Design-to-Cut Interface Programs

[RedlineMan]

Howdy All;

Based on my studies, discussions in other threads, and my recent thread; http://signs101.com/forums/showthread.php?goto=newpost&t=12849

...it appears I will most likely purchase CorelDRAW X3 for design work. I will also look seriously at adding an interface program to streamline the process of getting stuff cut.

I am aware that one can cut directly from DRAW. For those that do this -and particularly if you have done it both with and without an interface - do you find any limitations in cutting direct? Or, another way of putting it is, what features does an interface program offer me that will make it worth my while?

I am also interested in hearing what different interface programs are available. I am aware of CoCut. Are there others, and what have been the collective experience with them?

Thanks. It continues to be a Brave New World!

 

[Jackpine]

CiberCut and SignTools are two others. I had SignTools and it was ok. I have CiberCut and it is a full featured design/cutting program. Free download demo at www.cibercat.com.

 

[RedlineMan]

Looking at CiberCut, I had this thought;

Are the outline tracing facilities of these programs strong enough to take the average rasterized graphic I may create in PhotoShop (as long as it is not overly anti-aliased) and convert them cleanly to vecotrized files? If they can do this, why would I need another design program?

Man... that might sound like a dumb question, but it seems legit from my know-nothing perspective. Thanks for any help!

 

[ChiknNutz]

I can't say with any certainty about the vectorizing capabilities of CiberCut, but the more mainstream power-players are Corel X3, Illustrator (or Streamline if older than CS or CS2 I think) and Flexi. These are all design programs with very robust tracing capabilities. There are others, such as Imagaro Z which is supposed to be good, but have heard that it's no better than the aforementioned.

Personally, I'm quite content with the Corel/CoCut combo I have but that's just me. CoCut offers some nice features that you don't get in the Corel or Illy (but probably do with Flexi) such as welding by color, PowerWeed cut lines, nesting, etc. It also does a fair job of adding outlines, but I prefer to do that in Corel to maintain the integrity of the design in one place.

 

[Jackpine]

Corel X3 is a very good ( maybe the best version yet ) program to have. Strong vectoizing tool and easy to use. CiberCut vectorizes good but not like X3. CoCut is a very good cutting program also.