Need Help Options For Cutting Software

[Alfista2600]

Hi All,

New to the site - my business is not really signmaking, but I have a Mimaki CJV150-107 to help with apparel decoration.

I'm currently using Adobe Illustrator CC and RasterLink 6 to design graphics and cut media.

I'm looking for an inexpensive solution to augment my current set-up that is easy for my staff to use for basic vinyl cutting - mainly names and numbers for uniforms - on a different computer. Ideally, they would either:

Use an app on a Mac and save to a RasterLink Hot Folder
Use an app on a PC and send directly to the Mimaki
Use an app on a PC and send to RasterLink Hot Folder

Does anyone have any software suggestions of how to do this in a way my non-technical employees could be successful, and wouldn't be a budget-buster?

 

[WildWestDesigns]

For basic work, I've always just cut directly from the design application itself. In my case, Ai and Inkscape. Ai for Windows and Inkscape for Linux.

If you need extra functionality/control, that's when a plugin/extension or dedicated program comes in handy, but for the basic cut vinyl apparel work that I do (which appears to mirror what you've mentioned) just cutting directly from the design application has been sufficient for me. Since you already have the design program, try to to see if that would fit your needs, before trying to find a different 3rd party solution.

 

[Alfista2600]

For basic work, I've always just cut directly from the design application itself. In my case, Ai and Inkscape. Ai for Windows and Inkscape for Linux.

Hi WildWestDesigns!

Thanks for the quick reply - I really appreciate it, but can't say that I totally understand it, unfortunately.

Are you saying I could use Inkscape for Windows on the machine that is USB-connected to the Mimaki and send a cut job directly?

As far as my current solution goes, I'd rather not license another copy of illustrator for very basic use given its cost and complexity. My copy is on my laptop which stays with me when I travel (and thus is unavailable to my team).

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Are you saying I could use Inkscape for Windows on the machine that is USB-connected to the Mimaki and send a cut job directly?

My use of Inkscape is within Linux, not Windows, but see if the same setup would apply for Inkscape as it would for Ai on Windows. The key thing thing is to look on your available "printers" in Windows on the machine that's directly connected to the cutter and see if you see your cutter listed as a "printer".

If it's listed as a "printer", then as far as what I would have to do with my Rolands, is go into my design program and once I'm ready to go, I go to "Print", select my Roland as the "printer" and let her go to town.

Now, this does have limited functionality unless you manually setup your overcuts, weed lines etc. Also, on my Rolands, it cuts based on the vector hierarchy. The bottom vector is cut first and it works it's way to the last created vector, so if you want to improve cutting order for efficiency, it has to manually be done. Really only necessary for long cutting runs in my opinion.

On Linux, Inkscape has an extension called InkCut that allows for this. There is a Windows variant of the extension, but it is still beta. I wouldn't suggest using it for production.

As far as my current solution goes, I'd rather not license another copy of illustrator for very basic use given its cost and complexity. My copy is on my laptop which stays with me when I travel (and thus is unavailable to my team).

I gotcha, I was thinking that Ai was available for use with the machine.

 

[Alfista2600]

Ok,

so I have InkScape on that machine from early attempts to get this going.
I also see that I have virtual printers set up for the Hot Folders I have defined in RasterLink 6. I tried creating a contour file in InkScape and sending it to my 'CutVinyl' virtual printer but nothing seems to happen. I'm not sure if this is the right approach, and if I have to play with Spot Colors of 100% magenta to get it to see a cut line. Do you think I am on the right path?

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Ok,

so I have InkScape on that machine from early attempts to get this going.
I also see that I have virtual printers set up for the Hot Folders I have defined in RasterLink 6. I tried creating a contour file in InkScape and sending it to my 'CutVinyl' virtual printer but nothing seems to happen. I'm not sure if this is the right approach, and if I have to play with Spot Colors of 100% magenta to get it to see a cut line. Do you think I am on the right path?

Try this, Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Devices and Printers via Windows explorer.

In that area, do you see Mimaki in a listing as a "Printer"?

If not, do you have the Mimaki Windows driver installed? If not, see about downloading and installing the appropriate one for you setup.

If you do and it's not showing up, then this won't work.

If it does show up, go into Inkscape, open up your file, go to File > Print, see if everything is kosher there, make sure you have the Mimaki "Printer" selected and click to print.

This is truly basic cutting functionality. If you want to do stuff like print and cut, you'll have to setup everything manually to get it to work. It'll work, it just takes more effort on your part to get it to work. If you want more of the "creature" comforts, need to pay for them (or write an extension that does it for you to work within Inkscape).

 

[Sandman]

I also like to design in Illustrator and needed a new bridge program to cut. I found Vinyl Master has a program called Vinyl Master Cut. It's a basic cutting program with more features than I ever would have guessed for $59.00. For the first time I can change colors and pick individual letters to to cut. It can create basic files for cutting and even comes with some clip art.

 

[Alfista2600]

Thanks WildWestDesigns, for the long reply, and Sandman for the software tip.

While it seems RasterLink creates printers that are used to talk with the Mimaki, I do not know that they are usable by other programs, so I'm gonna try to install the real drivers and see if that changes anything. Doing a backup first!

I do plan to do most of my complex stuff with AI, but just need something simple for names and number, which is a fair amount of our business.

I'll also check out Vinyl Master Cut.