dont even look at the dimensions in GA - or do the math

 

[Fred Weiss]

Your primary issue will be finding any software other than upgrading to Omega 4 that will drive your Envision 750 well or at all. Upgrading to Omega 4 will give you a familiar interface, much improved importing of files from your CS3, the ability to continue to open all your saved PLT files correctly. It should also be a bit faster.

Most of the improvements between GA 6.2 and Omega 4 won't matter much to you based on just using it for stencil cutting. So the question then becomes whether or not it's worth it for you. The other option, if you want to do all your setups in Illustrator, is something like CoCut. It will drive your plotter as an Illustrator plugin for a lot less money than upgrading your Omega and you will still have your GA 6.2 available when needed. CoCut has a free 30 day trial download.

 

[Design Girl]

I will give it a try!
Thank you for your advice.