Software Title List

[John Yucca]

I'm actively searching the world for a stand alone sign program. Everyday it seems I find a new one. My guess is somewhere out there is a gem I haven't found yet that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

I currently use CorelDraw 10 with CoCut Pro, I also use Roland CutStudio and direct cut from CorelDraw and Adobe Illustrator to my Roland GX-24.

I stumbled across Signgo which I really like but it doesn't play nice with my Roland SX-12. I can cut with it using a Universal Plotter Driver and it's slow. If you jam up the cutting speed, it goes haywire. The program itself is great with a good solid interface. But I'm not going to drop $400 on it if it doesn't correctly support a cutter I occassionally use.

I don't need to go the Flexi or SignLab route......I'm not a pro.

Vinyl Master Pro is out. I used the demo and it took forever to import and I've got a decent enough computer. It crashed on me once or twice too and I hardly did anything.

SignCut looks like a player but I couldn't find a welding option.

What else is out there. Also it seems like the software made in Europe and such is really of a competitive price and I suspect much of it does 90% or more of what Flexi and Signlab do. The additional 10% is stuff that I'll likely never do anyway.

John

 

[jayhawksigns]

Have you looked at Inspire XP Pro? Here is a link to their site. Click me.

I thought this software was cheaper than it was, I guess I remember when they were doing their initial promotion pricing.

 

[John Yucca]

Matthew,

I saw that from your response in "the new guy" forum. I'm not in business so don't want to plop down too much cash. I don't mind paying for value though.

I don't see myself going into business but I do seeing myself augmenting my income a bit and possibly opening a little shop when i retire, not to make money so much as to keep myself occupied. That's a few years down the road though.

Thanks for the link.

John

 

[Bobby H]

Unfortunately, you get what you pay for.

In terms of sign making software, the expensive applications like Flexi or SignLab justify their price by how much better they work than their cheaper counterparts like Vinyl Master Pro or a CoCut plug-in. The same analogy works for mainstream graphics titles. Adobe Photoshop is clearly a much better bitmap editing tool than Paint Shop Pro and can justify its price. As a tool for professional use it is a good investment.

However, I would stay with something like CoCut (if possible) if you intend to pursue signmaking as more of a hobby rather than a business.