posted
Mike, I agree that Freehand is a viable alternative, but when comes to raw ability, Illustrator beats them all, hands down, IMHO. Being in the printing/sign industry for over 15 years, I have only ran into 1 job from Canvas, a bunch of Freehand files (that needed to be converted to Illustrator for the RIP to handle) and way too many Microsloth Publisher files to count! Basically they are all the same, interfaces are completely different, both were vector based and now have grown to handle bitmaps and other non-vector art. Hard to explain to someone that brings you a file with a placed TIF file and want you to cut it just like that! Lets see, Posterize 6 colors, Seperate channels, autotrace, clean up, load vinyl, cut, weed, apply in register, that'll be $400. OR, we could digitally print that for $120... Hmmmm.
------------------ Eric Patzer A.S.A.P. Design Lafayette, CO epatzer@earthlink.net
Posts: 208 | From: Lafayette, CO USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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Yep I hear ya loud and clear.. of all the graphics programs I know (PhotoShop, Fireworks, PaintShop Pro, Illustrator, CorelDRAW, Freehand and some other hideous little no-name stuff for LINUX, plus CAD appz and 3D Modeling stuff that's irrelevant here) I've been using Illustrator the longest, but since getting CorelDRAW maybe a year ago I have found Corel offers some very important features in doing signs which Illustrator lacks completely... of course, Illustrator is designed for the printing press, not signs.. so I deal with it. =)
Soon I hope to setup a screenprinting rig here for printing vinyl graphics, and I'll probably be using Illustrator more for that.
------------------ Mike Pipes Digital Illusion Custom Graphics Lake Havasu City, AZ http://www.stickerpimp.com
Posts: 8746 | From: Lake Havasu, AZ USA | Registered: Jun 2000
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posted
Mike, don't want to burst your bubble, but Corel is designed for the printing press, too...as is Freehand, which is also leaning towards a web design program. (Adobe added some stuff in the new version 9 that is aimed at web design, too.) None of these programs were designed specifically for sign design..for that, we have to shell out a whole lot more $$$.
It's no big deal, though. Every individual is different (that's why they call them "individuals"), and some people may find one program better than others for working in vectors. It's sort of like language...the first one we learn is ALWAYS the easiest.
------------------ Don Coplen aka "SaintPete" Coplen Designs St.Petersburg, FL dcoplen@mindspring.com
Co-Conspirator (with Bill Modzel and Dave Sherby) of the unofficial Letterville Adobe Illustrator Support Group & coffee house.
If any Letterville Adobe Illustrator users need any help, feel free to email any of the three of us and we will help out as best we can.
[This message has been edited by Don Coplen (edited June 22, 2001).]
posted
Don, oh I know CorelDRAW was designed for the printing press, and the last I heard it has more market share than Illustrator but I wont put any faith in that.. =)
It just happens that Corel has the distortion tools (called Envelope in Corel) which allows you to stretch various parts of any graphic or text in any direction, which the sign programs also have and comes in very handy.
Illustrator lacks that feature, but hey, Corel takes up the slack. =)
------------------ Mike Pipes Digital Illusion Custom Graphics Lake Havasu City, AZ http://www.stickerpimp.com
Posts: 8746 | From: Lake Havasu, AZ USA | Registered: Jun 2000
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In few words: • 699 USD for the USB or ADB version (includes the NCS MagiSign Server, which allows to plot in background or on various remote plotters on a network).
• 599 USD for the NCS MagiSign lite (USB or ADB version)
• SignofNCS CD (compatible with Server): 150 USD
• FREE to download : SignofNCS for Adobe Illustrator 5, 6 or 7.0
Special prices are purposed for additional dongles
New Ceres Solutions develops NCS MagiSign and SignofNCS. It handles the sales and support of distributors and resellers for Europa (info@magisign.com )
Our products are distributed worldwide through Global Services and Products Ltd (GSP), our exclusive distributors for any areas outside Europa. GSP Ltd has two offices : 1 in Europe (Holland) and 1 in USA - Tewksburry (Boston).
For Europa, contact us at : info@magisign.com
If you are located in USA, you can call upon GSP USA office : gspltd.us@magisign.com
Otherwise, contact GSP Ltd main office : gspltd@magisign.com
P.S. NCS MagiSign is packaged under the name "GoCut for Mac" by GBC Signwarehouse :
posted
Thanks for the input, but AI8 will have to wait as I was outbid on Ebay by a braveheart character who took it for $222.50 + shipping. Although it's probably worth it, was way past my limit.
------------------ Bill Cosharek Bill Cosharek Signs N.Huntingdon,Pa
bcosharek@juno.com
Posts: 703 | From: N.Huntingdon, Pa, USA | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
I'm not positive, but I think ebay has a feature where you can set it to email you when an item you want comes up for bid. (If it doesn't, then it should! hahaha)
(edited part) Found it! Go to "my ebay" and click on favorites. In the "favorite searches" table, you'll see "add new search" to the left. Click on this and a page will come up where you can put your search criteria, including the item (illustrator 8), price range, etc. When a new match comes up, you'll receive an email.
As a very good friend likes to say, "How special is that?"
Hope this helps.
------------------ Don Coplen aka "SaintPete" Coplen Designs St.Petersburg, FL dcoplen@mindspring.com
Co-Conspirator (with Bill Modzel and Dave Sherby) of the unofficial Letterville Adobe Illustrator Support Group & coffee house.
If any Letterville Adobe Illustrator users need any help, feel free to email any of the three of us and we will help out as best we can.
[This message has been edited by Don Coplen (edited June 24, 2001).]
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