flexi v illustrator cs5 for mac

[Andy Perry]

I use illustrator on my Roland GX24. When looking at flexisign etc, I couldn’t see a great amount of difference with regards to cutting, but feel better designing in Illustrator then going straight to cut.

I am interested in the Flexi guys comments to see if I am missing stuff too.

Andy

[Robert Lambie]

Is Signlab 9 not compatible with Macs? by that i mean i am asking is it? :lol1:
I know years ago that there was a plugin for Macs that allowed Signlab to work on a Mac, so i would assume, at least 5 years later they could have a compatible version of signlab for macs.

personally, i cannot see by Signlab for "cut vinyl graphics" i just find it so quick and simple to work with.
i know they also have a 30 day trial download, so if it is compatible, its worth a trial.

[David Hammond]

Hi Rob signlab doesn’t work on a mac and i’d rather not start getting windows to run on the mac.

I’ll do some more digging when I have chance.

[Jason Davies]

Hi dave, it’s whatever you are used to. We predominantly use Macs and only use illustrator. We have Signlab 9.0 and Omega loaded onto a PC but so not use this at all. That said we occasionally use Omega for specific drop shadows in vinyl which we then transfer to illustrator for cutting.

[Neil Davey]

I ‘ve always used FlexiSign on a MAC. We have Illustrator CS4 for opening/editing some files we receive. I have tried to use it for sign work but find Flexi, as a dedicated sign design programme is so much easier to use and more straightforward as far as I can see.
Shading, outlining, contour cutting etc. is just 1 click. It also has Design Central which makes performing everyday commands so much easier. No minimum page sizes.
Flexi is only available up to 8.6 on a MAC but does work with OSX Lion.
Having dabbled with Illustrator I much prefer FlexiSign.
Production Manager is easy to use for cutting, panelling etc. with weed borders and easy weed commands 1 click away.
I know I’m bias toward Flexi but as your aware it was built for sign making not Desktop publishing so it has it’s advantages.

[David Hammond]

Cheers Neil.

I’ve had problems scaling up in lily and CM2 as I sometimes cannot work 1:1 if the outlines are too big. More of a problem layering.

Think I need to find a demo and have a play.

[Alan Drury]

Ilolustrator does not support the sort og page sizes that signmakers ofter require, workround is to work in scale, not necessarily a problem but another step. Signmaking programmes (and even Corel Draw) supports larger page sizes so you can work in real size they also will have more sign specific tools ie enhanced welds for bleeds and shadows that can cut on a plotter (Signlab)

Alan D

[David Hammond]

Done some googling but can I find a version of Flexi for Mac online with a price?

Anybody recommend a decent supplier?

[Neil Davey]

Graphtec, Granthams, JAG Sign Supplies.
I think your looking at around £690 for Flexiletter, £1200 Flexisign and £3000 FlexiSign Pro.

[David Hammond]

I’ve had a look at the flexi 10 (pc only version) can’t see much of a difference between all of the different levels of the program?

[Neil Davey]

I have FlexiSign 7.5 I’ll be selling. I’ll post some pictures later.

[David Hammond]

Cheers Neil,

Yep £1195 for FlexiSign

They wanted to know if I wanted it to work with the printer…

At the minute I add the registration marks in Illustrator and print via versaworks, then cut using Cutting Master.

I assume having Flexi as a ‘cutter’ only app will still allow for registration marks to added for the plotter?

[Martin Pearson]

Some thing you should ask about David, the top of the range package includes a rip but you won’t need that if you are happy printing from versaworks. You should still be able to contour cut & add registration marks with the version you are lookin at but would ask a supplier to confirm that before you shell out so much money for it.

[Neil Davey]

We add contour cuts etc from Flexi and send to our RIP for printing. Works fine.