jayhawksigns
New Member
Anyone know anything else about it yet??
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Flexi 8
- Thread starter jayhawksigns
- Start date
Anyone know anything else about it yet??
flexiezine
New Member
More details should be available within the next few hours... Hoping to contact a peer at the ISA show for more details.
Fred Weiss
Merchant Member
I'm more than surprised by the announcement since i am in their beta testing program and we've only been testing Flexi 8 for a couple of weeks and only received an announcement of a fresh beta to download on Monday 4-3-06.
I can only assume that they are confident the new version will test out well and can be shipped in short order and that the announcement is to generate interest to coincide with the Orlando ISA show.
I can only assume that they are confident the new version will test out well and can be shipped in short order and that the announcement is to generate interest to coincide with the Orlando ISA show.
flexiezine
New Member
I received information from a european dealer that has been beta testing the Mac version of 8... He knew of the release information a while back... Another surprise, he has Flexi 7.7v2 Mac... had no idea it existed.
jayhawksigns
New Member
I was tempted to ask but didn't know how much Fred could actually say, especially on an open public forum like this.
. He most likely figured that would happen.
Fred Weiss
Merchant Member
More like afraid it would happen.
I am under a non-disclosure agreement and cannot comment further. I just didn't feel like anyone thinking the software was currently being shipped should operate under that misconception.
I do personally feel like when you commit an investment to a product like Flexi or Omega or SignLab that keeping up with upgrades should be a high priority.
I am under a non-disclosure agreement and cannot comment further. I just didn't feel like anyone thinking the software was currently being shipped should operate under that misconception.
I do personally feel like when you commit an investment to a product like Flexi or Omega or SignLab that keeping up with upgrades should be a high priority.
jayhawksigns
New Member
It'll be nice to actually get a release date, and if they will do discounted pricing if you upgrade within a couple of months of release.
I know that there were a lot of wants for the new releases of Flexi being talked about on the Scanvec forums, be nice to get more information from Flexi about what all they included.
I know that there were a lot of wants for the new releases of Flexi being talked about on the Scanvec forums, be nice to get more information from Flexi about what all they included.
Flexi 8?
Dang. We just spent a couple grand on software orders this morning (an Adobe Production Studio Premium license, a CorelDRAW X3 upgrade, a 300GB SATA-1 hard disc to add into a Dell system for scratch disc work).
We have three Flexi 7.x licenses. Previous upgrades cost us around $400-$500 per dongle. Oh well, gotta sell more signs I guess!
Dang. We just spent a couple grand on software orders this morning (an Adobe Production Studio Premium license, a CorelDRAW X3 upgrade, a 300GB SATA-1 hard disc to add into a Dell system for scratch disc work).
We have three Flexi 7.x licenses. Previous upgrades cost us around $400-$500 per dongle. Oh well, gotta sell more signs I guess!
JMDigital
New Member
Fred Weiss said:
Don't worry Fred.. we wont bug you untill you can talk about it. I am glad you are testing it, I am shure we all trust your judgement when its time to decide to upgrade. I do agree with the comment that we should keep up, its better then falling 5 versions behind and then needing the new version because the old one wont work on the new computers or os. Think when the 64bit version of windows is the only version to get, Then we will all be wanting 64bit versions of our fav. software!
So ok people leave Fred alone.. we will just have to hold off a bit! :Big Laugh
$800 upgrade? For the features touted in that "Flexi 8" ad?
I would consider enhancements to laser engraving and other features that directly improve vinyl cutting and parts routing to be worth while.
However, features such as "on screen spell checking," "smooth preview" and "PDF publishing" don't impress me a great deal since applications like Illustrator, CorelDRAW and Freehand already offer such features (some have offered those features for years). The latest versions of CorelDRAW and Canvas have added password protection and a variety of other capabilities to their PDF export filters. Illustrator, InDesign and Acrobat Pro 7 remain to have the most impressive PDF creation capability.
I would consider enhancements to laser engraving and other features that directly improve vinyl cutting and parts routing to be worth while.
However, features such as "on screen spell checking," "smooth preview" and "PDF publishing" don't impress me a great deal since applications like Illustrator, CorelDRAW and Freehand already offer such features (some have offered those features for years). The latest versions of CorelDRAW and Canvas have added password protection and a variety of other capabilities to their PDF export filters. Illustrator, InDesign and Acrobat Pro 7 remain to have the most impressive PDF creation capability.
bob
It's better to have two hands than one glove.
Bobby H said:
What he said, with a large "You gotta be kidding" tacked on to it.
If they have straightened out their miserable contour cut mechanism and maybe added faded drop shadows and perhaps a civilized distortion envelope it might be worth considering. But release this appears to be a collection of fluff and decoration, not a lot of anything functional.
Save as CMYK TIFF might be nice. But I can do that EASY in Photoshop. That exposes quite a problem.
I think real pressure is building against companies like Scanvec/Amiable, Gerber and others who have traditionally made "CAS" type applications over the last 15-20 years.
The pressure that is building is for those specialized, and very expensive, applications to justify their purchase price and outright existence.
I remember a decade ago getting into a slight argument with one of the prominent editors of Sign of the Times Magazine at a large format printing seminar held at an ISA show in Las Vegas. He was talking about the need for shops to buy all sorts of specialized software being sold by Gerber and others. I simply asked, "how are these applications any better than Adobe Photoshop?" He seemed a little put off, responding, "how long has Adobe being creating graphics software?" My shot back was, "Adobe has put down the cornerstones for everyone else with technologies like Photoshop and Postscript." I wanted to throw in a "DUH!!" in there but thought that would be a little too rude.
