how do i make contour cut lines in photoshop?

[kustomsigns&designs]

i print and cut in versaworks. i am tring to figuer out how to add a contour cut line to a photoshop image like text. any help or links to tuts would be great.

 

[cgsigns_jamie]

You would have to create a path with a spot color then export as a eps. I don't think photoshop will allow you to create a path then assign a spot color to it.

You would have to import the PSD file into illustrator/flexi/corel then create your cut path, then export as an eps file.

At least that's what I think, if I'm wrong I'm sure someone will correct me soon...

 

[kustomsigns&designs]

when i import it into flexi it has the white background box and i cant create a contour cut path

 

[Letterbox Mike]

You will have to start in a vector program, type the text in you want, save it, then copy and paste it into photoshop. In PS, apply the effects you want to the text, save as a .jpg or .tiff. Place that image back into your original vector file. Make the original vector version the cut path, however your RIp requires it, and position it over the placed bitmap image where the cut line should fall. You can also duplicate the original vector image and use it as a clipping path to mask out any background you don't want (i.e the white box around the bitmap image). Print/cut that file.

FYI your color workflow needs to be spot on when you start transferring images back and forth between two different programs. If not, you will lose color information and the final output may not be what you expected.

 

[cgsigns_jamie]

does the photoshop file have a transparent background?

You could also create a path in photoshop then "export paths to illustrator" and use that path as your cut path?

 

[kustomsigns&designs]

ok well both ways worked but i like jamies better because if i tweak the text in photoshop it won't the flexi file, and if its an outlines of a person than insignias way wouldn't work at all. thanks to both of you for the suggestions.

 

[cdiesel]

I was gonna suggest what Jamie did.. The only problem with that is the paths generated by photoshop are usually very jagged. You can smooth them out a bit using the smooth command under select/modify, but it's still pretty rough. Creating your text in illi or corel and placing that data into PS works very well.

 

[pacmn]

http://printingdigital.net/forums/how-articles/2811-tutorial-how-add-cutline-photoshop.html