Flexi Pro - disappointed

[meltsner]

We bought Flexi Pro 8.5 to use in conjunction with our VJ-1204. I must admit, I do NOT enjoy using the program. This is the slowest and most complicated, hard to use program out of our bunch -- the small bunch which is Corel X4 and Composer 2.6, along with Flexi now. Simple fills are hard to figure out, and it seems every time I restart the program the toolbars reset (color dockers, etc.). Every else seems to come in the back way to get there..... On the slow part, it's next to impossible to scroll, it's so jerky, and the zoom is also slow and imprecise. And I can't assign my own shortcuts. And....... Anyway, for the money, it seems to be lacking a bit.

I'm wondering....am I the only one with this "problem" or is it on every one? I use a Quad Core computer w/ Nvidia 8600GT vid. card so power is not an issue. I hate to sound so negative but I can do a better job in CD in half the time. There are some features of Flexi I do like, and wish would be better utilized (or present at all) in Corel/Composer. Just curious, any tips on better performance?

 

[trimguy]

check out givemehelp.com for an in depth training cd for flexi. It addresses all your issues. I learned a lot from them and took his class. Im still learning about that program.

 

[PMG]

8.5 was a bad version...anyone who had 8.5 got a free upgrade to 8.6....contact your vendor and or SAI tell them u want the free upgrade

 

[Stealth Ryder]

Hummm, I think Flexi is pretty simple...

 

[gnatt66]

i have flexi and lxi and i can run them both simultaneously with a 5 year old amdx2 with 1 gig of ram and some oem nvidia crap vid card.

i'd say you have something else going on.

 

[luggnut]

i don't know about flexi scrolling slow or not performing well, but i do know as a design program for printed material it is not as good as corel or adobe. for cut vinyl only it is excellent. but the price you pay for the program gets you a full function RIP you need to drive your printer and most stand alone RIPs are $2000 plus, so the money you spend on flexi is not for the design end of it.

 

[meltsner]

Thanks for the replies! I'm attempting to blame the video card for some of it, as I had terrible problems with the screen refreshing in Composer, but I can't be positive. Thanks PMG for the info on 8.5/8.6, might have to look into that. I'm just starting to learn the program, and it's going to take a while as the VJ1204 isn't going to be used very often at least for now. Right now I do most of the designing in CorelDraw (as that's the program we have to use for the Summa DC4), then export it to Flexi as a PDF. With a little editing, it's good for going. I could do most of the work in Flexi, but then we have both printers we have to print to, therefore two programs that need the same/similar file. (Flexi might work w/ Summa, but seems to be hard to setup)

So it must be partly the program, the other my computer. Thanks again!

 

[Edserv]

I would like to say I love Flexi 8.5. I'm an "old-school" Corel Draw user, and I've found Flexi to be as simple or better than Corel or CS3. But then again, I'm not a "real" designer, and only use Flexi for basic stuff. But our ops manager purchased some Flexi tutorials and is a wiz at it. He loves it. He can vectorize files quickly and he's become really good at matching colors and managing the ripping to print.

A couple things: we bit the bullet and purchased a very beefy cpu to handle the actual design to rip (pro). We're looking at purchasing the Flexi design version so that we can separate design from production. Our computer seems to be able to handle even the biggest fat files that we have clients upload to a dedicated ftp site.

Anyway, not sure this will help, but you may have some cpu and user training issues. I really wish you the best!

Chris
Lets Go Banners

 

[GAC05]

The best thing about Flexi is that it imports designs from other programs really well.
Leave Flexi closed
Design your graphics in Corel - export them as eps, tif or pdf.
Open the design manager - drop your graphics into it
Print them - be happy - make money - go home early.
If you need to drive a plotter and cut some vinyl go ahead and open the main program, it works well for that.
I design in Corel X4/5 & print from the Flexi 8.6v2sp1 program manager to a VJ1304 with out much drama all the time.

wayne k
guam usa

wayne k
guam usa

 

[meltsner]

Thanks Chris, I've also been a CD X4 user long before Flexi, and I must admit "user training" (me being the only primary user) is part of the problem. But part program too -- seems everytime I shut it down and restart it all the toolbars are reset. I spent several minutes just the other day trying to figure out how to type some text!! Nothing in the side toolbar, finally figured out it was a separate toolbar hidden at the time. Hello?.....

Actually, the program seems to be getting worse (really sluggish), and we still haven't done anything about it yet (but still considering).
Maybe someone can answer this-- is the best way to use the "contact me" form on their site to see about upgrading? The form is linked from a "Flexi 8.5 Upgrade" link. But a possible problem is......it was an Ebay purchase. (ouch?)

I do agree with Wayne that Flexi does import pretty good. Most designs I create in CD, publish to PDF and open in Flexi, and are very accurate to the original.

 

[American & Proud]

I am new to signs and just recently bought Flexi Pro from Beacon Graphics.

