posted
OK, since Donna suggested this and I hope Steve archives it, here is the complete rundown on cutting from Corel.
OVERVIEW If you have version 4 or higher of CorelDraw and a Roland cutter, you can successfully cut from Corel directly. My experience is limited to version 4 and 8 only. In version 4 there was a page limitation of 30" by 30" so therefore you were limited in how large a graphic or text could be cut. Version 8 is virtually unlimited so now you are only limited by the length of cut that your cutter model allows. Cutting from Corel uses a "printer" driver and since printer drivers deal with one page at a time so does the Roland printer driver, but that page can be 6' long or longer if your model of cutter will allow it. The following instructions are geared to cutters and not printer/cutters like the colorcamm. I would assume that the drivers for them would work the same way however.
I, also, am only familiar with two particular models of cutters, PNC 1000 and CM 24. In the case of the PNC 1000 model it is necessary to set up the "size" setting on the front panel to be "free Y" instead of the usual "expand X" that most sign making programs use. On the CM 24 make sure that all of the dip switches on the right hand end of the cutter are in the "down" position.
THE INSTALLATION First you go to the roland website at www.rolanddg.com and follow the download link till you get to the cutter driver section. Download the d008230e.exe file and save it in whatever folder you usually do. ( I would recommend creating a sub directory in the download folder.) Using Windows explorer, go to that file's location on your hard drive and double click it to run the self extracting program.(that's why I suggested creating a sub directory, because the program will automatically extract into the same directory and you will know where the extracted files are.) Go to Start/Settings/Printers and double click on "add Printer". Follow the instructions, and when it asks for the location of the driver file, browse to that directory where you downloaded and extracted the driver files. Select the correct driver for your particular model of cutter. Continue to follow the instructions until the printer driver is installed. A note...This is a printer driver we are dealing with so the Roland cutter will have to be connected to a printer port, not a serial port. Second note...If you only have one printer port, it is cheaper and MUCH more reliable to add a second printer port than it is to use a switch box. Trust me on this one!
SETTING UP THE COREL PAGE Start up CorelDraw and set your page size to reflect the available cuttin width of the vinyl you are using. For example, If you are using 20" vinyl then you would set the HEIGHT of the page to be 18.5" ( which is the cuttable width of 20" vinyl on a Roland cutter). For 15" vinyl set the page height to be 13.5". For 18" vinyl set the page height to 17". For 24" vinyl set the page height to 22.99"
Set the page WIDTH to whatever is the maximum length of vinyl your model of cutter will allow. (In my case it is 62.99" for both cutters. BUT on my PNC 1000 that IS the maximum length of cut without using some kind of bridge program. For the CM 24, it is by default the maximum. However you CAN cut longer than that with no problem.)
CREATING SOMETHING TO CUT Type in a word. Size that word to whatever size you want it to be cut. You can assign it a color that matches the color of vinyl you are going to be using. The Roland driver doesn't recognise colors because that is determined by what you load into the cutter. What it DOES recognise is the pen outline!!! One of the quirks of CorelDraw is that, by default it assigns black fill and no outline to text and it assigns no fill and the default outline to created shapes. What you have to remember to do is assign a pen outline to the text before trying to cut. I have heard that different versions of Corel have a different default or "hairline" outline. In version 4 that default was .003" and in version 8 it was .003" and in version 9 it is also .003" so I don't know that information is correct. What I do know is that the outline weight you want is the one that is represented, in the pen flyout menu, by a thin line with an arrow above and below it. ( I have also heard that setting you default pen outline to .001" will solve irregular cut problems, if you encounter them. I have never experienced any problem cutting so I just leave the default as it is.) Once you have the text outlined and sized, move it to the lower left corner of the page.
Load some vinyl into the cutter and follow the next steps.
USING THE PRINTER DRIVER, VERSION 4 Since I use a PNC 1000 and a CM 24 I can only describe the steps that apply to those particular drivers but since both of those drivers appear the same (except for the fact that the PNC 1000 won't allow you to exceed 62.99" and the CM 24 will) I would assume that the other model's drivers are very similar. Once you have the text positioned go to file/print. In the dialogue box that appears, select the Roland printer from the dropdown list.
Click on "printer" and set up the printer page to match the corelDraw page. Choose "cutter" instead of "pen" if that option is available. Now the left side of the dialogue box, where the print preview is should look just like the original Corel page with the text in it's correct location. If it doesn't, go back into "printer" and click on 90 degrees rotate. Now the preview should look correct. Click OK. Now click OK to start cutting.
USING THE PRINTER DRIVER, VERSION 8 Once you have the text positioned go to file/print. In the dialogue box that appears, select the Roland printer from the dropdown list.
In Corel 8 click on "properties" and set up the printer page to match the Corel Page. Choose "cutter" instead of "pen" if that option is available. Click "OK". Click on the "print preview" button and look at the preview. If it is exactly as you had it set up in Corel you can go ahead and "print". If not go back to properties and click on 90 degrees rotate. Things should now be correct and you can go to file/print and start cutting.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION I currently use the CM 24 as the main cutter so I am buying and using mostly 24" vinyl these days so I have set my default corel page to be 62.99" wide and 22.99" high. I also got tired of having to set up the "properties" of the Roland every time I went to cut. So I went to "start/settings/printers" in Windows and then "right clicked" on the Roland printer and then clicked on "properties". Once the properties box came up I set the "size" to match my default Corel page and also checked "rotate 90 degrees". This set the default properties to match the Corel page and now when I go to print everything matches and doesn't have to be done manually every time UNLESS I am using narrower vinyl or am cutting bevond 62.99".
