Adam.Foster
New Member
Check out the NEW Gerber Omega 8.0
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New Omega 8.0
- Thread starter Adam.Foster
- Start date
WildWestDesigns
Active Member
I've always been a fan of the 9X era of UIs. It just gets out of the way, unlike "modern UIs", but I still use a lot of terminal apps as well, so go figure.Bwahaha, one of the most ridiculous and outdated UIs on the market along with chinese maintop rip and other worthless stuff
Bare in mind, Windows still has the GDI API available, last time I checked, and that has been around since Win 3.1. If it's kept in there, devs will still use it. Most of the big time 2D graphics programs still use OpenGL (even on Mac) and that has been deprecated for yrs now. It's not easy porting to new APIs if it's an old enough program. Why OSs (especially Windows) tends to keep things in there for that backward compatibility.
While I may not be a professional programmer, I have done my fair, so I don't tend to lambast program devs that may not be up to date on the latest UI flavor of the month. Use what works.
Adam.Foster
New Member
Change is hard, and many users don't like UI changes. (The main reason Omega still looks very similar to old versions)
WildWestDesigns
Active Member
If UX changes a long with it, I can understand it. When I was running Windows (no I don't run Mac now), there was one program that was a mainstay of production for me, it changed UI every new release and location and even names of tools also changed. While given enough time, that can be relearned, but if one is having to deal with it every new release, it affects productivity for awhile (and we aren't talking a cheap program either, it makes the Master Suite look budget friendly, although I think that has stopped for awhile it seems, but I have switched to something else so I haven't kept up with it, great program). So there is a balancing act that is going to need to happen.
Plus if the program is trying to use the native toolkit and not some crossplatform toolkit (which I'm not against, my OS uses Qt and alot of my apps are Qt based (open source and closed source), changing the UI may not be as simple as it is with toolkits that use a declarative scheme (XML, CSS, SVG type of schema or even an immediate mode UI(fan of using SDL for this) that makes changing the UI as trivial as it could possibly be). That could also introduce bugs and leave a bad taste in people's mouths, for what, just the flavor of the month UI trend?
Sorry for the derailment. Even though I'm not a professional programer, I have done enough for my own in house tooling that I can have sympathy for why something may still have the UI the way that it does. As long as what's under the hood keeps up, that really should be what people care about. Not so much the bling. Programs for industrial industries don't tend to all that glitter and glam. But I digress.
White Haus
Not a Newbie
We just (grudgingly) upgraded from 4.0 to 7.0 and I was actually surprised by how little changed. (Mostly glad)
Some cool new features in plot that I like but honestly we'll probably never upgrade beyond this. Only did it due to OS/equipment compatibility issues.
As long as we can open files and print them on the Edge and cut them on our plotters, that's all we need.
I feel like a lot of the new features are just trying to compete with Photoshop/Illustrator/Corel which in my opinion isn't necessary for Composer/Omega. We already have those tools and use them as needed.
zillion29
New Member
I think a lot of people hate on Omega because they start off on 6.0 or 7.0 and have no idea that this was sign-specific software with components and tool names that have their root in Graphix Advantage from the 90s. OG sign people know what's up. It's not like Corel and Adobe don't have tons of vestigial crap and propriety tool names that make no sense to people just starting with the latest version. "Create Outlines" vs. "Expand Stroke" and "Convert To Curves" and all that.
Zendavor Signs
Mmmmm....signs
I am surprised a new version of Omega is being released. I thought Gerber was ending support for their products in a few years? Omega leaves a lot to be desired, but it is not bad for a home-grown software solution from an equipment manufacturer. It served us pretty well until about 12 years or so when we switched to Adobe for design. I don’t regret the switch, but I do miss sometimes the production tools from Omega.
Applied Graphics WY
New Member
My favorite reason for using Omega is that I can plot weed lines right through graphic & the cut skips the graphic. Its very handy for dividing hard to weed letters. (such as fancy scripts & thin letters.) What I like least is the limited number of fonts.
White Haus
Not a Newbie
I noticed that new feature when we upgraded to 7. I've yet to test it out but I'm sure it will come in hand!
Applied Graphics WY
New Member
I love it. I wish cutting master had it.
MikePro
New Member
die hard omega 2 user here, for outputting vinyl to plotters, but have been using Adobe for design as of the late 90's. Anything worth making the jump to Omega8, at nearly three grand, or am I correct to not be excited about simply spending money on features I will most likely never use?
What's your limit? If you're talking about what's available from Gerber, you're not seeing everything. Using the TrueType font converter, you pretty much have an unlimited number of fonts available to you.
Applied Graphics WY
New Member
Good to know. I will have to find & learn how to use that feature.
It's really easy. If you have a font installed in Windows that hasn't been converted, it will show up in the Font Converter list. Select the font you want to convert, it will give you a preview. I've never had to adjust the settings, just click convert. Depending on what version you're using, you may have to restart Composer for the new font to show up in the font list.
Good Luck
Good Luck