Software Questions

[RobertB]

Hello All,

I'm about as green as green can be to sign making. I am a Methods Engineer for a local aircraft manufacturer that has been tasked with setting up a sign shop to meet internal demand for self adhesive labels and aircraft premask. We have inherited a Gerber Edge FX, Gerber Envision plotter a couple of Royal Sovereign laminators and a Graphtec FC8000 cutting plotter from our former sign shop location in another province.

All of the artwork for the label files come in Corel Draw format to us. A former sign shop employee from our company has told me that the process they followed was to take the Corel Draw file, import it into Sign Lab (to fix any issues with the Corel Draw file) and then import to the Gerber Omega software. The reasons that I was given for the use of Sign Lab was that Omega could not perform a function called "Welding" that was used to complete lines that were not connected properly in Corel draw. Also, there were several instances where Corel Draw files, when blown up to scale, were very pixelated or some information was missing (part numbers from labels that needed to appear on the label surface). I was told that Sign Lab was used to correct the pixilation and add the missing information.

I'm not sure of the version of Omega that was being used, but could anyone comment on whether or not Omega can perform the welding function and correct pixelation / correct missing text from Corel Draw files? I need to know if Sign Lab is required.

Thanks for any guidance! I will likely have more beginner questions!

 

[unclebun]

Not sure where you are getting the Corel draw files from, but if you have Corel Draw you really don't need the step of taking the file into Sign Lab. You can weld, vectorize, etc. in Corel Draw just fine. You can also add text in Corel Draw.

As to whether Omega can weld: https://www.signs101.com/threads/how-to-weld-objects-in-omega.101150/

 

[RobertB]

Ok, great feedback. Thank you. I was suspecting as much. It seemed like a lot of redundant software... The Corel Draw files come from our engineering department, whose primary focus is communicating specific requirements, not ensuring the sign shop has a quality file. We will have to tweak the files as needed to correct. What about the pixilation due to scaling issue? Can that be corrected in Corel Draw as well? I was told that the label would have to be re-made in Sign Lab to correct the pixilation.

Thanks again,

 

[White Haus]

Welcome from Winnipeg, Manitoba!

Definitely does sound like some redundancies were inherited as well.

Are all the graphics vector to begin with? If so, there should be no loss quality when the file is scaled. I've used Corel / Omega since the beginning of time and both are very much capable of welding objects. Re-building in SignLab seems to be the logical step to try to eliminate - if your engineering department is using Corel and Omega is required to output to the Edge.

Are the engineer files actually built in Corel or are they starting as cad/dxf files? (First thing that comes to mind when shapes have to be welded)

I've worked with engineer / autocad files that had to be edited to output on a Gerber edge so I'm a bit familiar.

 

[unclebun]

The only way you can remove pixelation is by vectorizing (redrawing the element in vector format). You can do that in Corel or Omega. The best is to never use bitmap elements in the design to begin with. I am pretty certain that all the stickers on an aircraft are going to be color shapes and text. The only place for bitmaps is going to be photographs, which aren't going to be on your stickers.

 

[Solventinkjet]

It sounds like whoever was doing it before just didn't have a ton of Corel experience because that can all be done in Corel. Welding is a basic function in most design software and I'm assuming he had issues with pixelization because he had the setting to downsample bitmaps turned on when saving files.

 

[RobertB]

Welcome from Winnipeg, Manitoba!

Definitely does sound like some redundancies were inherited as well.

Are all the graphics vector to begin with? If so, there should be no loss quality when the file is scaled. I've used Corel / Omega since the beginning of time and both are very much capable of welding objects. Re-building in SignLab seems to be the logical step to try to eliminate - if your engineering department is using Corel and Omega is required to output to the Edge.

Are the engineer files actually built in Corel or are they starting as cad/dxf files? (First thing that comes to mind when shapes have to be welded)

I've worked with engineer / autocad files that had to be edited to output on a Gerber edge so I'm a bit familiar.

Thanks! I grew up in Winnipeg. St. Vital was my old stomping grounds. I am still learning the terminology, so I can't comment as to whether the graphics were vector originally. I'm also not sure if the files were built in Corel or came from Cad, but I suspect they were from Cad as all our engineering drawings are in Cad. Not sure if Cad exports to Corel.

