Major Problem!

[RaceDayVinyls]

i have 2 vinyl cutting programs that i mainly use. the first being cibercut and the second being artcut 2002. artcut has decided to crash. i had about 3 hours to cut all the graphics for a race car and when i went to open artcut and get started, it said 'please insert install cd-r', so i did. nothing happened. i tried this a few times with no results. i then decided to uninstall artcut and reinstall it to see what happened. SAME THING! so at this time, i was sweating bullets. i promised my biggest customer that i would have his graphics done in 3 hours and my program wasnt working! all of my race car templates are in artcut! all of his graphics, the scaled model of his car, EVERYTHING! so just to get the job done, i had to recreate about 300 feet worth of graphics in cibercut, and cut them, and mask them, in 3 hours. 3 hours and 2 packs of cigarettes later, i was finished. but im still without my templates. all of my race car graphics are in artcut. HOW CAN I FIX THIS!?!?!?

i thought of two possible solutions. put artcut and all my files on a separate computer and swap the cutter between computers....

or

manually uninstall and remove every artcut registry entry then reinstall. there has got to be a better way. i wouldnt mind doing without artcut since this happened. but i need to get my files. they are currently .ac6 files and i need to get them into cibercut. is there any way to do this?

one other unrelated thing...
i read somewhere that the creation ct630 has a max cutting length of 50 yards. either that is a flat out lie, or there's something wrong with my machine. the most ive ever been able to cut at once is about 20 feet. ive never needed to cut anything longer than that, but i would like to have the ability to do it if i need to. is there a way to correct walking?

 

[Techman]

Can help ya with those two,,

But i would recommend you get corel draw and cocut pro.. Never agian have to go thru this..

 

[Derf]

If you can in the future save an Illustrator 3 file for cut only and most every vector cut program will open it.

I know this does not help you now but in the future save at least one file in a common format that any one can open and cut from.

 

[RaceDayVinyls]

have coreldraw, dont have illustrator...

current software:
Adobe Photoshop 7
Adobe Photoshop CS
CorelDRAW 9
Cibercut 5.6 Max
Artcut 2002
and some other miscellaneous vector tracing programs.

what is cocut? is that a plugin?

and i did try saving the files as several different types, but artcut has a tendancy to ummm...whats the word...oh yeah...SUCK!

 

[Fred Weiss]

Have you installed anything lately on your computer? will the Artcut CD read on a different computer?

You need to narrow down the problem.

Worst case scenario, if it is your CD gone bad, is to just be a new copy. I found it HERE for $30.

 

[sullosau]

Cant help with your problem but one thing I do for everything wether I need to or not is the following
Burn a back up DVD with everything, customer files, artwork, fonts, EVERYTHING, takes me around an hour to do it all and I transfer to 2nd pc as well, I might have a whole pile of back updvds but I will never loose data!

 

[lpc]

If you're running Windows XP, try doing a system restore to a previous date when your ArtCut was known to be working. This is provided you have system restore enabled on your computer.

 

[Jackpine]

I think lpc has an option that will work if you are using XP. Save all your job files in another folder or directory, never within the program. Make CD copies of all programs, job files, art , fonts ect. I use the copy CD when I use clipart disk and put the originals in a safe place. Try the restore....it bailed me out more than once.

 

[signage]

For backing up I use a program called Acronis. It is a imaging program, doing this save hours of time when doing a restore. also you can restore individual files from your achieved image.

 

[sullosau]

Yep do what Ipc said, great idea.
**looks for same thing on his system whilst no ones lookin**

Steve

 

[RaceDayVinyls]

thanks for all the suggestions...but ive done all of them. i also own a computer repair business on the side, so i tried everything i could think of. i did a restore, didnt work. ive uninstalled and reinstalled the program didnt so, so i know the cd is fine. all the files are fine. they are still there and intact, so thats no prob. ive still got them if i switch computers. nothing else was recently installed. no viruses, no spyware, no hackers, no nothing. its just like the program had a timer in it or something and when it hit a certain date, it just stopped. im reluctant to try contacting the artcut tech dept. since half the program is in chinese. i just know ive got to get something done soon since i just got 2 more race car jobs about an hour ago. all i really need ASAP is a monte carlo SDS template. i just have to find it. ive got so many disks and files...gonna take hours. anyone know where i get/purchase this template?

 

[RaceDayVinyls]

omfg....OMFG!!!! i am never using half-chinese-half-english programs again!!!!!!! i got artcut fixed. first i uninstalled artcut and manually deleted every single artcut registry entry on this computer. then i reinstalled it. didnt work. same problem. "please insert install cd-r". i was just about to go grab a laptop and put it on there, but first i wanted to do some browsing. i go to my computer and right click the cd drive with the install disc in it and click explore. im just looking around see if i can find anything to fix this. all of the sudden i come upon this file called 'readme6'. now this file isnt in any obvious place. its f***ing buried in tons of different folders. i open it up and see this:

Installation Tips

There are two discs in this package.

1, The first disc(#1) is Setup disc.
The Setup.exe program will run automatically
once it is inserted in CDROM.
You can also click the Setup.exe in this CD
to install the Artcut program.

2, The second disc(#2) is license disc (with
color cover).
When you run the Artcut program first time or
multiple times after, you will be alerted to
insert this License disc (#2) in CD-ROM. You
must press and hold the "Shift" key in keyboard
when you insert this CD. Otherwise, the setup
program in Chinese language will be running .

3, You can click "Help" menu in Artcut program to
see or print the user's manual.


so i'm like well ill give it a try. and it worked!? its a good thing too. i tried to go the the tech website at wt.com.cn. and its not there anymore. so im so happy this worked or i would have had to switch computers every couple of months. man, i am so relieved.

now anyone know how to stop the vinyl from walking?