I had heard before buying that 8.5 was a bum version, so when dealing with Beacon I asked if I would be getting the latest 8.6 version and was told yes.
I got 8.6v2, I tried setting up flexi the way I wanted it and it would reset to the defaults after I closed it out and restarted it. I asked about it here and was told to do the available update. I did and my settings have stayed as I set them ever since.

I am a newb myself and have corel draw x4 illustrator cs2 photoshop cs2 and now flexi pro 8.6 and I find it the Easiest to use. I did buy the Training DVD and found it very helpful for me.

My computer is just a Gateway 506GR XP Home edition, Pentium 4 cpu 3.20 GHz with 2 gigs of ram. Video card is a Nvidia GeForce 6800 GS, I am running dual 24" lcd monitors, so it's nothing fancy and runs Flexi just fine without any hiccups as of yet.

This computer has been on 24/7 for Weeks and Flexi has been open 99% of that time, I have 10 files I am designing open in flexi and notice no slow downs at all. These are 10 files for vinyl cutting so no photo type stuff for printing.
I plan on buying a printer so I wanted the RIPP software included in the Pro version of Flexi.

So far, I am loving Flexi.

Do any available updates for your Flexi and that should fix your settings reverting back to the Defaults. At least in the 8.6 it did.

Do some normal computer maintenance the basics like defragging the hard drive, disk cleanup, the usual stuff and see if it runs better for you.

 

[meltsner]

Thanks for the tips! I'll have to look for available updates - if any - for it. My computer is a quad core (Q6600 @ 2.4 Ghz I think?) w/ 8600GT vid. card and also running dual monitors, so it shouldn't be lacking in power.

 

[Fuzzbuster]

Flexi not designed to use full potential of quad anyway
according to them..


Flexi has to be the most friendly "sign software" ever made

been using it since the scanvec days...

not the best rip... Onyx brobably better for output

but flexi more user friendly

just my 2 cents

 

[Idea Design]

2 things for you:

1. If you like CorelDraw better, use it and utilize Flexi for the RIP. I am an avid Illustrator user and when I got Flexi, with my 1204, just like you, I decided to skip the learning curve with Flexi, do any and all designing in Illustrator and/or Photoshop, and import said graphics into Flexi, then rip and print.

2.

take a while as the VJ1204 isn't going to be used very often at least for now

Please, my brother, make sure you send something thru this printer to keep the heads wet and not let the printhead get dry and clog up. You will want to pluck out your eyes with a spork the first time you realize it's been a week and a half since you printed anything and you have to spend the next days or weeks of your life trying to bring your printer back to life.

Good luck with your new venture. You landed in the right spot for help with Flexi, CorelDRAW, Illustrator, Mutoh ValueJET, and anything else sign related.

 

[Flame]

The best thing about Flexi is that it imports designs from other programs really well.

BULLLLLLLLLSHIIIIIIII***********

Biggest load of bull ever. Flexi is horrible at importing other files. Bring in a pdf, it screws it up. Bring in a cdr file, usually freezes, bring in a .eps, usually ok, but 20% chance it will just freeze and have to reboot. Bring in too new of a ai. file, freezes and you gotta reboot.

I have FlexiPro, love it as a RIP program, works great for getting files ready to print and cut. I'd rather pull my hair out with tweezers than use it for a design program though. No joke, it's that bad.

Found the trick is save everything as ai. 3, import to flexi (as long as there are no raster objects) and then just set contours, setup... print... bam.

Still always is freezing, shutting down etc. Weird, oddball stuff.

 

[GAC05]

Flame you misunderstood me.
I take my finished artwork or customer supplied files and drop them directly into the open Program Manager without ever opening the main Flexi program.
It opens just about everything I can throw at it because of it's Adobe postscript level 3 engine.
95% of the time it will open files that choke CorelDraw.
(try opening a jpg saved as cymk in X3 X4 or X5 - paint or draw - can't or at least the 3 I have here can't.)
My attempt at a sarcastic point was
Flexi's best feature seems to be printing other design applications files....

The only time I open the main "design" program is if I need to run the plotter - cutting a file I import from ..... CorelDraw.

wayne k
guam usa

 

[Idea Design]

I don't know if I do something different than you do Flame, but when I say "import", I actually use File < Open when inside Flexi and can open up any Illustrator CS3 doc with virtually no problems. I'm no Flexi advocate, believe you me, but it seems to work the way I do it.

I don't use CorelDRAW very much, and I don't typically use pdf or eps unless it's customer supplied.

Do our varying workflow patterns make a difference I wonder?

 

[Flame]

I've found saving as ai. 3, and importing all raster files as jpegs works best for me. ai. 3 works with so many programs, I just save as that, and no issues. Just took me a while to learn that.

 

[Compilla]

I use Flexi for all my vector Art and Photoshop for Raster...

 

[ABPGraphics]

Hummm, I think Flexi is pretty simple...

way!