any Signlab 8 users here?

[gabagoo]

I just want to know who I can private message for help. lol

I was basically forced to move from Signlab 5 (which I know inside out) to Signlab 8, and I am having trouble trying to figure out certain operations and shortcuts. heck, just trying to figure out how to inset a decorative border almost put me in the emergency room~~

[CentralSigns]

I'm using signlab 8 but not print. My help may be limited. I do most design work in CorelDRAW X3.

[d fleming]

Using 8 print/cut

[gabagoo]

thanks guys, be prepared to be nagged a little for help. I am a slow learner I thinks

[d fleming]

Fire away, I'll do what I can fer ya!

[sardocs]

We recently jumped from Signlab 3 to SignLab VinylPro 7.1. Seems If we had waited about one month we would have gotten ver8. We should have waited for 8. It was released right after we made our purchase. We used to use Signlab for design as well as cutting. Now we have to design in Corel and use Signlab for cutting only . I can't get Signlab to do hardly anything that we used to be able to do. It seems way more complicated than it needs to be. I expected a learning curve, but we got a learning cliff...

[d fleming]

Recently? 8 has been out a few years.

[David Wright]

We recently jumped from Signlab 3 to SignLab VinylPro 7.1. Seems If we had waited about one month we would have gotten ver8. We should have waited for 8. It was released right after we made our purchase. We used to use Signlab for design as well as cutting. Now we have to design in Corel and use Signlab for cutting only . I can't get Signlab to do hardly anything that we used to be able to do. It seems way more complicated than it needs to be. I expected a learning curve, but we got a learning cliff...


Why upgrade just to cut and not design also. Any bridge program from Corel would do as much and way cheaper.

[gabagoo]

I seriously spent almost an hour trying to figure out how to do an inset border. When I found someone who told me how I was shocked and never would have figured it out if left on my own.
I guess i could use the help menus but i find those frustrating too.

I had my older computer still set up to be able to run 5 if need be, but something weird happened and I had to reinstall it last week and now as the program is loading, when it starts to load the vef fonts it kaks out and shuts down and it wont run at all.
I now have no choice but to work in 8, until I can figure out why 5 refuses to work now.
Naturally there is no support for 5 and understandable.

2 weeks and I be back to high speed layouts....I hope!!!!

[JR's]

Gabagoo, I'm a signlab8 P&C user to. I still don't know how to do inset a decorative border. but you could PM me all you want and I will do my best to help were I can.

JR

[signage]

Gabagoo signup for Signlabs web site they have video tutorials on most of the features!

[gabagoo]

Gabagoo signup for Signlabs web site they have video tutorials on most of the features!


did it thank you

[gabagoo]

OK a couple of simple items that I have not quite figured out.

1) When using the dimension tool you used to right click to change font size and other attributes. That dont seem to work anymore so where do you go to set this up


2) When I cut vinyl I want the cutter to cut everything along the y axis as it enters the plotter so that you dont get that back and forth movement which wastes so much time and can set the skew off on long runs. I see it in the cut dialogue box and have tried both horizontal and vertical but cant get it to cut the same way as I had it set in version 5. the plotter is still moving all over the place. I see some secondary items you can click like sort within paragraph and show sort numbers

[signage]

In the plot defaults in the options box you need to select sort and then in the next dialog box select nearest.

[gabagoo]

OK Guys thanks.....Got those two figured out now.......

This is a little minor but I am a kerning freak. I remember version 5 had auto kerning and did a very good job of it. Now I see everything looks a little crappy in the kerning department... I know I can do it manually but what ever happened to auto kerning...is it still there but I have no knowledge how to access it or is it gone?

[gabagoo]

one more thing..... I like to put weed boxes around cut vinyl.... Is it necessary to have to always hit the apply button? what a waste of time.... Can I make a weed border a hot key and by pass the APPLY option? You would think the idea is to make the software faster...in this case I now have to make 2 commands when it used to be one.

[schmitty]

tried to upload a snap shot, but didnt work out.

But it's the button with the 'a a' next to the hard kerning numbers.

Also, you can hold down <CTR> and double click on the line of text and it will pop up the kerning nodes.

Good Luck!

[gabagoo]

tried to upload a snap shot, but didnt work out.

But it's the button with the 'a a' next to the hard kerning numbers.

Also, you can hold down <CTR> and double click on the line of text and it will pop up the kerning nodes.

Good Luck!


Thanks for the double click option, but I found that version 5 did a much nicer natural kerning in just about all fonts. Now I am seeing at 100% kerning what I see in other softwares like illy and corel, just to much damn space. I guess at this point in the learning curve I dont have the time to mess around with it, but it would be nice if there was an auto function like before without having to press hit or do anything outside of type text.

[sardocs]

Thanks Schmitty for the ctrl doubleclick tip. That's a time saver. Dave Wright - The reason we got the vinyl only version is we have a computer dedicated to the plotter and a separate, networked computer for the printer. I've used Signlab since it was a dos program in the days before windows or inkjet existed. After windows came along I got Corel from the beginning too. When I upgraded my way up to Signlab ver 3.something or other, I just stuck with it until last year. I use corel 12 on its own computer for design and printing.

