NEWBIE... just bought Corel Draw 12

[jasondrummer98]

OK excuse my french but i'm lost like a whore at church...

I just bought a cutter and now have bought Corel Draw 12...

I was told from the Corel Draw website that it was all I needed to get started designing and cutting my own graphics...

but now I'm being told I have to buy a seperate program that would go onto Corel Draw 12 to actually do the cutting?

I'm also lost on the text part of Corel Draw... I assumed you would be able to easily do outlines and shadows.... but i can barely figure out how to make it type the text!

So if I do need this other program.... what program is the best to get? which is the most affordable?(and still functionable?)...

thanks

jason yarbrough
jason@farfromyesterday.com

 

[exsigns]

i think it is possible to cut direct from corel draw but it will have so many limitations and difficulties it is not worh it. there is an unexpensive plug in tool such as "co cut" i belive, it shoud solve most of your problems. If you still want to cut direct from corel see if you plotter disk has some sort of the driver for the windows. you can install it and just "print to your plotter" from alsomst any software. Like my new graphtec plotter plug in allows me to "print (really cut)" from any soft such as illustrator, corel, etc...

 

[jasondrummer98]

Ok ... I'm thinking about buying CoCut or Sign Tools 3... my question is will I be able to easily add outlines and inlines and such when I add this? because basically I can't find anywhere in Corel Draw you can even add an outline to text.

 

[exsigns]

i think sign tools offer download of full working femo off their website for 30 days... google it!

 

[Fred Weiss]

You can outline in Corel easily enough. You just need to know that they call it "contour". There is a rollup palette that you can open on screen that provides you access to the tools you will need. In my version, Corel 8, it is part of the View menu.

 

[Royal Palm Graphics]

CoCut would be your best solution, however, you’ll still be doing all of your creating in Corel. I don’t have Corel 12 but I have 11. I can’t see buying into newer versions every year a program comes out with newer upgrades, especially Corel. Corel’s best versions have always proven to be their odd numbers for whatever reason.

In Corel 11 to get outlines to your text:
1) first type in what you want.
2) On the tool bar to the left is an outline tool. Click on that and a toll fly-out will appear. By rolling your mouse slowly over these tools a little message will appear telling you what each one of these tools are.
3) From there you will be able to select your outline.
4) By clicking on the “X” box in the color palette to the right will cancel whatever color that is within your letteing.
To cut text you will first need to convert all text to curves by right clicking on the text and selecting “converting all text to curves”.

Hoping that this is what your question was pertaining to.

 

[ChiknNutz]

You can use either the OUTLINE or CONTOUR tool to achieve what you want. They both behave a bit differently. I use contours more than outlines. CONTOUR is part of the Interactive toolbar (i.e. Interactive Contour, Shadow, Blend, etc.). You will generally need to convert the outline or contour to curves prior to cutting, but CoCut does help you some in this regard. I have CoCut Pro and am not sure of what all is NOT in the std version (if that is what you are considering). I've heard Signtools is good, but have no experience with it. CoCut Pro is a good program, but it is more than your Corel cost.

 

[geb]

I'm a signtools 3 user, and it allows you to create shadows and outlines. If you go this route, I would suggest looking on their site and downloaded a demo as mentioned before, and also make sure they have a driver that will run your cutter. A list of drivers is also on their site.

You hopefully purchased a book with your Corel, study the book, it will tell you how to do everything in Corel. I know it looks hard. It is. But the more you use and learn it, the easier it gets and you'll have a valuable tool for text and graphics, and much more if you enter into other Corel applications.

George

 

[ChiknNutz]

BTW, what kind of cutter do you have?

 

[SouthPaw]

Corel can cut directly to the plotter IF you have a Roland plotter. I think you need a bridge program for other cutters.

Corel's contour tool is what you'll need if you wish to output outlines to a plotter. The outline tool is for printed materials (wether professionally printed or printed via inkjet).

 

[TerryStolmeier]

The most important question that hasn't been answered is what type of cutter you have?

If you have Corel, play with it. Get used to it. Read articles and the tutorials. It can do pretty much anything you want it to... if you know how.

Knowing what a vector graphic is and how they work is also very important.

 

[jimdes]

As an experienced Corel user, I can comfortably say that you can send a cut to just about any plotter on the market today. Some legacy plotters need a little help in Windows XP but that's it for the most part.

You will want to install your plotter's HPGL driver if it came with one or download a generic HPGL driver from a site such as driverguide.com. In order to cut properly, you will need to have your outlines colored black and no fill color.

