REALLY getting tired....... Nodes are eating up my time !

[autoexebat]

OK so here is the story , to sum it up on the first sentance... I spend HOURS cleaning up nodes and I'm hoping to find a way around this issue.

I have all of my designs based in Corel X6 , I will put step by step what I do.

Usualy I get everything sized in Corel and export the file into a PSD ( Why it only keeps the size in 300 DPI is beyond me , If I change it to 300dpi it gets smaller. Well no big deal as the prints are still flawless on my brand new Roland 300 vs-i

back to topic ,

After I export it into a PSD I have to open the PSD againa and save it , if I do NOT do this it will make a square contour cut in flexi.. again another issue = WHY

After I get that step done I bring it into Flexi 8.1 and setup the contour cut ,

Now ... HOLY NODES ... I probably spend an hour or 2 just cleaning up the nodes ...

can anyone help me shorted this up ? Or am I just going to have to continue this forever ?

 

[GAC05]

If you are designing in CorelDraw why are you exporting to PSD?
You should be exporting to eps, ai or pdf.
The side trip to photoshop should not be needed.
You should be able to set up your contour cut in Draw and then in Flexi select the path and use the "Make Contour Cut" command under the arrange menu.
Rip and Print - away you go.

wayne k
guam usa

 

[autoexebat]

Thanks ,

If I export to EPS and bring it into flexi and I ahve unmaek is many many times and each time I unmask it I lose part of the graphic.

 

[autoexebat]

I tried it again and it actually worked , for some reason that wouldnt work before.

But I am still at the point of a lot of nodes , that is the main issue I have right now.

 

[GAC05]

What Pat said.
How are you generating your cut path in Corel?
If you are using auto trace then the node overkill would be happening in Draw and not an issue with export - import.
Maybe some screen caps or a cropped sample of the file(s) you are working with will help us see the problem.

wayne k
guam usa

 

[Snydo]

Make a black and white version of your graphic in Phototshop or Illustrator...flatten image either way. Bring it into Flexi, use BEZIER down the Bitmap Menu under Vectorize. Put your contour cut on the resulting trace, seperate contour, delete the bezier trace(or dont), then import your flattened PSD, ctrl-a(select all), ctrl-g(group), then print.

Flexi works best with flattened images, EPS file can get wonky with strokes but flattened PSDs are fine. I run the version just below the cloud and ran 8.* for a few years with this system with very few issues.

 

[autoexebat]

I don't really understand the issue with the nodes - how are they any different than when they are exported out of corel?

Where are they going in between corel and flexi that they're picking up all these new friends?

^^^ Made me laugh ! Thanks because I have been stressed about this for months !!!

The way they are made in Corel is I have the vector template and everything is power clipped into that.

I did try a side by side comparison with importing the EPS and importing the PSD , the PSD is bringing is a few hundred additional ( Friends )

Other than that , like I stated all are power clipped into a vector template.

Thanks for the help guys !!

 

[graphicwarning]

Just curious... why is Flexi or Photoshop in the work flow? I have a Roland VS-300 and I do all my art in Corel, export as either EPS or PDF and open it in Versaworks and print.

 

[autoexebat]

Just curious... why is Flexi or Photoshop in the work flow? I have a Roland VS-300 and I do all my art in Corel, export as either EPS or PDF and open it in Versaworks and print.

Contour cut.

I have the vs-300i ( love it )

 

[Laz0924]

If your putting a cut line, those are the only nodes you need to worry about the rest of the nodes don't matter they are being printed

 

[autoexebat]

If your putting a cut line, those are the only nodes you need to worry about the rest of the nodes don't matter they are being printed

I know what you mean , but usually when doing the contour cut each node is where the blade stops to read... but as stated previously I did reduce a few by exporting the eps.

 

[autoexebat]

I see the export to EPS doesnt work too well afterall. Once I bring it into flexi I see 1/2 of the items are gone ?

 

[autoexebat]

Okay I am completely baffled , I will attached 2 pictures so you can see what is going on.

Obviously I am exporting the graphics into a EPS , bringing them into Flexi and you can see I'm missing parts ... I can't figure this out

 

[GAC05]

Flexi probably has them hidden in some secret clipping mask.

Try this
In Corel
select all your power clips - copy and paste them to a new layer
extract all the contents from the powerclips on the new layer and delete them (the contents not the power clipping paths)
Select the empty paths and weld them into a single object.
On the first layer convert the filled power clips into a single bitmap - whatever dpi you think is good (200 should do it)
Select the path and the bitmap and export that to Flexi as an eps.
In flexi you should have just the one bitmap and the single path that can be converted to the contour cut.

If this doesn't work you may have to resort to animal sacrifice. You'll have to wait to try this - the next full moon is not due until the 16th.

wayne k
guam usa

 

[bob]

Corel doesn't do EPS or AI very well and neither does Flexi. Export from Corel as a legacy CMX. This is as close as you will come to what you see in Corel is what you get in Flexi.

 

[autoexebat]

I will give that a try thanks !! I was happy the EPS worked but as said I guess I an not as lucky for the next file to work the sale. I do about 5 a day and all different designs , just trying to speed up the process some ! The design work is done, just getting them setup for my printer and contour cut can take me well over an hour. I wish I know why the export to EPS works on some files and not others.

 

[autoexebat]

Ok ! so a little more effort and I was able to get the corel Cut Contour to work , problem is I want to go inside of the graphic.. Any ideas on this ?

In Flexi I usually use - Negative 30

 

[GAC05]

Ok ! so a little more effort and I was able to get the corel Cut Contour to work , problem is I want to go inside of the graphic.. Any ideas on this ?

In Flexi I usually use - Negative 30

Use the contour tool on your power clipping path(s) and set it for inside contour - single step with the amount you want to go into the graphic .3
The new inside path is the one you want flexi to use as the contour cut path
Break apart the contour (ctrl k).
Get rid of the original path if it is the empty power clip path from the last post.
In Corel if you make a spot color called CutContour (doesn't matter what color it is - just the name counts) and assign it to path outline you want to use as the cut path when you import it into Flexi it will know that it is the contour cut path without having to do anything.

wayne k
guam usa

 

[autoexebat]

Thanks tomorrow I will give this a try , can you tell me where the contour tool is ? I have the x6 so roland versaworks cut contour is arealdy setup and I imported it into roland and it worked fine , other than it wasnt side ( inside the graphic like I need it to be .


Thanks again.

 

[GAC05]

Thanks tomorrow I will give this a try , can you tell me where the contour tool is ? I have the x6 so roland versaworks cut contour is arealdy setup and I imported it into roland and it worked fine , other than it wasnt side ( inside the graphic like I need it to be .


Thanks again.

I use X5 but it should be on the left in the "toolbox" tool bar.
Look for the icon that looks like a square pile of dog poop.


wayne k
guam usa

 

[graphicwarning]

can you tell me where the contour tool is

In X6, go to Window>Dockers and Click Color Palette Manager
In the Palette Manager click Palette Libraries > Spot > Roland > Roland Versaworks

This palette has CutContour defined. So select the object you want to cut, right click on the palette swatch that says "CutContour" and export your EPS. When you open it in Versaworks it will cut wherever the outline is.

 

[autoexebat]

I got everything to work on the contour part mostly , just cant get it to go to the inside of the graphics .. I want it to do in just a small amount ( like flexi does ) with its -30 setting.