Weird problem with GA 6.2! Please help.

[DeVries Signs]

First, I wanted to thank Fred (and any others?) for having such a great forum for us! I have been around a few years on signweb, 4edgetalk, etc, but do more reading than posting usually. This is by far the best forum I've seen for the sign industry, however.

Anyway- I am a Home Improvement Contracting by "trade", but I also do sign work part time. I hope to eventually be doing it full time. (my Dad was in the sign biz for around 50yrs). I actually just started the equipment back up recently after about 2.5yrs of not doing any vinyl graphics work at all.

I am trying to cut a file but am having a problem when plotting it (GS-15 for now, also have an Envision 375 that isn't set up yet). The file is a "peeing Calvin" file that I borrowed from "Brands of the World". I realize that this is probably Copywritten artwork (although possibly not enforced much, but that's beside the point), however this decal is for my OWN vehicle, and I am not selling or distrbuting it.

(For those curious: "IFS" stands for "independent front suspension". I have swapped a "solid front axle" aka "SFA" into my truck, hence the reason for the decal)

So my weird problem here is:

I have imported the .eps file in composer and converted it to a .plt as I have done before with no problems (Import + GSP 32 bit file converter + eps to plt). Open the image in composer with no problem, so it appears as if all is well.

When trying to "show filled" (F8), I realized that something wacky is happening because the image was GRAY, when i have never used gray vinyl in the color pallette. The file has no "open points" anywhere (which would not allow it to FILL at all I guess).

So when I "plot selected", I see this:



This is with the weed border ON, and the weed border appears normal. Notice the green and red registration(?) marks?? What are they for and why are they here? Also- notice how the Cartoon image is RED, and the text is BLACK (normally everything should be BLACK here for cutting).

So as you may have guessed it, the cartoon image would NOT cut, but the text DID. Weird thing is, everything DREW fine when I selected the pen/plot (f9) and drew the image on paper. but it will not cut right when using cut/pounce (f8) on some scrap vinyl.

Removing the weed border, I still have those registration marks:


Pic below shows all that cuts (just text and weed border). The weed border cuts right up to the text with no space:




Pic below shows the image "filled" on composer. I did not use any gray vinyl in the palette, yet the cartoon shows filled gray (and I can't change this):



Another thing I noticed in PLOT was that I could not change the starting point for the knife. It would only allow the bottom left starting point:


One last thing to mention is I am getting "Violation Code 99" once in a while for no apparent reason. It does allow me to continue once I hit "enter", but it is annoying. I have checked the dongle and all seems to be ok. It's fairly OLD, but have just recently started having this problem. Any ideas what could be causing this?




Sorry for the long posts and hopefully the pics are not too large for the forum. If so, I apologize in advance.

And TIA for your help.

 

[Fred Weiss]

It looks like you have a foil fill assigned to the Calvin. Insure that you have only the vinyl desired and no foils in Composer ... all paths should be black.

Your pictures have been removed because they are offsite. Our rules require all images to be onsite. Link to Picture Posting Instructions.

 

[Bob Gilliland]

DeVries Signs,

Welcome to Signs 101. I was at one point active at the edge based forum and still somewhat active inside Letterville, but heap much praise and adoration to others of Signs 101 and believe it to be the best “well-rounded” sign based US effort. Now that we are done stroking Fred…

By default, Red represents a print attribute inside GSPPlot. Back in Compsosser, with everything selected, press [CTRL]+[2], and follow that up with [CTRL]+[1]. The first combination removed all Stroke attributes while the later removes all Fill attributes. Take the vector back into GSPPlot and everything should be Black. If you are not printing anything, you desire to see all vectors in Black. Red, Blue, or Purple should be a quick indicator that print attributes of some sort are set (standard print, Overprint, Overlap, etc.).

Also, when inside GSPPlot, you have the option to see what will be printed [CTRL]+[P], see what will be cut [CTRL]+[C], or see All [CTRL]+[A]. Something else you may want to get comfortable with.

 

[DeVries Signs]

Thanks for the fast replies.

Fred- I apologize for posting images from another website (I just hit the ol' "insert image" icon and url'ed away ) But I will remember for next time. (I just thought I would use my own bandwidth instead of yours)

Bob- I do recognize your pic and name from another board and time.

Back in Compsosser, with everything selected, press [CTRL]+[2], and follow that up with [CTRL]+[1]. The first combination removed all Stroke attributes while the later removes all Fill attributes. Take the vector back into GSPPlot and everything should be Black.

I just tried this (several times), and I'm afraid that it is not changing anything.

I selected the entire image that i want to plot; ctrl+2 and then ctrl+1, but it does not make any changes.

When I select all and hit ctrl+ f2, I can see what is assigned to CUT. When I hit ctrl+f3, I can see what is assigned to PRINT (this is a start!). However I can not seem to convert it to ALL CUT.

 

[DeVries Signs]

So since everything in composer is a .plt file, isn't there a way to make any part of the file "CUTTABLE", even if it's currently assigned for PRINTING?

The file I brought in was an eps. I don't know why it was originally assigned as PRINT only...but I'm hoping to somehow change it's status to CUT only (been reading the Gerber HELP but without finding the answers I need)

 

[Fred Weiss]

The only question is whether or not the shortcut keys changed from GA to Omega. I don't think they did.

In Composer

• Select All by pressing the F2 key
• Turn off all print fills by holding down the Control key and entering "1"
• Turn off all print strokes by holding down the Control key and entering "2"

That should leave you with nothing but cut paths. You might also want to select all and assign them all to be the same vinyl in case you have more than one vinyl assigned to the job.

 

[ndemond]

Put Calvin into composer, select him and put a .001 outline on him w/ box checked remove originals. Now you can clean up your calvin because if I remember the screen shot I think he had a case of the jaggities.

That is the way I take a shape assigned a fill and turn it into a object I can cut.
Freds way is the proper way I am sure. But this has worked for me.


Nancy

 

[DeVries Signs]

Thanks again for the replies.

I originally imported the eps file in Omega 2.5. It seems that when I exported it as a GA 6.2 plt file from Omega, it had the print assigned to it. So I went back to Omega and assigned a print AND cut to it, and re-imported it to GA. I was able to actually cut it on the plotter with no problem.

The image was GREEN in plot, and still had the print register marks...but it did cut as normal. I guess green is the color that symbolizes a "cut AND print" image..?

I guess what I needed to do was assign the image as CUT ONLY somehow from the beginning.

"Why do you use GA if you have Omega?" lol

Good question. That is because I am still quite a nOOb with Omega, and I am much more confident using GA instead (I at least know about CUTTING there).

The printing thing is a whole 'nuther thing I need to learn now. I got a refurbed Edge II from Hyatts (sorry if naming them was a no-no, I'll learn sooner or later about the rules) over 2 yrs ago and I have never used it (myself). ::ashamed::

I have been looking for some learning guide, dvds, etc, but have only found one book on the Edge, and it seems discontinued by the author or something. Looks like i will invest in the Omega learning guide though ($150). I hate to see my $8k Edge just sit there...