Cut Lines – EPS files – Coreldraw 11

[signdevil]

Quite simply it cannot be done and I consider myself a Corel 11 maestro! In Corel 11 you can put an outline / stroke on something but it stands for nothing when it comes to plotting vectors. You cannot even export as an eps / ai for cutting in another programme. The only solution, and it is long winded, is to put the o/line on in Corel 11, export the file as a 2 bit bmp and trace in Corel Trace. Corel 11 is great but you do have to use it alongside a true vector based programme such as Signlab, Easysign, Flexisign etc …………..
If you suss it then let me know as I’ve been scratching my head on that one for years from Corel 4 !

[Doug Edwards]

Try going to EFFECTS, CONTOUR, then select OUTSIDE, the ammount of offset and the steps which will be 1, but I know from past experience, not all EPS files react in the same way. If you want, email the file to me and I will have a go. doug@dolphindiner.co.uk cheers doug edwards

[signdevil]

quote dougiedot:

Try going to EFFECTS, CONTOUR, then select OUTSIDE, the ammount of offset and the steps which will be 1, but I know from past experience, not all EPS files react in the same way. If you want, email the file to me and I will have a go. doug@dolphindiner.co.uk cheers doug edwards

Hey Doug, that sounds good. Gonna try that for sure. Cheers

[Rodney Gold]

Im not sure what the problem is. I do this all day long.
An EPS file imports into Corel with the PS import filter and if its vector it maintains its vector format and you can then manipulate the vector files after ungrouping and offset them (interactive contour tool) , you weld the various offsets to get the final contour line.
If it is a raster file , then use the freehand tool using the bezier option to roughly draw a few short lines around it (make sure its closed at the end) , as suited and then use the shape tool to convert those lines to curves and then stretch the curves and edit the nodes so the cut line is smooth. Use the help menu to show you how to use those particular tools.

Signdevil , I use corel 11 and export to EPS with contour cut lines for my Roland soljet , it both prints and cuts and the eps often contains a massive mixture of vector , rgb raster , cmyk raster etc and have no problems. It IS a true vector based package and I import and export to Adobe Illustrator , Freehand , Signlab , Autocad and so forth with it , IMHO it is very flexible in this regard.
I actually prefer all graphics in EPS or PDF format for Corel if they are created in anothe program , the only problem one might have in certian packages are fades and of course fonts embeded and not being on your system

[Nigel Fraser]

Opps Rodney beat me to it – still mostly relevant I think…..

Yeah, thats a reasonable way of achieving the cut line, won’t always work though, you have to bear in mind a few things before doing that –

1) How complex/curvy is the shape you are contouring – the contour command (in all versions up to 10, don’t know about 11/12) creates thousands of nodes on curved sections where there needn’t be any. These are actually all tiny straight lines but there are so many you can get away with cutting it most of the time anyway, unless its a large logo/lettering in which case you need to manually convert to smooth curves and delete the excess nodes. This is a CorelDraw weak point.

2) Is the thing your going to contour all one object, if not then you need to group them together before contouring.

3) If you want to “smooth off” the sharp points of a design at the same time try giving the outer shape a thick pen outline selecting the rounded corner option in the outline dialog box. Then go “arrange”, “convert outline to object”. Then selcet the new object and “break apart” to delete the inner part of the outline – if that makes sense 😕

4) You could always draw one by hand, depending on the complexity of the original – it normally only takes a couple of minutes if you are competent at node editing.

quote :

You cannot even export as an eps / ai for cutting in another programme.

Don’t know why you would say that signdevil ? In my opinion Corel is the most versatile inport/export software you are likely to use. I use it all day every day to export EPS/AI files for cutting in my Signscript driver program.

Hope this helps a little

Nigel

[Rodney Gold]

Yeh , thats a problem , the zillions of nodes , tho you can go to the shape tool , select all nodes and there is a little box that you can type a no into (30 works well) and it reduces nodes dramatically. Often using shape and selecting lots of those nodes on a smooth curve and deleting em , results in a single curve.
I don’t know why corel does this? I can tell you from Acad experience that offsetting is not an easy thing , there are often items that cant be offset(outline or inline contoured) and thats most likely why Corel does that so that there is at least a semblance of an offset solution.