[CentralSigns]

The reason we got the vinyl only version is we have a computer dedicated to the plotter and a separate, networked computer for the printer. I use corel 12 on its own computer for design and printing.

Kind of the same setup here as Sardocs. Corel and Versaworks to printer. Separate cutter on it's own computer with SignLab8. Is it worth the $1200 they want for the for print and cut upgrade? I just upgraded to the SignLab Vinyl 8 from 7.7 in June. Kind of wish I would have done it all at that time.

[gabagoo]

Thanks Schmitty for the ctrl doubleclick tip. That's a time saver. Dave Wright - The reason we got the vinyl only version is we have a computer dedicated to the plotter and a separate, networked computer for the printer. I've used Signlab since it was a dos program in the days before windows or inkjet existed. After windows came along I got Corel from the beginning too. When I upgraded my way up to Signlab ver 3.something or other, I just stuck with it until last year. I use corel 12 on its own computer for design and printing.

I too had Signlab back when it was a dos program and used a fastboard through our Gerber Sprint to cut. I too used Corel draw to do most work but somewhere down the line I switched over to Signlab and stuck with that. When we bought the Edge in 96 using Graphics Advantage was anything but!!!! Being so used to how to operate Signlab I found GA very confining and still with Omega never set anything up in it, rather I send GAD files across the network and do minor setup in Omega.\

I also had to learn Flexi for our printer and again found it so different from Signlab, so again i just exported files across.

If I dont learn Signlab 8 to the max I will be half azzed at all my software!!! lol

Just want to thank you guys for helping me out. I always dreaded the day I would have to switch out of 5, but I am progressing well as I have no other choice.:corndog:

[sardocs]

The only reason I moved up to 7.whatever is the old windows 3.1 computer finally kakked so it was replaced with a modern monster computer that won't run my old Signlab. Compared to Coreldraw I can't get used to the grainy look of the new Signlab workspace.

[gabagoo]

The only reason I moved up to 7.whatever is the old windows 3.1 computer finally kakked so it was replaced with a modern monster computer that won't run my old Signlab. Compared to Coreldraw I can't get used to the grainy look of the new Signlab workspace.

ditto and dont forget the cheap low res icons are pitiful and meaningless for the most part

[James Burke]

Is it just my setup (SignLab 8), or does everybody's overall screen resolution in this program seem lackluster?

Adobe Illustrator resolution seems to be a thousand times better.

Am I doing something wrong?

I do most of my design / node editing in Illustrator and AutoCAD and only cut from SignLab.

[David Wright]

No James, it isn't just you. I am a long time Signlab user and even with the newer upgrades the interface is Fisher Price looking and the resolution and overall look of the display is rough. Corel has options for display all the way to enhanced view which all look much better, same with other programs as well.

I am not sure why this is but it doesn't help the design experience looking at such a poor display

[James Burke]

Fisher Price, huh? I was thinking more like the Flintstone's. The only way I can get a razor sharp edge is to zoom in the maximum amount, but what's the use of that when you have to pan all the time?

Hair width lines are another bugger. They actually appear to have total sections missing until you zoom in on them.

[chopper]

gab,
to auto kern, go to edit, edit font in the drop down,
in the lower left corner is the auto kern button, click on it and set the spacing for the font and hit apply, I think you need to do this for each font, so basically you can have different kerning for each font (and each letter) and save the font that way, and my resolution on my screen looks fine unless I am misunderstanding what is being said....
gab.. did you get the training cd when you bought sl8? I didn't but seen that later they were offering it for free I called cadlink and they sent me the training videos for free...
//chopper

[JR's]

Chopper thanks for the auto kern tip. and I dint know thy had a training video???

Gab have you tried the cotour cut yet, thats a pretty cool tool.

JR

[gabagoo]

Chopper thanks for the auto kern tip. and I dint know thy had a training video???

Gab have you tried the cotour cut yet, thats a pretty cool tool.

JR


yes I used the contour cut in my old version as well.

I never received any DVD but I just need to learn the basics or more accurately how they have changed the basics. I am progressing well and have a handle on it.
Like I stated previous, there are a few areas I do not like and they seem to take a little longer, especially any operation that finishes with the annoying "APPLY" step. Man if I didn't want to do it I wouldn't have, I dont need to be prompted each and every time. Anyone from cadlink eavesdropping....dump that step...we are professionals ya know!!!


When I mentioned resoulution...the graphics on the screen are fine, it is the little icons they use to show you any operation. For some reason they are like pixelated to death which is weird because even the most horrible low res bitmap off the web looks ok on the screen at 1" lol

[JR's]

in SL8 P&C i don't like the way thy have the save as. the old way was better IMO.

JR

[gabagoo]

I may have a graphics card issue as sometimes the screen changes as though I was demagnifying whilst in the middle of doing something else. I wonder if there are any patches to for the program that I should be looking for or maybe I need a better video card?

[signage]

To see what release you have click on help>about then type R enter. This will show what release you have under the version.