There are many threads in this forum about Corel Draw. You should take a few days and read them, most are very informative.

You do not need to install any more software than you already have. As you become more proficient however, you will want a software package that can accomplish the same effects you are creating now but in fewer steps. Your first choice would be the industry standard, Adobe Illustrator if you plan to make this your living.

You will need to use the contour effect to create outlines in Corel Draw because if you want to cut directly from Corel, you will need to use the outline feature for your cut lines. To create drop shadows, duplicate the feature you want to shadow, send it behind the feature you are duplicating and position the shadow the way you wish. To create cast shadows, you will need to employ the skew, rotate and angle effects in Corel Draw.

Corel Draw is a decent sign making program if it's something you already have and are proficient with but if you buy it with the intention of designing cut vinyl signs only, there are several programs better suited to your needs. Although I use Corel Draw Exclusively for my sign design, I would not recommend it for a beginning sign maker. Corel Draw has too many little quirks that make it difficult and cumbersome to work with. Consider a program like VinylMaster Pro, Signlab, FlexiSign, Omega or a similar program dedicated to sign design, you'll find those programs will handle vectors WAY better than Corel Draw and the text efects much easier to use.

Spend a little more in the beginning to avoid spending too much later.

 

[OldPaint]

1st off... there aint no easy type a line and cut right now sign programs! you can forget the idea of buying a plotter, sign program and you IS A SIGN MAKER!!
old 50's song TIME! is what its gona take either with COREL or any other program. so resign yourself to these facts.
if you dont know how to use corel nothing else is gona be any easier....ive been useing corel since version 3 and cutting from it since. now the 1st year trying to FIGURE OUT THE PROGRAM was HELL!!!! unless you know someone who can show you, or buy a video of COREL then you will do the same thing. its called a LEARNING CURVE!!!! ENJOY...

 

[SignRover]

Proficiency in Corel is time well spent. We use it to create paths for plotters, cnc routers and a laser engraver. Learn it any way you can.

 

[bones]

Corel 12 cutting direct to 24" graphtec here.... no bridge program.

yaahhh there is gonna be a learning curve for ya!

Stick with it, its gonna be worth it in the long run.

Jeff

 

[jasondrummer98]

My cutter is a Vinyl Master XY-300 .... my cutter came with a FlexiSTARTER program... which basically will do nothing... I've tried to cut from this program to just see how the cutter works... but I cannot get it to work... for some reason it says it can't find the port.... I also downloaded the Sign Tools 3 add on and i like the way it works... but again.. cannot get it to cut... it says its "printing" but then just says that for awhile and goes away... never does anything... my cutter didn't come with a driver disc... I did get a disc with an USB cord that I bought to add on to the 232C cable to make it actually plug in to my computer... I don't have the larger 25point parallel plug in on my computer... so I used the disc and it set up a port.... but still won't work... I'm past the program part i'm starting to figure out Corel a bit more now that I play with it a bit... but... the inability to cut is my problem now....

 

[OldPaint]

it dont have a printer port..your not gona cut from corel!!!!

 

[geb]

I don't see a driver on signtools 3 site for your cutter.

I know you just purchased a demo, but if you like the signtools program, don't buy it without talking to someone from signtools about your cutter being able to operate with one of their drivers. Like I said, I don't see a driver for your cutter, and you may just be wasting money if you decide to purchase it. Just a thought.

George

 

[Fred Weiss]

It seems to me that the problem is that you do no have a working hookup between your computer and your plotter. Flexi should work for you as a bridge program to open files you create in Corel and output them to the plotter.

Most plotters connect through serial ports, not through USB or LPT printer ports. Serial ports (COM ports) come in both 9 pin and 25 pin varieties and are male plugs. LPT ports (printer ports) are 25 pin female plugs. If you don't have these ports on your computer, they can be added for $15 or $20. If you have a 25 pin but need a 9 pin, most computer stores sell adapters to accomplish the switchover for a couple of bucks.

You can easily determine what ports are available through your Control Panel > System > Device Manager as shown in the attached image. If you have a COM port, I'd recommend that you use it for your plotter. If you don't, I'd recommend you buy a COM card and add a COM port to your computer.

 

[Gazzz]

Sign tools does nothing you can't already do in corel itself... You're pretty much paying for the use of predefined actions. Waste.

I've learnt corel and it took a good year.. i now use it to design signs, however things get cut from 'omega' (dedicated sign cutting program) through the import / export filters of the filetype EPS...

If you are spending the money to set up yourself, then grab an old version of a dedicated sign program and make life alot easier!