The combination of Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and a good page layout application like InDesign or QuarkXpress is more than enough for many to put together all the creative work on a large format or giant format design.
The creative tools in other vector drawing programs like CorelDRAW are every bit as mature as the drawing tools in Flexi or Gerber's apps. In some cases they're even more mature. I've been doing a lot of my electrical sign design work pretty much all within mainstream applications like CorelDRAW, Freehand and Illustrator rather than using the "CAS" type apps just from the simple standpoint of avoiding BUGS.
I'll give you an example. How many folks in this forum used CASmate a lot? As powerful as it was in some respects, it really sucked in others. If I had a series of long rectangles used as ruling lines and wanted to weld them into another object, I would always run into trouble. The long rectangles would lose a point on the lower right end and turn into long triangles. The code modules in the program really really sucked in their floating point function. Some welding actions would send CASmate careening into a destructive "infinite undo" lapse, where it would keep undo-ing everything in the drawing until there were no objects left to undo. I am NOT making that up. Other times you might just get hit with the drastic Windows white box of death message: "floating point: square root of negative number." That means save if you can and reboot immediately. I would try doing the same design functions in CorelDRAW. Lo and behold, every welding attempt was fully successful. Even with the drawing board expanded to full scale and welding objects hundreds of inches in length.
Mainstream graphics applications like IllustratorCS2 and CorelDRAW X3 are now more powerful than ever. Their creative capability far outstrips that of just about any CAS-type application in existence.
Obviously that leaves behind the one thing the CAS-type applications have some focus: cutting vinyl, preparing G-code files for CNC routing and software-based RIP functions for large format printing. Actually, that's the area where companies like Scanvec-Amiable and Gerber are going to make their last stands on relevance. Either they need to do more to specialize those functions, make them a lot more powerful and productive -and maybe more affordable- otherwise they're going to get put under.
How hard would it be for Adobe or Corel to put together a large format printer software RIP? It would be pretty easy for Adobe, considering these are the guys who own the Postscript standard as well as PDF. It wouldn't be hard for either to put together a vinyl cutter front end either.
The way I see it both Scanvec-Amiable and Gerber have huge bullseyes painted on their backs. Both Adobe and Corel have rifles at the ready.
Wow. Long post. Felt like ranting. Felt good. Hehe.
I think real pressure is building against companies like Scanvec/Amiable, Gerber and others who have traditionally made "CAS" type applications over the last 15-20 years.
The pressure that is building is for those specialized, and very expensive, applications to justify their purchase price and outright existence.
I remember a decade ago getting into a slight argument with one of the prominent editors of Sign of the Times Magazine at a large format printing seminar held at an ISA show in Las Vegas. He was talking about the need for shops to buy all sorts of specialized software being sold by Gerber and others. I simply asked, "how are these applications any better than Adobe Photoshop?" He seemed a little put off, responding, "how long has Adobe being creating graphics software?" My shot back was, "Adobe has put down the cornerstones for everyone else with technologies like Photoshop and Postscript." I wanted to throw in a "DUH!!" in there but thought that would be a little too rude.
The combination of Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and a good page layout application like InDesign or QuarkXpress is more than enough for many to put together all the creative work on a large format or giant format design.
The creative tools in other vector drawing programs like CorelDRAW are every bit as mature as the drawing tools in Flexi or Gerber's apps. In some cases they're even more mature. I've been doing a lot of my electrical sign design work pretty much all within mainstream applications like CorelDRAW, Freehand and Illustrator rather than using the "CAS" type apps just from the simple standpoint of avoiding BUGS.
I'll give you an example. How many folks in this forum used CASmate a lot? As powerful as it was in some respects, it really sucked in others. If I had a series of long rectangles used as ruling lines and wanted to weld them into another object, I would always run into trouble. The long rectangles would lose a point on the lower right end and turn into long triangles. The code modules in the program really really sucked in their floating point function. Some welding actions would send CASmate careening into a destructive "infinite undo" lapse, where it would keep undo-ing everything in the drawing until there were no objects left to undo. I am NOT making that up. Other times you might just get hit with the drastic Windows white box of death message: "floating point: square root of negative number." That means save if you can and reboot immediately. I would try doing the same design functions in CorelDRAW. Lo and behold, every welding attempt was fully successful. Even with the drawing board expanded to full scale and welding objects hundreds of inches in length.
Mainstream graphics applications like IllustratorCS2 and CorelDRAW X3 are now more powerful than ever. Their creative capability far outstrips that of just about any CAS-type application in existence.
Obviously that leaves behind the one thing the CAS-type applications have some focus: cutting vinyl, preparing G-code files for CNC routing and software-based RIP functions for large format printing. Actually, that's the area where companies like Scanvec-Amiable and Gerber are going to make their last stands on relevance. Either they need to do more to specialize those functions, make them a lot more powerful and productive -and maybe more affordable- otherwise they're going to get put under.
How hard would it be for Adobe or Corel to put together a large format printer software RIP? It would be pretty easy for Adobe, considering these are the guys who own the Postscript standard as well as PDF. It wouldn't be hard for either to put together a vinyl cutter front end either.
The way I see it both Scanvec-Amiable and Gerber have huge bullseyes painted on their backs. Both Adobe and Corel have rifles at the ready.
Wow. Long post. Felt like ranting. Felt good. Hehe.