PhotoShop Interface

[2NinerNiner2]

It seems if Illustrator will cut...........then so would CorelX3 ??

I have cut directly from CorelDRAW since version 9 using the Roland supplied driver for the CAMM1 PNC-1000. All elements to be cut require that their 'pen' (stroke) be set to 'hairline'; fills are ignored. Some folks convert text to curves first but I have never done this and text as 'text' has always worked fine for me. As mentioned in a few places here, the trick is setting the media sizes and orientation. Once that is done, select 'Print', chose the CAMM1 as the 'printer', do the 'Page Setup' and hit 'Print' ... away she goes! Yes, it does not sort the cutting order; seems to cut in the order in which the elements were created. Mind you, without something like CoCut, you will have to manually figure out any paneling and overlap that is required for jobs larger than your media and also (for the CAMM1) any job longer that approx. 60"; a driver limitation it seems. I have posted this here before but will again to show you what can be done SOLELY from CorelDRAW. This is a 6ft. x 20ft banner that I cut from white HP cast and applied to black banner stock. You'll get to know (and love) CorelDRAW's 'Trim" function to do this! Laid it out on the driveway as that was the only place I had room enough! Gotta love Phoenix in the winter!

As well, regarding the Photoshop - Illustrator issue: please, (new) folks ... these are for two COMPLETELY DIFFERENT types of graphics!!! If you are going to 'cut', you NEED a VECTOR-based program such as Illustrator or CorelDRAW (CorelPAINT, which usually accompanies DRAW in the bundle) is similar to Photoshop ...for RASTER graphics (bmp, jpg, png, gif) !!! ... something you will PRINT!!! ... either with your desktop or larger INKJET or LASER. The attachment with the photo shows what you HAVE to do if you want to 'cut' a RASTER file... either manually (as done in this example) or with one of the built-in or third party 'trace' utilities, CREATE A VECTOR of the image Hope this helps

 

[RedlineMan]

Hmmmmm...

Good info folks. I apologize if the topic is redundant or tedious.

So, it seems that there may be a utility in some programs that will find the edges of an item in order to convert a rasterized image to a vector image. Is this true, and if so in what programs can you do this?

I'm spending money I "don't necessarily have" on a plotter, so I'm trying to keep other costs to an absolute minimum. At this point it seems I might likely be purchasing Corel X3

Again, sorry if this is mind-numbing. Rookies needing direction, you know!

 

[Fred Weiss]

Both CorelDRAW X3 and Adobe Illustrator CS2 have excellent autotracing utilities. For professional results, however, you will still, on many occasions, need to reset type and hand trace other graphics.

If it was easy there would be no need for professionals.

 

[Buddy]

Corel has a feature called 'auto trace' which is specifically designed to do what you mentioned.....trace the edge of a bitmap image and convert it to a vector image (dot to dot).

The only problem is....that process can be difficult because the edges of bitmap images or raster images can be hard to define sometimes because of the subtle shades of color etc.

So sometimes it's a 'process' converting an image that over time develops into somewhat of a knack for doing it or skill. I use different programs sometimes to 'vectorize' an image depending on how well one attempt goes or not. And lastely....there are times when I trace the image by hand using my mouse creating one dot at a time and then drawing a line or curve to the next dot. This is called digitizing and believe it or not....it's a viable method if all else fails. It doesn't necessarily take a long time.

 

[CenturySigns]

Hey Guys
Saw a post here about "Inkscape" for free! Soooo I tried it and it's not a bad program.... for free. Kind of a cross between Corel and Ai. Have no idea wether CoCut would work with this or not but the program was a snap to use.

 

[Tony Teveris]

Just to repeat above but in simple terms - to cut directly from any program you need to have the cutter device driver installed. Roland is the first to come to mind.

On the CoCut side they are using the "plug-in" architecture of Adobe or Corel. If other vector applications provide this architecture then they may also work as well. Corel's architecture was design by Microsoft and is used in all MS apps including all the Office apps. Adobe's was designed by them, strictly for them though others have employed the PhotoShop architecture in their apps.