[Jason Bounds]

Hi Adam

Is the equipment still available ??

Cheers

Jas….

[Jason Bounds]

Hi Guys,

I’m a little late on replying to this post but FAO Paul Rollason.

I was looking for a good price on Corel X3

I Looked on Ebay, there is a guy on there who sells academic based software, he trades under the name of David Technologies, he is selling X3 for £89 plus VAT.

I’ve had plenty of items off him in the past, most recently Corel 12.

All boxed and sealed as you would purchase at your local store, it’s just the academic versions, but he does sell them no questions asked.
he also has a feedback rating of 8000+ so he is a very trusted seller.

Kind Regards

Jas…

[Jason Bounds]

Hi Hugh

Yeah she was a great driver especially in the transit, but I guess that’s what happens when she lives just outside the circuit, she says she drives around there about 30 times per day.

What a life…. think i’d get bored of the scenery 🙂

Jas….

[Jason Bounds]

I’ve found an image which I believe is the circuit layout needed, i’ll crack on with digitising it at the shop today, just thought i’d show you 🙂

Jas…

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[Jason Bounds]

Hi Guys, and hello Marcella xx

Thanks for all your replys.

Marcella is kind of right, Andrew thanks for your efforts on the circuit issue, That is the one i’ve already digitised for the customer thinking that that was what he wanted, apparently, that one is the Formula 1 circuit which is 2.83 miles long, the customer is wanting the layout of the full circuit which is 20 odd miles long, aparently it takes 13 – 15 minutes to race around it, and they have track days on it,
(must be a boy racer thing!!)

LOL Jas…..

[Jason Bounds]

Hi Rich, thanks for your help mate, customer is happy with that bike, so i can now get on with the rest of the design, Thanks again

Jas….

[Jason Bounds]

.ai please Rich

Your a star 😉

Jas……

[Jason Bounds]

the uksign.jpg 🙂

[Jason Bounds]

Hi Rich, That’s pretty close mate, think i could get away with that one mate, do you happen to have it in a .ai or .eps format, think that one will do the trick, cheers mate

Jas….

[Jason Bounds]

hi guys, thanks for the reply’s.

I’m after an image similar to the one shown, it is the image the company use as their logo, so needs to be a road bike, side view, and as close to the bike shown, in vector format.

Thanks

Jas…

[Jason Bounds]

Hi George.

Your an absolute star, thank you very much, was going to settle down this morning with a coffee and digitise one, so thank you very much your help is appreciated.

All the best

Jas….

[Jason Bounds]

LOL Peter

Yeah i’ve had a few knock backs myself from Staffordshire girls lol

but anyway that’s not the knot i’m refering too, so i have added the a jpeg here to show you what i mean,

Don’t need the lettering just the actual knot

Thanks for your reply Peter.

Jas….

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[Jason Bounds]

Well done Nick, you beat me to it, I knew i’d seen it on one of my disks, I just found it and realise you’d posted LOL

But I agree, definatly Sprocket

[Jason Bounds]

Thanks for your reply’s Nick & Rob

Nick, i’m after the font, not the logo, I already have the logos, but the customer is after his website address http://www.blah blah etc in white text to go on to his smart car in keeping with all the usual smart car graphics.

Rob I’ve had a look on what the font and cant get any joy, the nearest fonts i’ve found to the style of text are

Sherrie & Horatio

But neither are perfect matches, you may be right in saying that one of these fonts may well be the one and the company has just altered them to their own customisation.

Thanks for your time in replying guys.
Much appreciated.

Jas….

[Jason Bounds]

You lot are fantastic, I love you all.

The customer had this sign done for there shop 3 weeks ago by another sign company, and may I say that it was a rather large sign company in Tamworth.

The owner couldn’t understand why her customers were laughing when they walked in to her shop.

I happened to see the sign while driving past the shop and couldn’t resist in going in to tell the owner, there’s nothing worse than a sign maker like me seeing someone elses shoddy work.

after i pointed out the obvious problems with the sign, the shop owner asked me to design and make a correct sign for her.

