Vinyl specific software?

[Bleemus]

I have Cut Studio and a GS-24. I mostly do vinyl lettering for boats with a bit of graphic ripping with Versaworks via a friends sign shop. Instead of all the unneeded features of Ai and Corel I have been looking at vinyl specific software such as VinylMaster Pro. Anyone have experience with it or similar?

Watching their tutorials they seem to have a lot of timesaving features for vinyl cutters compared to Ai and Corel.

Thanks for any advice.

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[2B]

we mainly us CorelDRAW and I will have to disagree with the assumption of time saving features.
from Corel, we can design and send either the entire design or specific pieces/selctions directly to the Summa Plotter for cutting, about as time saving as you can get

the speed of which you design comes with experience with the program and the understanding of the shortcut keys.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

the speed of which you design comes with experience with the program and the understanding of the shortcut keys.

I agree (although Ai user here) and would have to add in not only the 2 points above, but also one's familiarity and experience with the production medium as well. That can also help or hinder how quickly one designs.

 

[Bleemus]

So does Corel have one click auto-outline to eliminate vinyl overlap?

Also does it have auto color seperation so when you go to cut it a single color will cut without specifying which cut lines are which colors?

Easy weeding?

I tried to find these features in Ai and couldnt.

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[studio 440]

Take a look at flexisign pro

 

[WildWestDesigns]

I tried to find these features in Ai and couldnt.

Some functionality, "you" would have to see about creating an "Action" for. Once the "Action" has been created, it then becomes more or less 1 click and done (more or less depends on how much user involvement is desired).

Some have plugins that would automate those processes in Ai or in DRAW (if you don't want to create them yourself).

 

[rjssigns]

Take a look at flexisign pro

This^^^
Flexi user for years. Stupid simple for cut vinyl, even multi-color jobs. If you're just cutting vinyl though you wouldn't need the pro version.

 

[Bleemus]

It appears that they no longer make Flexisign. Just a subscription model to Flexi which is a full blown competitor to Ai. Doesnt seem to suit the simplify aspect I was looking for to get my helper in on the design side. Will keep looking and thanks for the feedback so far.

VinylMaster seems to be closest to what I am looking for and their support team replied in less than an hour with a cogent response.

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[WildWestDesigns]

It appears that they no longer make Flexisign. Just a subscription model to Flexi which is a full blown competitor to Ai.

Wow, you are right. Last time that I had looked you had an option for both a perpetual or a subscription version. Now, everything that I saw is just subscription on the site. So much for them offering both (which I guess it's all inevitable with the way things are going).

I wonder how much longer it'll before other vendors that offer both types of licenses will totally be committed to the subscription model. But I digress.

Edit to Add:

I did see something about going through a reseller, maybe it's just through resellers able to get a perpetual license. Might want to see about a reseller, might still have that ability.

 

[shoresigns]

We use Illustrator to set up cutting files and run our plotter. Merging/welding paths is very simple, as is adding weeding lines between lines of text. Our Graphtec plugin to cut directly from Illustrator does some of those things, too, but we don't generally use it for that.

 

[Bleemus]

Looking at the Flexi in more depth and it seems to be a viable avenue. $50 month.

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[d fleming]

Signlab.

 

[Bleemus]

Just did a few hours with Vinylmaster Pro Demo. I found it easy and would suit my meager needs for simple boat vinyl projects. For more complex things I have free access to a 54" Versacamm and Versaworks at my buddies sign shop. That factor had me take Flexi off the list.

Downloading Signlab Demo now and will spend a few hours with it tomorrow and make a decision.

Thanks to all for opening my eyes.

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[rjssigns]

FWIW:
Just finished a chat session with April at SAI. She said perpetual licenses are still available. Said she would tell the marketing department about the web page showing subscription only.
One of two ways to look at this. Either she is right or hasn't been told about the latest changes.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

FWIW:
Just finished a chat session with April at SAI. She said perpetual licenses are still available. Said she would tell the marketing department about the web page showing subscription only.
One of two ways to look at this. Either she is right or hasn't been told about the latest changes.

Yesterday I saw that if wanted to "buy" the software, have to go through a reseller. If "you" didn't go through a reseller, then it was subscription directly through them.

At least that's one way to interpret it. Wording, I don't think, was exactly the best on that. I don't see why they wouldn't offer both directly from them as well. Unless that is something specific to drive people through resellers.

 

[Bleemus]

While it looks like a great program I have ruled Flexi out. Spent yesterday with Vinylmaster Pro and today I am putting Signlab through some testing.

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[weme]

Take a look at WinPCSIGN, I've used this program for years.

 

[Graphics95]

To muddy the waters with yet another option:

We use primarily Corel and AI. We hired a designer who was proficient in Flexi.

When we realized the learning curve involved in getting our new helper up to speed in our system, we looked for options. We ended up with Vinyl Express LXi.

The designer was immediately productive, and the rest of us were able to get around in the program, when needed. This was years ago ... we still keep a system around with it running because it will sometimes import certain files that Corel will not.

 

[BlueDuck]

yet another option... Sign Wizard.
For vinyl and now printing, I have been using SignWizard from Aires Graphics for years. www.aries-graphics.com/
Intuitive and very fast for vinyl cutting work. Version7 handles all my printing needs very well using my Versacamm.
I have not used the LED lighting design module but I know it is popular with those in that field.

 

[Bleemus]

Thanks for all the ideas. After a day with Vinylmaster and a day with Signlab demos I decided to go with VM.
It does everything I need and talks to my cutter perfectly.

Got the Pro version on a crossgrade offer for $300 on Amazon. http://amzn.to/2gRggmj

Appreciate all the feedback!

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