 

[RobertB]

The only way you can remove pixelation is by vectorizing (redrawing the element in vector format). You can do that in Corel or Omega. The best is to never use bitmap elements in the design to begin with. I am pretty certain that all the stickers on an aircraft are going to be color shapes and text. The only place for bitmaps is going to be photographs, which aren't going to be on your stickers.

Ok, that's great info. I'm quite sure that there will be no bitmap elements used.

 

[RobertB]

It sounds like whoever was doing it before just didn't have a ton of Corel experience because that can all be done in Corel. Welding is a basic function in most design software and I'm assuming he had issues with pixelization because he had the setting to downsample bitmaps turned on when saving files.

Yes, this was one of my thoughts as well. There were 2 guys in the former sign shop. One with 40 years experience and one with 2. The guy with 40 years may have had his way of doing things which was to use Sign Lab to make changes and export to Omega. This is likely how he trained the guy with 2 yrs experience. I have access to the guy with 2 years experience.

 

[JBurton]

What format are they giving you corel files in?
It sounds like the engineers are exporting files from corel for you, which you import into omega? I'd wager they're giving you pdfs, but have the export settings that are downsampling, reducing quality of vectors, and not converting text to curves. This will give you problems like missing parts, wonky lines, and pixelated bmps (raster graphics are fine, if they are high enough quality).

 

[RobertB]

What format are they giving you corel files in?
It sounds like the engineers are exporting files from corel for you, which you import into omega? I'd wager they're giving you pdfs, but have the export settings that are downsampling, reducing quality of vectors, and not converting text to curves. This will give you problems like missing parts, wonky lines, and pixelated bmps (raster graphics are fine, if they are high enough quality).

I'm not familiar enough yet with how engineering derived the Corel files to give an accurate answer. At this point, all I know is that the former sign shop would receive the artwork as Corel files, import them to Sign Lab to edit as required and then import the Sign Lab files into Omega.

 

[JBurton]

From what I read, Omega likes PDF's just fine, and corel can make great pdf's, but if they won't give you access to corel, or put the work into making proper files, then you may be stuck using signlab to do corrections.
I think you need to write down all the steps and report back to see if anyone here can help you cut down on redundancies and the like.

 

[RobertB]

From what I read, Omega likes PDF's just fine, and corel can make great pdf's, but if they won't give you access to corel, or put the work into making proper files, then you may be stuck using signlab to do corrections.
I think you need to write down all the steps and report back to see if anyone here can help you cut down on redundancies and the like.

Yes, as I get more familiar with the process, I will give more clarity here. For now, I am glad to hear that it looks like Sign Lab may not be required.

 

[unmateria]

I think you can maybe be confusing pixelation with the stepping produced by exporting from AutoCAD since it doesnt export nurbes/curves other than arc into dxf.
Just save it as dwg version supported by your corel, and open the dwg directly on corel

 

[White Haus]

Thanks! I grew up in Winnipeg. St. Vital was my old stomping grounds. I am still learning the terminology, so I can't comment as to whether the graphics were vector originally. I'm also not sure if the files were built in Corel or came from Cad, but I suspect they were from Cad as all our engineering drawings are in Cad. Not sure if Cad exports to Corel.

Small world! I grew up just south of St. Vital and am now in St. Boniface. Well done for moving to BC, has always been a dream of mine!

 

[jfiscus]

It looks like you can just buy another license (one time fee) for Corel Draw, and then you can export the files properly yourself once the engineers send them to you. After that you can tweak them as needed in Omega for output.

 

[JBurton]

It looks like you can just buy another license (one time fee) for Corel Draw, and then you can export the files properly yourself once the engineers send them to you. After that you can tweak them as needed in Omega for output.

That's what I was reckoning. So much easier to get files and utilize them in the same format as the originator, vs "yeah I know it should say 'in case of emergency', but what I'm seeing is 'tits mcgee'" Cue the 3 hours of back and forth emails until the originator stomps down to the production floor...

 

[Adam.Foster]

If you need additional assistance with this feel free to contact me directly.

Adam Foster
Gerber