Corel Draw – Teddy and Dog Tag

Q: When you do your webinars, please show more actual pictures of what you are doing and how you are doing the work. Such as the picture of Teddy and wht way you did the work.

A: The webinar was about Transfer Papers but the following video will show the process of how the Teddy Transfer was created. the only thing I didn’t do in this video was type in Teddy’s name.

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Cadworx – clipart

Q: I was looking at Cadworx and is all of the clipart cutable? Even when it over laps like this graphic?

A: Yes, all of the clipart in Cadworx is Vector Art. However, some designs need work to make them cutable friendly. The design you picked needs some work because it does overlap and the cutter would cut right through both objects. Look at the following video to show how you can seperate the two objects.

Vectorizing a jpeg in Cadworxlive.com

Q:  You said you can convert a jpeg file into Vector Art. How do you do that?

A:  Cadworx does a great job of converting a jpeg into Vector Art. The following video will take you through the process. Cadwork is meant to convert a jpeg into Vector art for cutting. It is not meant to convert a photograph that is not feasible for cutting. Practice on some jpegs and you see how easy it is. In Cadworx it says you can  select up to three foreground colors. You can select more then three and sometimes you will want to select more then three and then combine them in the cutting software. That is another video.

Macintosh or Linux

Q:  Does the program you just demonstrated, Cadworx, work with all browsers? I am a Mac user and these types of things are often not compatible for us.

A:  The Cadworx Designer and Cadworx Easy Teams are platform independent, which means it is compatible with various operating systems including Macintosh and Linux. The only drawback is the VectorCut cut drive software which we provide to support select Stahls’ cutters is not compatible with non-Windows operating systems, as it requires the Microsoft .NET Framework Version 2.0 or higher. However, Cadworx software contains the option to export your design files as a .plt (HPGL) file, and .plt files are recognized by some cut drive software and advanced graphic programs, such as Corel Draw. So, if you have cut drive software which supports the import of .plt files, then you will be able to use CadworxLive.

Drivers for cutters

Q: What software is available for a cutter not sold by Stahls’ ID Direct or Imprintables Warehouse?

A: CadworxLive offers the VectorCut cut driver application for cutting on select Stahls’ cutters. However, if your cutter is not one of the supported cutters in VectorCut, there is an option to export .plt files from the Cadworx Designer by selecting ‘File -> Export PLT (HPGL)’ within the Designer. The .plt file is a common file type recognized by some cut drive software and advanced graphics programs, such as Corel Draw. If you are using a cut driver other than VectorCut that allows import .plt then you can follow this export option, and you can export a .plt file of your design from the Cadworx Designer to import into your cut drive software. Otherwise, if your cut drive software does not import .plt files, you will need to find an alternative solution to use the Cadworx Designer with your cutter. Another possible solution would be to import your .plt file into an advanced graphics program (if you have Corel Draw, et al), and export the .plt design file as another file type that your cut drive software supports (i.e. .eps).

Print and Cut

Q: How do you get the registration marks when using the Optic Eye registration system with the GX-24 cutter?

A: The software that comes with the GX-24 (CutStudio) has the option to select the Print & Cut function. You can turn it on or off by going to “File” and in the drop down box select “Print & Cut” and you will see the crop marks appear. See the following picture.

Masking

Q: What is the process for using masking/application tape if the graphic contains several elements you want to keep aligned?

A: In the webinar I demonstrated using opaque transfer papers for dark garments. This is printed in positive so when you weed away the waste you need to pick the design up and if the design has several elements the easiest way is to use a pressure sensitive mask. Masking materials are available from our sponsor companies. The following video shows the masking process picking up twill material. You can advance the time on the video to see just the masking: (50 to 2:00). 

60 Degree Blade

Q: Where do you use the 60 degree angle blade?

A: In the 5-5-09 webinar we featured the Roland GX-24 vinyl cutter and mentioned using a 60 degree and 45 degree blade. For products from our sponsor companies the 45 degree blade is used in most cases except when cutting thicker materials such as Flock and Twill. Some people will tell you that they use the same degree blade for all of the materials. I believe using the proper tool for the job makes the job easier and gives you a much better finished product. The following video shows how to change the blade in the GX-24 cutter.