Thanks again folks…..

I had never seen that Folkard font before.

[Jason Bounds]

Hi Guys

Peters correct in how i set the palette.

I’m with Peter on this, i don’t see how the colours in a palette could stop a file from opening, as the palette is made up from what ever colours there are within the file.

I had been messing with palettes a few days before my format of the hard drive, and i thought these were the only ones that were affected, but upon inspection of my customer jobs, a few of them had the same problem, i’m all sorted now and have managed to get them all open again and re-colour them all.

I’m still not convinced it’s a 100% Palette problem though.

I origionally thought it was a memory problem as one of the files that wouldn’t open was 1.58mb but then it would let me open a file .CDL file that was 2.6mb, so that pretty much ruled that out.
Mind you i built this pc and i know that it would take a lot to cause a memory problem it runs on 2048 DDR memory and is an Athlon 64.

Thanks again for your replys guys and thanks again to Peter who helped me out, it’s very much appreciated.

Jas….

[Jason Bounds]

Hi Guys

Thanks for all your help on this topic via the boards/pm & email

Peter has helped me out, we sorted the problem down to it being a colour paette problem, when peter converted one of the files to monochrome only and sent the file back to me, it opened up first time, with the other two files I created a palette with just black & white and the two files opened, so i’m now sorted, thanks for all your help.

Jas….

[Jason Bounds]

Hi Del

I use a Graphtec CE3000-60 with Signlab with no problems at all, signlab already supports the Graphtec plotter and everything is perfect, Signlab 7 vinyl Pro cost me just under £1000 I have also used Vinyl Master Pro with the Graphtec that software cost £499

But i did find i was a little limited with Vinyl Master Pro so i decided to purchase Signlab.

All in all a piece of sign software is probably the most important thing you will purchase, if your finances allow go for a better one you will be glad you did in the end.

(My Opinion Only)

Jas….

[Jason Bounds]

Hi Danny

Yeah your file won’t open in Signlab / Vinyl Master Pro or Illustrator, could you try posting it agaIn please. 🙂

Jas…

[Jason Bounds]

Hi James

Hey, that’s a nice image you have created there,

It’s the type of thing i’m looking for, but not the exact thing i require.

I don’t actually want people to see the creature as i want there imagination to work.

I like the idea with the eyes, and maybe a claw or arm or something half out of the hole.

I think i have now come up with an idea, and the early draft is quite promising, Should have a full design for my vehicle by wednesday, then i’l post a jpeg on here for some reviews.

Nice image though James.

Jas….

[Jason Bounds]

Hi James

You an absolute star. Thank you

That is exactly what i’m after,

Thank you for your time 😀 😛 😀 😛 😀

Jas…..

[Jason Bounds]

Hi Nik, Hi Dave

I’m after something like, an image on the page that Dave just posted.

2nd row down, 2nd image in

just something basic like that really, it is to be affixed to my vehicle, so aslong as it shows rolls of vinyl, i’d be quite happy.

Jas….

[Jason Bounds]

Hi Guys

Shane, that’s perfect mate, I altered the kerning a little, and emailed a sample to the customer, he said it’s perfect.

So thank you for your time in looking for and supplying the font for me.

Jas….

[Jason Bounds]

Hi Marcella

I’ve had a look through all my graphics, i havn’t any warrior or L200 stuff i’m afraid, and i can’t figure out what font it is,

But i’ve attached a pic for everyone to see, just incase someone knows.

Jas….

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[Jason Bounds]

I’ve found from talking to my corgi registerd and Building Assoc customers that when they are members of the said organisations, the organisations themselves supply the stickers free of charge for the vans, the trouble is, is that they say they have to make a phone call and it usually takes months to get the free stickers, so they find it easier to come and get them made by us for there new vehicles etc….

Jas…

[Jason Bounds]

ahhhh i was just swimming past a good looking Neon Tetra and it hit me like a thunderbolt….

White van man you have our delivery
we didn’t know you without any livery

jas….