If you are working with multiple colors of vinyl, assign each component a fill that corresponds to the vinyl colors you will be cutting. Stack or nest all the individual components that are the same color on the Corel page to make the most efficient use of material. Now you can "marquee" select only those that are going to be cut from that color of vinyl. (You can move the others off the working page if you wish)
In version 4, when you are in the printer dialogue box be sure to check "selected objects only" and then when you go to do the cutting ONLY those that you have selected will be cut.
In the printer dialogue box of version 8 you would click the button beside "selection" to accomplish the same thing.
The biggest thing to remember is to make sure that the text has a pen outline and that everything looks correct in the print previews.
Good Luck!!!!(It really doesn't take as long to do as it takes to type or read these instructions!!!)
------------------ Dave Grundy shop#340 AKA "applicator" on mIRC "stickin' sticky stuff to valuable vessels and vehicles!" in Granton, Ontario, Canada 1-519-225-2634 dave.grundy@odyssey.on.ca www.odyssey.on.ca/~dave.grundy "A PROUD $ supporter of the website"
[This message has been edited by Dave Grundy (edited June 12, 2000).]
posted
Yes, I know that one can cut directly from CorelDRAW. I have tried it and succeeded. But I still use CoCut as my interface with my cutter/plotters. With CoCut, I never have to worrry about my page size, outline width, graphic element alignment, and so on. I simply lay out a sign in CorelDRAW, select each element in turn, and cut them. I realize that all I am saving is time, but that is the bottom line.
Also, as I oversee several plotters that I cannot monitor every second, I choose to use CoCut, for it's interface is simple enough for anyone to comprehend.
posted
no wonder cocut is so easy to use and works so well with corel.....it is corels plotter engine that drives it....duh...when corel 5.0 was released it was minus the plotter engine, which corel leased to cocut/eurocut for 2 yrs.....hence version 5 and 6 of corel were non plotter compatable....i also have procut...which is a lot like cocut, but if you can cut straight from corel(i been doin it since version 4.0, before cocut, and its so simple and easy, once you set up a corel template(which is just like setin up cocut to work from corel)and i dont have the expense of another program. yes cocut will panel...i use procut when i need to do larger then my plotter limit wil do....but i have other sign programs...and i still do all design in corel and cut from it in one step...once you do it a couple times youll see how easy it works... old paint joe
------------------ joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 6050 mobile hwy pensacola, fl 32526 850-944-5060
Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
Dave, from my earlier correspondence with you regarding the subject, I think you left out one step. In Corel 8, You need to change the plotter orientation from "expand X" to "something Y". (I forget the actual setting. Can you clarify that for everyone? Thanks for helping us all out.
Dan
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Posts: 118 | From: Lewiston, Maine, USA | Registered: Dec 1998
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posted
Thanks Dan for mentioning that!!! it is something I forgot about!! DUHHHH I'll edit that right now. THANKS!!
As someone else initiated (this is the edit!!) I'll edit the original tomorrow morning..tonight is too late!!!
------------------ Dave Grundy shop#340 AKA "applicator" on mIRC "stickin' sticky stuff to valuable vessels and vehicles!" in Granton, Ontario, Canada 1-519-225-2634 dave.grundy@odyssey.on.ca www.odyssey.on.ca/~dave.grundy "A PROUD $ supporter of the website"
[This message has been edited by Dave Grundy (edited September 21, 1999).]
posted
thanks dave grundy! you obviously spent a lot of time on this post and it is much appreciated! even though i might never use it, it is still an important post to those who would!
When you need to cut several colors for one design, instead of moving the pieces out of the page area leave them in place and create a different layer for each color.
Create another layer for a registration box and put that layer at the bottom of the list.
Now put all pieces of similar color on their corresponding layers, and draw a weed border or registration box around the artwork. You only need one registration box, put it on the "registration" layer.
Now when you want to cut the material, load a color into the plotter and click on the printer icons for each layer except the layer you want to cut and the registration layer. The printer icons will be grayed out which means they will not print.
Do this for each color/layer you have, and each color will be cut with a registration box around it that is in the right spot every time!
I do this everyday and it makes registration of multiple colors a snap!
And I dont have to move any artwork around, which is great for me because I always miss a little piece here and there and lose the spacing. =)
------------------ Mike Pipes Digital Illusion Custom Graphics Lake Havasu City, AZ
Posts: 8746 | From: Lake Havasu, AZ USA | Registered: Jun 2000
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posted
For those who have newer roland cutters you may have to use .001 outline to get a clean cut. I have a cm 300 and I was having trouble getting clean cuts until Gail(taurus signcraft) told me about the .001 outline.
Happy plotting! Ricky
------------------ Ricky Simpson Simpson Signs South Central VA, USA "railroader aspiring to be fulltime SignArtist."
Start packing and move in! It's just too easy to be a Resident! Location, Location, Location! It's all right here! http://www.letterhead.com/supporters
posted
thanks Dave for all the trouble much appreciated have just printed this out
------------------ Ian Wilson Signmaker Toowoomba City Council Cnr Anzac Ave & Stephen st Toowoomba Queensland Australia may all your toubles be little ones The man that never make a mistake never makes anything
Posts: 656 | From: Toowoomba Queensland Australia | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
Thanks guys..But if you look at the date on the original post you'll see it was posted back in September of 1999. Since then I have upgraded to a Roland CM24 and also to CorelDraw 9. I'm editing the original post to include both of those newer items, along with a couple of other things I have learned since (nothing that changes the original post, but rather, enhances the whole thing.)
------------------ Dave Grundy shop#340 AKA "applicator" on mIRC "stickin' sticky stuff to valuable vessels and vehicles!" in Granton, Ontario, Canada 1-519-225-2634 dave.grundy@quadro.net www.quadro.net/~shirley "A PROUD $ supporter of the website"
[This message has been edited by Dave Grundy (edited June 12, 2000).]
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