Ive never understood exactly what converting to an object does??

[signdevil]

Some good tips there guys, cheers.

Nigel, I too export from Corel as eps / ai files. When I said you couldn’t, I was talking about the outline only. I believe Corel 11 to be the best programme I have ever worked with but do feel that it let’s down the vinyl signmaker when it comes to the need for plotting outlines.

I’ve just tried the ‘outline to object’ tip and although it worked, it was far from perfect and that was on a simple font. Your knowledge however is appreciated and I am sure I will tap it again in the future. 😉

[Nigel Fraser]

Yes, I meant to add that contouring on text is the pits in corel – especially if its a really fancy/curvy type to start with, square ones not so bad. The outline conversion was a tip I got from a quite useful site –

http://www.clicknlearn.com/

It is slightly better in terms of not creating all the superfluous nodes but still as you say, far from perfect I’m affraid. As far as I am concerned this is the most fundamental flaw in corel which affects its use as a sign design package, other than that it is as you say very capable and user friendly too.

[jon vital]

What are the benefits of using Corel instead of traditional sign software?

[Andy Gorman]

I’ve found that the ‘convert outline to object’ option is a much more consistent way of creating outlines. Of course you have to break apart and delete the unwanted inline but it does fix the frankly terrible outline tool.

I hear a lot of people, especially Mac users who seem to think that corel is just a toy. I’ve tried Illustrator, freehand etc and I think Corel is just the dog’s b*******. Certainly does everything I want to do with vectors.

I’ll shut up now…

[Nigel Fraser]

quote jon vital:

What are the benefits of using Corel instead of traditional sign software?

I can only answer this from a rather biased view point having used and learned the in’s and out’s of Corel over 10years+ I know it better than any other piece of software. Since it has fulfilled everything I have ever needed to do (in the graphics dept.) I have never felt the need to look any further, other than a cursory glance at shows etc and I did have a signlab demo disc which put me off using that.
So my answer is that – I know it inside out, it does every thing I need and more, its’ intuitve to use, comparitively cheap and very flexible at import/exporting.

Thats only my point of view obviously, but there you have it 😀

Nigel

[fluidedge]

You want to eavesdrop on a typical afternoon at Fluid Edge.

Colin is Corel Draw’s biggest fan. Uses it, teaches it, lives it and breathes it.

Chris refuses to use it. Quark, Illustrator and Photoshop for me.

If one of us starts a design job that the other has to finish off – believe me the air turns blue!

Objects have been known to be thrown.

Overall we find that programs like Corel, Illustrator, Quark etc give the designer far more control, initiative and scope than a dedicated sign package such as Signlab or Flexi.

Saying that, most of our work is design based and not straightforward sign work.

All the sign jobs are created and designed in Illustrator, Photoshop and/or Corel, then output through FlexiSign.

[jon vital]

How about adding things like outlines, shadows and other effects? With a sign package it will create those effects knowing that the file has to be cuttable whereas corel/illustrator are meant for print graphics. Getting an illustrator file in to something cuttable can be a nightmare when loads of strokes have been applied. How do you deal with making your graphics cuttable when using those packages?

I used to use Corel 3 years ago when I first started and it was then a lot better than Flexi 5. But know Flexi is a lot more sophisticated.

[Andy Gorman]

Creating something cuttable is easy, as long as you bear in mind that you are going to cut it when you start designing. True, tools for adding shadows etc in sign programs are much simpler and require less editing than the Corel/Illustrator methods but I personally prefer the increased flexibility of packages such as Corel.

[Pryam Carter]

Tried to go to Contour, set it up but it wouldn’t let me apply the settings, why?
As for ungrouping the eps this is not possible, l select the logo and the ungroup command is unavailable

[Rodney Gold]

Go to edit properties , check if its a bitmap or a vector file , it will list the bitmap properties and wont show outlines , if it’s a bitmap, you cant ungroup or contour
You can also just zoom in to see if its a pixel file.

[Rodney Gold]

if you e-mail me the file I will check it , rodgold@iafrica.com