[Jason Bounds]

Thanks Danny, no worries.

Actually I was out walking the dog this morning and came up with another…..

but with me being a the male of our species.

It’s now dissapeared from my head, think i must of been a gold fish in a previous life.

If it comes back to me while swimming around this bowl i’ll get back to you.

Jas….

[Jason Bounds]

Thanks Carrie

You must always ask for Royalties, just incase the idea starts appearing on the back of buses LOL

or appears in a new Sachi & Sachi advertising campaign

you never know who could be watching these boards 🙂

Jas…

[Jason Bounds]

White van man you have no graphic
You won’t stand out in the traffic

Thank you very much, all Royalties can go straight in to my bank account please

Jas….

[Jason Bounds]

Thanks Peter, you are a star, I had just finished vectorising the image as you posted, but i still have about 10 mins tidying up a little, so i will greatfully use your file, thank you so much.

I still havn’t figured out if it is an old logo or new, I will ask the customer 2moro.

Thanks again

Jas…

[Jason Bounds]

Oh Nooooooo…..
🙄

I’ve just looked at SignShop Manager, and I definatly know that’s not the one i saw at the sign show, the layout of the one i saw was a bit like Clarity but seemed more technical, so i’m back to square one, and still looking.

If anyone can list some of the software that is used for quotations, estimates and basically running a sign shop, then i may just be able to look at a few screen shots on the makers websites and know which one it was..

Would still appreciate any help.

Jas…

[Jason Bounds]

LOL John

Naughty Naughty, you know you shouldn’t drink & drive….

You might spill it….. 😛

Glad I could help, yes they do do a Mac Version, I’ve just downloaded the windows version, but when you fill in your details to get the download link, the page hangs, just let it carry on, it gives you the link after about 5 mins, they must use a very slow server.

Jas….

[Jason Bounds]

Hi Mayger

I just had a look at SignShop Manager and have edited this post, it’s not the one.

Jas….

[Jason Bounds]

Hi Brian, I know they are difficult to work with, but when you look at say impacts outline cd’s or the car & Truck cd’s they do not contain every vehicle, even some of the popular cars, most of the outline cd’s concentrate more on vans and trucks etc, I work a lot with rally cars and off road vehicles, these are pretty hard to find on these disks.

Peter – Thanks for the tips mate, i will certainly give your suggestions a go over the weekend, atleast if i can resize on screen, i can always check the actual measurments against certain parts of my vehicle to check they are accurate.

I will let you know how i get on

Thanks again

Jas….

[Jason Bounds]

Hi Guys

I’ve got it 🙂 🙂 🙂

I wasn’t doing the outline properly, I was creating the outline while it was on the flag, and I wasn’t making a path between the circle and the outline, once i did, and then welded the circles outline to the flag, it all worked.

I am going to have a practice with a few other designs, to make sure i’ve got the hang of it, but as of now it seems like a great tip Ian,
Thanks very much guys for your help,

We got the result in the end

Jas…

[Jason Bounds]

Hi Ian

Thanks for the advice mate, I was right with you right up to the point where you said “This should leave you with the flag in the shape of a circle”

At this point I have the whole in my origional flag, but no flag in the shape of the circle, i’m also being left with the flag broken in to it’s seperate layers.

It’s probably me, but if you get a second can you give it a try with the file i’ve sent, it maybe the file itself but I can’t see that…

I basically want a circle placing right in the centre of the flags cross, so that the cross is in the centre of the circle if you know what i mean..

LOL “That made no sense what so ever Jas”

Cheers

Jas…

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Union_Flag.eps

[Jason Bounds]

Hi Chris

Thanks for the advice, I wish I had a clue how to follow your advice, I am using Signlab 7 and have got my design on screen, along with a circle, I have stretched the flag to fit the circle, but then i’m lost…

Signlab doesn’t have a conbine, it does however have
Make Path
Break Path &
Connect Path

I presume these are the equivelent, when I lay the circle over the flag, and press “Make Path” or “Break Path” I end up with a design that is completly welded and the same colour as the circle.
All being 1 colour.

