Question Is "RasterLink Tools" a version of "FineCut"? And...

[crgrove]

Recently my boss acquired a used Mimaki CJV30 and its accompanied RIP computer with RasterlinkPro 5SG. The computer also had Adobe Illustrator C5 and an older version of CorelDRAW.

Coming from the world of Roland, for cutting I'm used to adding a cut line of the pseudo spot colour "CutContour".
It seems things are a little different with this Mimaki setup.

What I FIGURED that I could do would be to add the freely downloaded "RasterLink Tools" to my separate DESIGN computer with its newer version of CorelDRAW.

When I tried to install the Rasterlink Tools it stopped the install with the alert "Unable to find the installed Coreldraw". (which is a legit, licensed copy, properly installed and logged in the Windows Registry)

So, my first question is, Is/Are the Rasterlink Tools simply a version of FineCut? And... does this alert come up because it is not on the same computer as the RasterLink RIP?

Is there a way around this? It is presumptuous of Mimaki to think that people are going to do their design on the same computer that has the RIP installed. After all, all manufacturers always suggest having the RIP on its own, dedicated computer.

 

[Solventinkjet]

You can use Rasterlink exactly how you used Versaworks. Just set the CutContour spot color and open it in Rasterlink. It should see it as a print cut job.

 

[myront]

FineCut is a plug in for Corel. They also make one for Illustrator. We chose Corel. All our plotting is done directly in Corel. You can use macros to set your file up at each workstation. Adding weed lines, registration marks and such. We only used Rasterlink for printing. We now use an HP with Flexi RIP but still plot with the mimaki. Mimaki doesn't care what your cut color color is.

rta vinyl designed and setup at individual workstations. Once approved I setup my weed lines then select what I want to cut and hit a macro. The selected is exported as an eps to a specific temp folder with a specific name. I then go across the room to my plotter and workstation open Corel start a new doc then hit a macro that imports that file. Load my vinyl then use the FineCut plug-in which no more than a toolbar with specific macros assigned to the icons. hit the plot selected icon then set other parameters.This cuts down on the amount of time to search for the original file. Once I'm done cutting it I can close without saving. The idea is to not tie up the RIP station so the print tech can keep prints giong.

print and plot vinyl takes a little more. Everything still set up at each individual workstation then exported to a hot folder on the network for print. Our print tech handles al the incoming prints. Prioritizes etc.The print setup consists of more self made macros to automate. You'll need a designated cut line any color doesn't matter and on a seperate layer (layer name doesn't matter) move all cut lines to the cut layer and turn off printing for that layer (macro). Next I use another macro to create the specifically named registration marks and reg layer.
Once it's printed/laminated load it into the plotter then open corel from that workstation and open the orig file. Turn off all layers and just leave the cut layer and registration layer. Line up te print as needed then tell it to read the reg marks. Again use the FineCut tools to start the process of plotting. Once finished hit close and don't save.

 

[crgrove]

You can use Rasterlink exactly how you used Versaworks. Just set the CutContour spot color and open it in Rasterlink. It should see it as a print cut job.

Interestingly, I had actually tried that but RasterlinkPro5SG would not even load the .pdf file. (It was a simple bitmap with my usual cutcontour spot keylining it... I had printed and cut that same image on the Roland without incident.) BUT EVEN MORE INTERESTINGLY, It loaded another file that was the same image but that did NOT have the cutcontour line.

I had wondered if that feature was only available with Rasterlink version 6 rather than 5.

Thanks for the suggestion, though. I'll keep plugging away at it.

 

[Solventinkjet]

Interestingly, I had actually tried that but RasterlinkPro5SG would not even load the .pdf file. (It was a simple bitmap with my usual cutcontour spot keylining it... I had printed and cut that same image on the Roland without incident.) BUT EVEN MORE INTERESTINGLY, It loaded another file that was the same image but that did NOT have the cutcontour line.

I had wondered if that feature was only available with Rasterlink version 6 rather than 5.

Thanks for the suggestion, though. I'll keep plugging away at it.

I'm not 100% sure if they are still doing it but a lot of my customers have upgraded to Rasterlink 6 for free. You deactivate your Rasterlink 5 and then download 6. Enter your 5 password when it asks and it should allow you to use 6. Keep in mind that the password for 5 was longer than 6 so just type in as much as you can and it should work. 6 is much more stable and has more features than 5 for sure.

 

[crgrove]

I'm not 100% sure if they are still doing it but a lot of my customers have upgraded to Rasterlink 6 for free. You deactivate your Rasterlink 5 and then download 6. Enter your 5 password when it asks and it should allow you to use 6. Keep in mind that the password for 5 was longer than 6 so just type in as much as you can and it should work. 6 is much more stable and has more features than 5 for sure.

Thanks for the info. I THOUGHT I saw one of the mimaki website pages somewhere that 5 was NOT upgradeable to 6 for free but I saw references on Signs101 that said it was. Dunno.

I had only seen "upDATE" links online. Can you (or anyone) point me to a full ver 6 upGRADE install link?

(It DOES have a dongle in the computer which which I'm assuming would be identifiable to any upgrade install.)

 

[Solventinkjet]

Thanks for the info. I THOUGHT I saw one of the mimaki website pages somewhere that 5 was NOT upgradeable to 6 for free but I saw references on Signs101 that said it was. Dunno.

I had only seen "upDATE" links online. Can you (or anyone) point me to a full ver 6 upGRADE install link?

(It DOES have a dongle in the computer which which I'm assuming would be identifiable to any upgrade install.)

Here's the link to the full installer for Rasterlink 6. It downloads a smaller program that then downloads the full program. Keep in mind you will want to uninstall 5 before installing 6. It's worth a shot. I have had many customers do it successfully. You don't want to update as it doesn't work. You want to use the full installer. Hope this helps!

 

[crgrove]

Here's the link to the full installer for Rasterlink 6. It downloads a smaller program that then downloads the full program. Keep in mind you will want to uninstall 5 before installing 6. It's worth a shot. I have had many customers do it successfully. You don't want to update as it doesn't work. You want to use the full installer. Hope this helps!

THAT'S GREAT! I appreciated it!
FINGERS CROSSED... I'm scared!!! LOLOL