VersaWorks or Flexi issue with CutContour?

[vortexblue]

I've got a file that I created in Graphtec Pro Studio (Graphtec's free Flexi variant). It is a solid color, with a stroke on the outside. I added a cut contour where I want the cuts, and left a bleed area for the printing process. The second pic shows this.
When I bring it into VW (first pic), it eliminates some of my lines. Look in the A and between the T & U.

I've tried thickning the CutContour line to .25, I've tried it at .013 and 0 (all suggestions from this site) with no luck.

In the future (due to the quality of cut on the bn-20a), I may split this job apart to run on my graphtec, but I think I should be able to get this done for now in VersaWorks.

I am completely new to VW, so I may be missing something! Any help is appreciated.

 

[victor bogdanov]

Looks normal, thats how the preview looks. Print it and see what happens

 

[vortexblue]

I did print it, which prompted looking into the issue.
It prints just like the preview - no middle in the A, the lines between the T & U have been merged and eliminated.

It's almost like VW is moving the cut line to the full thickness of the bleed? Is there a tolerance setting or something I've missed?

 

[Zoogee World]

Have you tried setting it up in illustrator and trying it in VW?

 

[vortexblue]

I have not.
This 'great value flexi' is my daily driver - I've done all my designs and run the cutter from it.
I've only dabbled with .ai, but I'll give it a go.

Thanks for the suggestions

 

[Zoogee World]

I've never used Flexi, so couldn't say for sure, but I always create my print files in Illustrator and add the cut contour. VW will take both pdf's and EPS's, which ever you prefer to save as. If you don't have the actual Versa Works swatches, just use a magenta stroke, I typically do .25pt, hope this helps.

 

[weyandsign]

How are you bringing it into VW? You should be exporting an EPS file from your program into VW. Also you should try using outlines instead of strokes.

 

[vortexblue]

When I installed the VW software, there was an export feature that gets built into Flexi. I highlight what I want to send to RIP, and press the VW button. I open VW and the selection is there. It does send it as an EPS. See screenshot of button.

_______
From Zoogee's suggestion: I exported the file as an .ai from Flexi, and opened it in Illustrator. It is different! It does match what is being printed, though. See screenshot.
That grey line is on the outside of the bleed, and not where it's supposed to be.

So it looks like we're onto something!

Can we assume it's the .FS-->.eps conversion?

 

[Zoogee World]

When I installed the VW software, there was an export feature that gets built into Flexi. I highlight what I want to send to RIP, and press the VW button. I open VW and the selection is there. It does send it as an EPS. See screenshot of button.

_______
From Zoogee's suggestion: I exported the file as an .ai from Flexi, and opened it in Illustrator. It is different! It does match what is being printed, though. See screenshot.
That grey line is on the outside of the bleed, and not where it's supposed to be.

So it looks like we're onto something!

Can we assume it's the .FS-->.eps conversion?

Sounds like it's the Flexi program that is doing something that the other programs don't like.

 

[weyandsign]

So what happens if you manually export as EPS instead of using the "send to VW" function? Illustrator and Flexi handle stroke lines differently. Use outline in Flexi instead of stroke lines.

 

[vortexblue]

Hi Weyandsign. I just gave that a shot.
-Exported the file from Flexi as .eps (option to include cut lines checked)
-opened in VW. Looks to be the same error as before (no test print yet, but I will try)
-opened in Illustrator. Looks to be the same error as before (cut line in the wrong spot)
-made a new doc in Flexi, imported the .eps: Looks great- cut lines are as intended.

 

[weyandsign]

Goto Effects -> Separate contour cut. Then export and see what it looks like

 

[vortexblue]

Yeah! So that's it. I separated the ContourCut and it shows it as it's being exported (wrong for the job...), not what I though was being shown (cut contour in the middle of the stroke/ bleed).

So it seems this is a case of crap in, crap out on my part. It's weird that when I selected the contour cut line in Design editor, it showed the line that I *thought* was the contour.

I just re-arranged the file components and it looks good in the VersaWorks preview.
I will reprint, but I'm confident that this will do the trick.

Thankyou!