[wizard1]

I have Learned so much from reading this forum, Thank you everyone
I am considering vinyl, at present i contour cut, trace, import images etc into silhouette, it's ease of use is second to none, i design in PS7 save png or jpg and just open it in SD trace and send.
I have the latest Illustrator, and the latest Coral, so here's the Q's....
1. how the hell do i trace and send (not to SD) in these progs or any other plotter software
2. can i import jpg or png or do i have to convert to vector, then, how do i trace and send
3. do i have to have a recognised plotter installed before coral or illus will pick up the hardware to apply such functions
4. please recommend an easy plotter software with trial that i can download that has some kind of tutorial.

thank you all for your fantastic commitments to enable people like me to absorb your vast wealth of knowledge

 

[Corel Whisperer]

I have Learned so much from reading this forum, Thank you everyone
I am considering vinyl, at present i contour cut, trace, import images etc into silhouette, it's ease of use is second to none, i design in PS7 save png or jpg and just open it in SD trace and send.
I have the latest Illustrator, and the latest Coral, so here's the Q's....
1. how the hell do i trace and send (not to SD) in these progs or any other plotter software
2. can i import jpg or png or do i have to convert to vector, then, how do i trace and send
3. do i have to have a recognised plotter installed before coral or illus will pick up the hardware to apply such functions
4. please recommend an easy plotter software with trial that i can download that has some kind of tutorial.

thank you all for your fantastic commitments to enable people like me to absorb your vast wealth of knowledge

1 Corel has a trace function, with the bitmap on the page to Bitmap, Trace, Line Art.
2 All designs need to be vector to cut on a cutter.
3 No, you can design, trace and save your files without the cutter being installed or attached.
4 I don’t know of any “Plotter” software that you can down load and test without having the cutter? Most cutters come with a driver and the Roland cutters come with CutStudio to link Illustrator and Corel to the cutter.

 

[wizard1]

Thank you so much
one last thing i forgot to mention, can i contour cut from corel?
Thx

 

[wizard1]

Thank you so much
one last thing i forgot to mention, can i contour cut from corel?
Thx

1. am i right in thinking that corel is only used to import the image or create the design,
2. and then when the plotter and the cutter software are used as plugins only then can you trace, outline and contour cut?
3. if this is correct i should only use corel for the artwork not for actually tracing to sent to the plotter?
4. really confused lol

 

[Corel Whisperer]

1. am i right in thinking that corel is only used to import the image or create the design,
2. and then when the plotter and the cutter software are used as plugins only then can you trace, outline and contour cut?
3. if this is correct i should only use corel for the artwork not for actually tracing to sent to the plotter?
4. really confused lol

1 Corel has a trace function, with the bitmap on the page to Bitmap, Trace, Line Art.
2 You use the Plotter program and driver to sent the design to the cutter.
3 No, you can design, trace and save your files in Corel. Once complete you use the Plotter program to send the finished design to the cutter. Some Plotter programs let you design in them as well. But you said you had Corel so use what you have.
4 You might want to Google using a Cutter and take a look at all the videos online, it might help you understand the process.