I am not after an easy fix, would like to learn to do that it sounds like a great tip, but only having just purchased Signlab I am a complete and utter novice 🙁

But I must say I am learning slowly , so any further advice on what i’m doing wrong would be great 🙂

Jas….

[Jason Bounds]

Hi Peter

I went for the Signlab Vinyl Pro version.

At present I only use vinyl cutters, and did not see the point of a higher version when I don’t do Digital printing etc…

Luckily two of my uncles are in the trade, and they have all the equipment, so I can always contract out jobs that need Wide Format Printing, Sreen Printing, T-shirts and wrap etc…

I also have the option to upgrade at a later date if I feel I need to.

Jas….

[Jason Bounds]

Hello Autosign

I have just checked on the signlab demo, version 7.1

have had 5 diffferent pages of files open all at the same time, doesn’t seem a problem there, have cut a small sample from each also while they were all open.

Thanks for the comment

Jas….

[Jason Bounds]

Hi Steve

Thanks for the tip mate, I will watch that with the True Type fonts and let you know how I go on :lol1:

Jas…

[Jason Bounds]

Hi Iain

It’s like I said in a previous post, it might be just my setup, at the end of the day MS Windows causes many problems with both hardware and software and it could just be my setup, we are all setup different using different versions of Operating Systems, Sign & design software and cutting and printing equipment.

I was just making my case for my particular setup, I’m chuffed that you are having no problems with your setup using the same cutter as me, This is one of the reasons I bought VMP as I thought with a brand name cutter i’d be rocking, but alas it was not meant to be.

But I will let you know how I get on with a full working version of Signlab, and you never know, at the next update of VMP I may be able to get my problems sorted, atleast I’ll get to keep VMP on my system and can still design on it and use some of the features for designing then just import them in to signlab for cutting.

I’m sure that didn’t make sense…. Think I need Coffee..

Jas….

[Jason Bounds]

Hi Fredthelad

I can use the Graphtec via the Generic HP-GL driver, as suggested By Tony at Future 1.

But this is not ideal as it does not fully control the plotters on board software as a dedicated system driver would.

ie: you would cut 1 job and the blade would end the cut back at it’s origion, but the next time you cut, the blade would just stop as it’s finished it’s cutting still hovering over the design it has just cut.

Other times the cutter would start cutting a design then half way through it would cut a non plotted line right through the design messing it all up, then it would carry on the correct course.

There are just to many times when this happens on my particular setup, and it’s not very nice when you are trying to cut a 3 – 4 metre graphic for a customers truck.

Using Flexi or Signlab this has never happened, so in my personal opinion it is my VMP drivers that are causing the problem.

Jas…

P.S I’ve just been informed that I don’t have to hand over my Vinylmaster Pro software in the cross over deal. I would of thought I would of.
It makes me wonder why you don’t even have to supply any proof to be able to get a discounted price on a cross over, so it looks like I can still keep my VMP.

[Jason Bounds]

hi Folks

Just to let you know that I’m now sorted,

Just been offered Signlab Vinyl Pro from my new mate Graham at Network Systems.

For £895 + VAT (on a cross over upgrade from VMP)

Will be collecting it 2moro

I think that is an excellent price and i’m very happy with that.

p.s I’ve also signed up for UKSG + Gold lifetime membership on these boards, for the savings i’ve made, so i’m here to stay.

I Thank you all for the advice you have given me, and hope i can return the favour Ten fold.

Jas…

[Jason Bounds]

Hi Iain

I totally understand where your comming from, I do like VMP it is the easiest software I have ever used for things like shading, outlines etc but it does not support my older creation PCUT 630 cutter or my newer Graphtec CE3000-60, and in this day and age, the software we all use at the prices we pay should be able to update drivers etc very quickly and easily over the net as and when the companies make the drivers. but the software companies just seem to produce the software and only bring out updates occasionally, at least with CADlinks Signlab it is kept totally up to date with all the drivers, that is most probably why they are the market leaders in sign software. but I 100% agree with you that VMP is a great piece of software.

