I warned you about my stupid questions...

[LaserImage]

This is so basic that I can't believe I need to ask, but I am really feeling stupid/humbled/?

I have an Ioline I/S 60 plotter, 24" wide. I have some 12", 15" and 24" vinyl.

I am doing my design work in Corel X3 and exporting to a .plt file to import into the "Ioline Control Center". I'll get CoCut eventually, but not for a while.

My question is about the size of the drawing area in Corel, and where to actually draw the image I'll plot. Do I size it to the width of the vinyl I am going to cut? Do I draw in the lower left corner and does this relate to the right side of the plotter? In other words, is the upper left of the drawing the left side of the plotter and the lower left side the right side of the plotter? If so, would this make the length of the roll of vinyl the width of the page in Corel? Or am I totally seeing this the wrong way? :

Thanks for any help and for not making me feel any more stupid than I do right now.

Gary

 

[Ken]

I dont have your machine but I usually set up my page size to match the vinyl width..which ends up being the heigth of the layout. Ie..you are using 24 inch vinyl then set your corel page to be 24 in high by however long.
A little trial and error will soon show how this is actually output by the plotter.
Cheers!
Ken

 

[Pro Signs & Graphix]

There is nothing wrong with using the "Plot Center". As long as you can cut what you need, you still get the basic functionality required.

To answer your question, your Corel page size is what will export. If you do not set your page, and attempt to cut a piece 20" x 30" and keep the Corel default setting of 8.5" x 11" - you will experience clipping of the image. As long as the page size is equal to or greater - you will be fine.

For the orientation, and it has been a long time, the lower left of your page should be the origin (the right side of the machine as you are looking at it from the front). Your page should cut left to right, while the left is what is exiting the machine.

We hope this helps.