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What sign software does everyone use?

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casigngirl

New Member
I'm in the market for some new sign software in the future. Just wondering what everyone is using. I'm currently using Anagraph DesignArt.
 
Rick

Rick

Certified Enneadecagon Designer
What do you need it to do? Just cut vinyl? Print as well?

If it's just to cut vinyl - which vinyl cutter do you have?
 
C

casigngirl

New Member
Cut vinyl. No print. I have a Graphtec plotter. I have a Roland digital printer, as well, I use Roland software for that.
 
meandmyminions

meandmyminions

New Member
I've used Illustrator for design and different Vinyl cutting programs. The shop I work at uses CorelDraw for design and FlexiSign for cutting. Seems to work well and they use a Roland Vinyl Cutter. Still new to learning CorelDraw but it seems pretty simple. I'm testing a similar setup at home with my own equipment which is just a cheap US Cutter MH-871 MK2. Not a production environment at home. I guess it all depends on what you're using your equipment for is what I would have to say. I was trained in school for Adobe Programs on the design side of things but I don't think the switch to using Corel is all that hard. I'm starting to like Flexi also.
 
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svetoslav

New Member
Hi all
I use a adobe illistrator cc to design and a flexi sign to cut
use for someting freehand opcions dosn exist on flexi and illustrator
 
chester215

chester215

Just call me Chester.
Flexi 7.5 & 10 on different computers.

No need for the newer version unless the older one doesn't have the drivers for the hardware you have.
In my opinion it is a simple program that is easy to learn, but you pay for it.

Purchased a full version of Signlab but it is a totally different program than flexi, and to us seems a little more complicated.
If you are starting out fresh it probably would be ok but we never use it since there would be a learning curve for us.
 
papabud

papabud

Lone Wolf
i use adobe illustrator for design and cut using the cutting master plug in.
then i use onyx for my print/cut needs.
i am totally happy with this
 
2

2ny

New Member
Hi.
Flexi 10.5.1, CorelDraw X4, Roland Versaworks. We have a Summa T-series plotter, a Roland SP-300 and a Roland SG-540.
We have used Flexi for many years now, and are quite happy with it. CorelDraw was the go to for print jobs until X5 came out. Then Corel did something with the colorprofiling that did not sit well with the colors we got on our printer, so now we either export jobs from Flexi -or fall back to Corel X4 in special cases.

Best of luck.
Tony
 
HecklnDecalr

HecklnDecalr

New Member
We use Flexi 12. We print and cut with it on all our pc's in the shop. Works...well enough I suppose.
Still kinda miss the good old days of Scanvec inspire though if I'm being honest lol. So simple.
 
spooledUP7

spooledUP7

New Member
I have used Corel, Freehand, and Omega in the past, and currently run Illustrator CC for ads, text rich art, and for saving art for output by a third party but I use Flexisign Cloud for all production. Flexi is in my mind the best design software available. It's not perfect, but it is the most efficient I have ever used. (I hated it when I first heard of it because I believed nothing was better than Illustrator)

Here are the key pros for why I think this way. Please note that there may be similarities in functions within Corel, Omega and Illustrator but I'm looking at it from a efficiency standpoint vs actual function. I will also list the cons, because there are plenty of them.

