Illustrator V’s Corel or other programs

[Andy Gorman]

Well the thing is, obviously Signlab and Flexi are designed for signmakers so have tools that will do in one click what Corel will take five minutes to do.

That said, I have used all of them and prefer Coreldraw. I don’t care if some things take a bit longer, I just get on with it better than the others. Also, price.

[James Martin]

What do you mean outline text in illustrator?

Do you mean actually drawing vectors with the pen tool as opposed to just going to the text menu and selecting outline text?

[Alan Drury]

Which bits are you stumbling with – perhaps we can help. Corel has most of the tools you’ll ever need for vinyl and print with the likes of Signlab and Flexi having more specific sign relatated tools but at a price.
Alan D

[Jamie Kimp]

What I mean is, put a stroke on the text > uncolour the fill > outline stroke > Release compound path and delete centers of each letter > make compounds .
It’s a lengthly sequence just to put double boarder on the text. Or even make it 3D etc. I have a few training DVDs that I have bought and none of them cover illustrator for signmakers.

Thanks

[Alan Drury]

Well I can’t help with Illustrator but I can tell you those things are a doddle in Corel so if you are looking to switch maybe look at Corel X3/X4 as an cost effective alternative. You can easily run them side by side if there are bits you prefer in Illy and http://www.oberonplace.com has a liitle macro (free I think) that enables cut and paste between the two.
Alan D

[James Martin]

Ye i know what you mean then.

I use illustrator exclusively and I spend alot of time on trial and error when trying to get a desired effect.

It would be good to get some proper training on how to use all the features as I’m sure I/we could save hours if we knew how to use the software at its maximum efficiency.

I rarely use the outline stroke option mind you as it eats into the centre of the letter. I prefer using offset path to a plus or minus effect and and immediately control x, control v, to separate it all from the original.

It does feel that I’m doing things the long way round sometimes mind you, but, I like how you can import paths form Photoshop and how it all works alongside acrobat, kind of feels like it’s better in the long run to stick to the adobe option.

[Jamie Kimp]

I just tried what you suggested in; stroke > outline stroke > minus back was this correct?

Thanks for the advise on corel, I have had corel 8 for years and used to love it, but since working for a few big sign companies they trained me a little to use illustrator and they swore by it, however it seems to take 5 times as long. I love the design capabilities of illustrator and like you say its compatibility with photoshop which is handy but I am still not convinced for simple text signmaking

[Warren Beard]

I only use Illustrator and there will never be a software that is the best at every aspect of the business, I do like Illustrator because of the compatability with photoshop etc but some things do take a bit longer, vise versa with Corel things might take a bit quicker but then there’s the compatabilty issue 😕

I would say stick to what you know best or enjoy working with otherwise take the plunge with a dedicated sign software and hope it is worth it.

I watched a bit of the Flexi demo at SignUK and must say what I saw looked impressive but you never know how good it will be for yourself until you use it full time. I was in the same predicament a year ago as I used to use Macromedia Freehand, I opted for Illustrator and I am OK with it so far, plus the creative suite comes with extras like bridge, Dreamweaver and Indesign 😉

Warren

[Gian Gavino]

I think that Corel or Adobe are similar. :poke:
Difference is our habit in to work. (drink1)

Gavino

[Graeme Harrold]

I use Corel and have done since V4, basically got used to the terminology and the way the tools work and interact. I use it for both cutting and engraving. Graphics are exported as ai for importing into Engravelab as I do not have the time (or inclination) to learn how to draw/edit in engravelab.

Im constantly picking up tips and shorcuts here and although I thought I knew tons Im still learning loads.

[Jamie Kimp]

Hi Warren, how would you make a double outline (border) on text in illustrator? All my training DVDs are not geared to show how to use illustrator as a sign package. [/img]

[Mike Kenny]

Hi Jaimie,
Create outlines, offset path by given amount, then offset again.
takes 30 seconds.
cheers
mike

[Carl Burns]

I use Adobe CS3 and i dont think i’ll ever change. I’ve tried both Signlab and Flexi but they feel really clumsy to me. It’s definitely a personal choice.

To make the outlines as you show above bud..

The secret to illustrator is using the ‘layers’ window efficiently. To create the outlines, you need to create a new layer for each one (working outwards), that way you use the ‘pathfinder’ tools, to ‘merge’ each layer together into a single outline…

1. Create your text in a layer and call it ‘1’ or something similar.

2. Click Object>expand to create an outline.

3. Switch to outline in the view menu.

4. (this is the key bit) Every time you want to create an outline around the text, you need a new layer to work with, so simply duplicate the layer, select the duplicated layer and use the ‘offset path’ options as suggested in an earlier post.

The reason why you need to make a new layer is that once you have an outline path you’re happy with then you need to use the Pathfinder tools to ‘Merge’ the layer into a single outline. This will not give you centres in your texts.

You can use the layer ‘1’ to create as many outlines as you wish, all you have to remember is to make a NEW layer for each outline. It really is that simple.

If you’re not used to Illustrator then it might take a while. But once you are then you will have some fun. Illustrator offers amazing flexibility and once you’re fluent, you’ll be laughing. The ‘Live’ effects are particularly awesome i must say.

To do the outlines literally took me 30-40 seconds.

Hope that helps..

Carl 😀

[Gian Gavino]

I appreciate a lot of Corel, has learned to use from the version 3, they are similar to illustrator.
A very important thing of corel is that it import and it exports in many formats, contrarily of illustrator.

