Recent content by bob

A machine that both prints and cuts does neither of these tasks as well as two separate dedicated machines. When constructing a print/cut machine, there will exist many conflicting requirements where either the printing or the cutting will have to make concessions in order to accommodate the...

When you take these photos tape a 16x24 framing square on the trailer. It can be most anywhere in the shot but closest to the center is best and square to the trailer is a must. Do this for each side as well as the front, and back. Shoot each side as straight on as you can. When you import these...

Yet Another confirming instance showing why a script should never be arched.

Au contraire, stupid questions abound. Often a result of not knowing enough to be able to ask a good question, making dubious assumptions, or some combination of these and perhaps other factors. Moreover, the equally vacuous 'we're all still learning' is true at some general level but what one...

Ideally you want to print at somewhere around 4 times the ppi of the input. This yields 16 printer dots per image pixel. On a CMYK printer this means 4^16 possible colors for each image pixel. If you're printing at 720 dpi then anything more than a 180ppi input is overkill and won't improve much...

Back before the most of you were born I did a lot of work for Atari. New game prototype cabinets at their facility near Los Gatos CA and windows at various Atari arcades around the Bay Area. All of these were hand lettered since since vinyl didn't exist at that time. I don't remember any...

Why don't you just print and cut the entire image, flames and text, as one decal? Why are you making so much unnecessary work for whomever is gong to install this?

Exactly so. What you're trying to do is flatten the window into a two-dimensional object. The simplest way is to as CGSGuy suggests and make a paper template. Cover the widow with paper and then draw the outline of the window with a Sharpie or whatever. Remove the paper from the window and...

Unless the printer isn't moving either the media or it's carriage in some bizarre non-linear manner, in which case the circles should not print as circles, it's difficult to comprehend how it could be responsible for this. Assuming that there are at least four registration marks, one in each...

Assuming that you're dealing with four squares and they are exactly overlaying each other on shared boundaries, weld all four together and use the result of the weld.

Regardless of what it is, simply print the entire thing, gold and black outline/drop shadow, on high quality silver metallic vinyl. Use the lightest silver available since that's going to be your white point. Create the gold fill by first choosing the proper color for the gold, most likely some...

Always send bitmaps, what you call 'raster images', as RGB, never CMYK. Then, somewhere in your RIP are some settings called 'Rendering Intents'. Find them and set the one for 'Bitmaps' to 'Perceptual'. Set everything else to 'No color correction', a Good Thing but doesn't affect bitmaps...

In your RIP.

Mistake. Always send bitmaps in RGB. Your RIP can deal with converting to CMYK far better than any other software you have. Set your Rendering Intents to 'Perceptual' for bitmaps and to 'No Color Correction' for everything else. Try it and you might be pleasantly surprised. Then print a Pantone...

What, exactly, are you, or they, trying to achieve?