Jas….

[Jason Bounds]

Ahhh think i’ve found them, i think your on about this company

Network Systems (EC) Ltd

Link House, Leek Road
Milton
Stoke on Trent
Staffordshire
ST2 7AH

[Jason Bounds]

Thanks for the vote of confidence Brushman, I think i’ll be a happy bunny once i’ve got Signlab..

Becky, do you know the name of the suppliers in Milton, as you know it’s not far away Yippee… do you know if they have a website.

Any help appreciated as always.

Jas….

[Jason Bounds]

Hi Folks

Just a quick update really

I am in talks today with Scanvec (Flexi)
and CADlink (Signlab)

I’ve asked them if they offer cross over upgrades to their software from my version of Vinylmaster Pro.

So Far CADlink are saying

“We only sell Signlab through registered Dealers, and not direct to the end user. The retail cost of vinyl pro is £1500+vat. The cross grade price would be £1000+vat. You would need to let me know what the cost of your software was so I can confirm if it is suitable for cross grade. Let me know your post code and I will forward details of your closest Signlab dealer.”

(just waiting for them to email me back with my nearest supplier & confirmation as i’ve emailed a copy of my receipt for VMP) from GrafityP UK.

Concerning FlexiExpert GraphtecGB have said

“Yes, we do run a competitive trade in service, unfortunately Future aren’t considered a big enough competitor to be included in this. In view of this I can offer the software for £1500.00 + VAT” The software shipped will be V7.6 with Dongle & Manual”

So based on this, if CADlink get back to me I don’t think I can turn down the Signlab software for £1000 + VAT
Seems like a great offer.

I will keep you all posted.

Jas…

[Jason Bounds]

Hi Gypsy666

I bought my first cutter from SSK in the USA it was a Creation PCUT 630 it was bundled with Artcut 2002 and ran the cutter very well with no problems on cutting or running.

Jas…

[Jason Bounds]

Hi Jem

Thanks for the reply

After trying out both signlab & Flexi I can only say that both have completed all the things I’ve created with ease. and the only thing that nags me a little about signlab is the way it looks icons & buttons etc…

but i still enjoyed using it.

I am so stuck on which one to go for.

To be honest I have a legal version and dongle of vinylmaster Pro, it is a great piece of software, and you can design anything with ease and it looks and feels nice to use, but with the software it uses modules for designing and there’s a module for the vinyl spooler and a module for cutting, it just seems to go all around it’s hat when you just want to cut a simple sticker.

And as for the support although Tony & Matthew at Future 1 do get back to you within 24hrs vai email, their answers to questions are very short and have no depth to them (my opinion only)

I have a Graphtec CE3000-60 cutter and it’s not even supported as a stand alone driver in VMP but it is in both Flexi & Signlab.

I have just downloaded a demo of Sign Wizard from Aries Graphics International I used it for 20 mins then decided it was not for me, it had the same sort of look as Flexi but the menus seem to confusing.

so I’m back to square one, Signlab or Flexi ?? maybe I should stop looking at what they can do, as I know they both can do the same, and start looking at the cost of the software instead..

Jas…

[Jason Bounds]

Hi Becky

Thanks for the reply, There are a few of us in Stoke 🙂

You can cut from the demo of signlab via the open Generic HP-GL plotter driver that comes with the demo.

as for Flexi-Sign I have a copy of the 7.5v2 off Ebay Of coarse, it is a full version and designs and cuts perfectly, but being the type of person i am i still want to purchase the full legitamate product of a sign software for the support / Dongle & Manuals etc.
Although I can use all the features of Flexi, There is still a lot that I can learn, I purchased it as at the time when I didn’t have the money to go for the best from the start, now as business is booming I want to purchase a legal version and learn more.

It was just that I wanted owners views on their Signlabs and Flexi’s and to throw it in to the mix i’ve just read a post about Sign Wizard software, so I’m now starting to get brain ache over which to go for 🙂

Jas….