Uncle Dave

[Uncle Dave]

Howdy. Newbie to forum here. Forgive me if I'm clumsy. 22 Years in the sign biz. Started on a Gerber 4B. Have been running Omega 2.0 on a custom built computer for more years than I care to say. Computer dying, need to upgrade. We don't print in house. Have very good and reasonable local printer & CNC guy on the hook for routing. Would like to buy a new computer and upgrade to Omega 4.0. Also have Illustrator 9 & P-Shop 7. Question is, with the stuff 4.0 will do, do we still need Illustrator? How about P-Shop? We need to do basic photo manipulation occasionally now & probably more in the future. Right now, we just need a computer that is faster and won't croak all the time. Adobe is might pround of their software and their prices reflect this. Whaddya think?

 

[mikey-Oh]

Howdy Uncle Dave!

Don't use an Omega, so I don't know a vector option. However, in lieu of PS you could opt for GIMP. Not as many refined features/tools, but it's free.

 

[Travis Stanley]

Welcome:Welcome: .Corel is a less expensive option and fairly easy to learn.

 

[Uncle Dave]

mikey: Not quite sure what you mean about vector option. GIMP is pretty limited, but cool that it's free.

Travis: Corel ain't that much cheaper & I don't have time for a new learning curve.
Thanx, though!

 

[Red Ball]

Welcome from the kingdom of Texas!

I am a faithful Gerber dude since SM III, run number 1744. Then 4, 4B Sprint, Super Sprint etc. Currently I am on Omega 2.02 and having to then export 50% of all work to Illy to print on either our Gerber Solara or Roland SV540. The rest still is produced on our D200 router, Edge, HS15 or Suma T1010.

It is just to easy to stay with the program you are comfortable with (cut your teeth on) to change.

And it is a bit of a problem.

 

[renaldas22]

These days you see a lot of customer files created in Illustrator. We have Flexi and no Illustrator. Thats why our favorite file type to ask customer is pdf. So far so good we are not having big issues. But sometimes when pdf file is to complex Flexi refuses to import it. Photoshop usually helps there. It usually rasterizes any pdf. And Photoshop is very universal program. It is must have for any design company. I have been in couple situations when I regret we don't have Illustrator. I had to recreate customer supplied *.ai files in Flexi.
Regarding computer. To my understanding any computer you can get for money you have will be better than that what you had. So it does not really matters. Just get as good as you can afford.

 

[GB2]

Upgrading your computer is routine, upgrading to Omega 4.0 is a great idea, easy and problem free if you are a regular user. As far as the Adobe programs go, they work very well with the new Omega and since they are industry standards they make a very nice support system together. However, if you don't want to upgrade your Adobe programs, especially since they no longer qualify for an upgrade, then why don't you just continue to use your older versions on the new computer? They should still serve you well for years to come and you probably don't need all the technical bells and whistles of the newer versions anyway.

 

[Uncle Dave]

R: I often ask for .pdf's usually with success. I also have Acrobat which can convert to .eps some files that won't place in Illustrator. Some are just pictures saved as .pdf, though. No good for vinyl cuttin'. Gotta recreate anyway.

GB2: It's my understanding that my older versions of Illustrator and P-Shop won't run on Wim 7. If you know differently for sure, PLEASE let me know.

 

[GB2]

No, you are probably correct, I didn't realize you were upgrading to Windows 7 and had that possible conflict. Though I don't know anything about Windows 7, I have heard some talk about being able to run Windows 7 in an XP mode, so you should find out for sure if that would operate your older Adobe software. The other solution is just to keep a second computer around for the Adobe programs. You can easily and cheaply network the two together and have it all.

 

[Uncle Dave]

GB2: The second computer idea is brilliant. A bit clumsy, but sure would be cheap. The main thing I use illustrator for is importing other people's files for export to Gerber 2.0 which won't take anything past about AI 7. That and correcting the dreaded "bring to front" color problems Omega 2.0 has so that I can send a pic proof to a client. I understand that's fixed in 4.0. I assume 4.0 can directly import Illustrator CS .ai or .eps files. I think I might just get the new computer & Omega upgrade, keep my old system active, experiment & see what happens. Great advice. Thanx.

 

[Gino]

Welcome from PA.........................