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Moving from Vinyl Master to Illustrator & Winplot
Hi,
I’ve been using Vinyl Master Pro (v2.5 & v2.95) for about 6 years now but need to move to a 64 bit solution.
I use 2 Summa D60’s & 4 x PCs and really don’t want to pay 4 x £500+ for the new versions of VMP, particularly as my VMP usb dongle failed last year and they were singularly unhelpful and their best offer was a discounted version of the new VMP at a greater cost to me than they were selling on eBay!
I do have Illustrator CS6 on each PC and I have started using this in conjunction with Summas Winplot plugin to cut.
So far this seems OK, does anyone else use this solution or are there problems around the corner awaiting me?!
Thanks in advance…
John -
8 Replies
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I’ve never fancied trying illustrator, always been a Signlab man.
I feel your pain on the dongle, during a renovation, we had similar situation many years ago with a lost Dongle, only to find it again. Still we had to pay out. like you it was a reduced amount but its a hard pill to swallow when you have 5 legitimate software packages. 🙄 anyway, i kinda see their point in hindsight. 😀Have you considered Signlab?
If all your computers do NOT cut, and are used for designing only. you can buy Signlab in modules. only buying the modules you require that are assigned to the computer in question.We only use signlab for vinyl cutting as we have dedicated rip software and photoshop for all printing. But i do love the software and would be lost without it.
sorry, i know thats not much help on the whole Illustrator question. 😕 :lol1:
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We used to use an old version of Sign Wizard which I did like however it stopped working in later versions of Windows.
I gave Winplot a go since it was free with our Summa D160R and haven’t looked back.
Illustrator skills are useful too.
It is far more reliable for print/cut jobs than Onyx Cut Server too. -
Rob,
I’ve always assumed that SignLab is going to be the uber expensive solution but in fairness I’ve never checked, so that will be todays task!Bly,
if you use WinPlot to cut with your Summa cutter what software do you do the design in??thanks,
John…. -
Illustrator mate.
Open the file, check cutpaths and send to Winplot.
If it’s a print/cut job, set cutpaths on a separate layer, add opos marks then print and cut.
It’s very reliable and we’ve run print/cut jobs 3 or 4 metres long with no issue. -
Bly,
good to know others are doing the same as I want to…!
Could you kindly take a look at the attached screen shot of the tool bars I have in Winplot…
The icons in the red circle are the wrong pictures for the functions!
The Align Right one I am hovering over works correctly but is using the ‘pan view tool’ picture which is totally confusing me.
The version I am using is the Windows V10.00 Build 6.200 one.
I have un-installed it then re installed from the Summa site…is yours the same as this or do you have the right pictures?!
I have asked the same question to Summa and awaiting their reply…
cheers,
John -
That’s the version I’m on too John.
To be honest I hardly use any of the functions in Winplot.
I set the job up in Illustrator, send to Winplot and just check for double cuts & roll size then cut. -
Double cuts are the one thing I keep getting.
The first time I used shapebuilder to add my own speed weed lines in Illustrator the cutter almost shredded the vinyl, it took me a while to realise that somehow I had added additional lines in the process.
Life’s all about learning I guess!
John -
Try giving your cutlines no outline and a solid black fill.
That seems to avoid some double cuts.
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