Gavino

[Jamie Kimp]

That’s amazing help and it’s so simple when told, I would have never found it tho. Cheers guys

I have followed your steps but I am having problems when I switch back into ‘fill view’ or pixel view. On mine it fills the centers in and a ‘?’ appears in the colour fill, would I just delete these afterwards for proofing purposes?

[Mike Kenny]

hi again
You may have to make compound paths on some outlines like "o " etc
just go to menu – and make compound path
cheers

[Carl Burns]

quote Jamie Kimp:

That’s amazing help and it’s so simple when told, I would have never found it tho. Cheers guys

I have followed your steps but I am having problems when I switch back into ‘fill view’ or pixel view. On mine it fills the centers in and a ‘?’ appears in the colour fill, would I just delete these afterwards for proofing purposes?

Hi bud,

If you merge the layers correctly, then illustrator will make a compound path automatically and the layout should be fine, even for proofing.

Chances are, that you may have to just rearrange the order of the layers so that the outlines are kind of ‘stacked’ with the top layer being the text. Just drag and drop the layers in the layer window into the correct order.

Hope that helps a bit..

Carl. 🙂

[Graeme Harrold]

having never used illustrator I find breaking a graphic onto different ‘Layers’ quite long winded. I presume this is the same for both but Corel has 3 layering systems.

1. On the single page objects are drawn in stacks and are in essence layered this also happens to be the cut order!!
2. You can then break objects over layers, I do this for multi coloured cuts with 1 colour per layer
3. Finally you can also stack pages into layers – not used this bit.

For the above ‘TEXT’ contour in corel I typed the text > created a 2 step contour > Broke the group apart, job done for a simple one anyway. Black text, 5mm white stripe followed by a 5mm black (with the settings I used anyway)

I presume Illustrator has an ‘object manager’ where it lists the layers and objects. Bottom of the list = lowest object and FIRST to be cut/processed with everything in order above.

:lol1: :lol1: and Im still learning………

[Peter Normington]

well, signlab may have its faults but to create the outline effect as above took me 37 seconds (timed in signlab itself)From start up
and its interactive, so its wysiwyg, but the values can still be entered if need be.
I have cs and x3, both are fine programs, but I find a dedicated program plus the others, will give you the best of all words.
signlab is particularly good (as probably is flexi) at shadows and outlines,
and I find it far better than illy or corel in this respect. Its just my preference, I think if you were new to signs and software, then signlab would be easier to learn, than illy or corel.

Peter

[Alan Drury]

I think Peter is right, Signlab does this particular job far easier than Corel or Illustrator by the sound of it. I’m fairly fluent with Corel but SL is far better for outlines/shadows – not so good at other things. Regarding Illy, well Corel has layers – no need to use them for contour though or combine paths BUT you may need to break the contour from the text.
SL wins this one hands down not so good on text intensive stuff though.
Alan D

[Jamie Kimp]

After playing around with the advice I managed to make this below, in under 1min. It would have been a lot of messing around without help, now knowing the right proceeder with Illustrator I can now make up this sort of graphics with-out hassle, well done and cheers!

[Carl Burns]

Nice one !

You should know bud, you’ve only glanced upon / slightly scratched the surface of what you can do with illustrator.

Where it comes into its own (for me at least) is when you make the step up to more complex images. If you’ve used illustrator and know its more advanced features you will know what i mean by this. Sign specific programs like Signlab and Flexi of course have their uses and in some cases things will be easier (like working at large scales), but for sheer ‘ design ability ‘ Illy is in a league of its own. It isn’t the leading design software for professionals across the globe without good reason. For basic texts etc, perhaps the Sign specific software is dominant, but it’s also limited in potential. Learn Illustrator to an advanced level and i promise you, you won’t look at Flexi/Signlab the same ever again. Oh, and don’t get me started on the ‘interfaces’ of those programs. But of course, that’s just me !!

😀

[Alan Drury]

Actually I reckon Illy is the leader for 2 reasons, 1 is history and the 2nd is that designers have not used Corel 😀 I am joking of course, Illy is a sound programme but we all have our favourite.
Alan D

[David Rowland]

the best design program out there is the one you can use quickly to do what you want it to do.

[Carl Burns]

Well said Dave !!

Any software is only ever as good as the User using it.

[Jon Marshall]

quote Jamie Kimp:

After playing around with the advice I managed to make this below, in under 1min. It would have been a lot of messing around without help, now knowing the right proceeder with Illustrator I can now make up this sort of graphics with-out hassle, well done and cheers!

About 5 seconds in Flexi.

And you can change the text afterwards and it will keep and update the effect.

[Peter Normington]

Yeh right, 5 seconds, is that after you typed in the text, or inclusive,:wink:
Signlab allows you to change the text and the effect will update also so nothing new there then,
just that flexi and signlab can and do make signs easier to produce than both corel and illustrator, I’m talking cut vectors here though, not complex layouts and rastor editing

Peter

[John Childs]

Five seconds to layout, I wouldn’t argue..

But Flexi will take a coon’s age to cut. If it can manage it at all. 🙁

I hate Flexi. 😀

[Jon Marshall]

Ctrl-L

Select what colour you want to cut

Press Send.

[Alan Drury]

I have to agree with Peter on this. Corel DOES score heavily over SL for some stuff but in this instance it has to be SL/Flexi.
Alan D

[Gian Gavino]

It doesn’t need however to look at the single case.
It needs to see the job in her complex.
I rate in full Dave and Carl.

Gavino

[John Childs]

quote JonM01:

Ctrl-L

Select what colour you want to cut

Press Send.

Yup, that’ll cut everything except the middles of the letters. 😀

We’ve had this discussion before.