Flexisign Pros:
  • Dynamic floating tool panes. I 100% of the time use Design Central, and Fill/Stroke editor. Both automatically change displaying information according to your active tool. Illustrator requires you to have a window for each tool, filling up your screen or requiring your to move them to another monitor. Not efficient. I also regularly use the layers pane too but only for vehicle wraps.
  • 100% scale (Unlimited artboard size) Honestly, I don't understand why illustrator has a limit. Vehicle wraps NOT in scale are a recipe for mistakes
  • Path editor tools - This alone is worth the program. AB curve, spline, arc, corner etc... controls are like nothing else. You can create and or clean up logos in no time at all. I have shown this to a hundred people and it gets them every time. Every freakin time!
  • Effects - easy to understand combine such as fuse, knock out, remove overlap, separate overlap.... Illustrator has this but honestly I have to guess every time because the tools are not clear. I don't even want to try remember them even after 20 years using illustrator.
  • Type control - Leading, kerning, rotation, hyper/sub, path follow, arc - So simple and clean and efficient for sign work
  • Resize tool - Again working in scale is so much more efficient in my mind so taking a photo of say a box van, create box over the known area, click resize on the box with scale all enabled, enter the real life size and hit enter. Bam! 100% scale in a second. Efficient AF.
  • Auto nest - Please do I really need to explain the efficiency of this function?
  • Step and repeat - Customer calls, How much for a 6" x 5" decal? No problem, know sheet size, enter rectangle 6x5, click Step and Repeat, enter x a y repeat, spacing and bang you have your quantity up vs your sheet price.
  • Select by Attribute - So amazing. Select ALL and any specific colors, effects, types, strokes, anything in one click! Eat that illustrator!
  • Filter by... Same as Select by attribute but in one click you can filter out specific colors... leaving you with just what you want to edit
  • Trace - Flexi for the longest time owned this market but it has lost it's edge to Illustrator. Still, for a fast and easy trace I will use flexi. For more complicated and higher fidelity traces I use Image Trace from illustrator.
  • Rip and Print (I know it's only available for specific packages) Integrated printer and plotter with a massive library of device drivers. I find it extremely efficient to output without having to export jobs. With Rip and Print you can output panels, cut jobs, and contour cut prints directly from within Flexi without ever leaving the design software. You still have the option to use Production Manager like any other rip but there's no need to do so.
  • Contour cut. Dynamically create contour cuts numerically, optically, inside holes, no holes, curves, corners, inline or outline based on the totality of the object. Quickly assign multiple contour cut colors for individual contour cut attributes such as force, speed, condition presets.... all from within Flexi.
  • Adobe transparency effects (Flexi 10 up I think) I use this daily. Efficient way to create blending effects
  • Serialization - Not the most polished function but super amazing to have
  • Open Illustrator files - Does an excellent job so long as the art is contained within the artboard and layers are not hidden or locked. Super efficient if you can avoid the Illustrator open/export/save as dance.
  • Color pallets. Add persistent and frequently used colors to your pallet. Name them, adjust them, map them... It's the best. Just double click a color from a color book like Pantone and rename it and bam, it's now available as that name forever while leaving the original it's original name. Just be sure to save your modified color table manually or upon closing.
  • Guide control - First, Illustrator sucks at this. Why would you want guides to lock as a default? Don't answer. Anyway, drag a guide in just like any other design suite, but double click it and rotate freely, numerically, or whatever. Guides just rock and it's something Flexi has got beautifully right.
  • Alignment and distribute - Again, illustrator has this all wrong. Flexi has it all right. One word - Hierarchy. Align to parent object, page, guide groups, the universe... No switching settings it just does it. Align and Distribute just works. Efficient.
  • Overprint - Screw you illustrator. Flexi gives you access to overprint all the time, and not in some far-off pane like in Illustrator
CONS:
  • Not 64 bit!!!! Come on SAi!!!! It's 2018!!!!!! - Illustrator, and Corel are kicking your ass. Flexi only uses one processor core so be sure it's a fast one. It also doesn't give two flips about your video card. Lame
  • Updated tool icons. I started with Flexi 7x and so with every new install I retro select the 7x workspace because the icons are smaller and make more sense visually. They have higher contrast for the effect when active vs the monotone and larger current icons.
  • Lack of "Wrap around object" for text.
  • Lack of tab control. Really? I am mean really.
  • Paragraph control. It's there but it's weak
  • Multiple pages. None. It should. Freehand had this in 1999. Illustrator now allows multiple artboards. This is cool.
  • Crappy rendering - This has gotten much better since my 7x days but still Illustrator renders the screen smooth and beautifully whereas Flexi is harsh or super flat depending on whether you have Soft Proof on.
  • Crashes without auto recovery. Adobe kills it here
  • Does not save environmental changes unless you exit the application (Color tables are an exception because you can manually save) so when you crash you loose things like last open location, tool options, and user initiated defaults.
  • Does not open or export Corel files. Just accept that Corel is a player SAi and add the support please
  • Weak sauce for PLT files. Corel is king
  • No import location tool. I use a lot of frequently used art elements and unlike Freehand there is no way to quickly access your library of art. Whats strange is that in 7x it at least allowed you to have a persistent "Last location" for "Import" separate from "Open" location. This effectively served the same purpose as Freehand's library. With the current version of Flexi both Open and Import share the same last opened location. Lame
  • Color book selection. This realllllllly sucks. In Illustrator one simply needs to type the name (Number for pantone) in the search field and you can quickly access the color for use, but in flexi you must either hover over the pallet (if you have it open) or scroll to the color in the Fill/Stroke editor. If you have multiple color tables open then it can be a challenge. This needs to be added and I can't believe after all these years they have yet to add it.
  • Output gremlins. I am sure this is true for many rips but lets say you have trailer wrap with ten panels. You let flexi handle the paneling through the Rip and Print or direct job through Production Manger, but on panel three your art doesn't contain any bitmaps or gradients but shares similar spot/rgb/cmyk colors like a stripe going through the entire length. Despite you sending the job all at once your #3 panel may print your colors differently forcing your to reprint, repeat the same output and frustratingly scratch your head until you finally just manually change the colors. This is a problem with rendering intent. I have no solution but to rasterize all large jobs prior to ripping. This defeats the purpose of Rip and Print in my mind.
Anyway, that's probably enough. I am went a little overboard but I'm like that. Did I miss anything, get it wrong or do you agree/disagree? I would love to hear your experiences.
 
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