greatcut software for plotters - welcome to florida...

GreatCut Software for Vinyl Plotters

Florida Flexible Printing Products 2671 WEST 76 Street, Hialeah, Florida 33016 Tel: 305-512-2222 – Fax: 305-512-0436 – email: [email protected]

GreatCut Steps

MultiSkin

MultiSkin facilitates the data transfer from CorelDRAW (9-

X4) to GreatCut by automatically starting GreatCut and also passing on

the data that are on the desktop to GreatCut. Depending on the skin it is

sufficient to double click or click once on the knife-icon in order to carry

out the previously described function.

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Drag & Drop (with CorelDRAW)

Import and Export via drag & drop for CorelDRAW

The Wireframe mode shows the outlines to be cut.



Pencil thickness conversion

Source graphic with color fill and pencil

thickness (8 pt blue)

Wireframe mode in CorelDRAW shows

vectors without pencil thickness.

The graphic is given to GreatCut using drag

& drop function or GreatCut export icon.

Result of pencil thickness conversion - cuttable outlines (blue) with original vectors (see

wireframe mode above).

Enlarged preview



Cutting and Welding

Select the object and click on the X Cutting or Welding symbol.

You choose the type of welding:

Automatic: Overlapping serifs of fonts are welded.

By Color: The underlying object will be cut larger according to the amount specified to avoid

streaks

Full Surface: The objects are cut precisely for sticking on shop windows.



Screen-printing

When Screen-printing is selected, the color stack is activated. You can modify the sequence of

colors interactively from light to dark with the help of the mouse.

Specify the amount of

Overlap to avoid streaks in

the joins.

Cutting by color



GreatCut allows you to cut individual colors or series of colors.

You select the machine, mode, number of copies ...... and click on Cut.

Material database

You can set default values for print and speed, which can be saved in a material databank for

retrieval at any time.

Cutting Preview

You can place a shadow around any object.

The Use of Material is shown in sq. m

and running meters in the Cutting

Preview status line.



In the Cutting Preview the user can see which objects will be cut where on the material.

The context menu can be activated using the right mouse button.

GreatCut Commands in the Cutting Preview

Optimizing

The amount of material used is minimized by

rotating and moving the objects. You can

specify the distance between the objects to be

optimized.

Duplicating

You can create any number of duplicates of objects.



You can specify the distance between the objects to be duplicated.

Rotation

The object is rotated 90o in a counterclockwise direction.

X Mirror / Y Mirror

The object is mirrored horizontally or vertically.

Size

The object can be enlarged proportionally or

disproportionally.



When the maximum width of foil is exceeded,

GreatCut activates the sectioning command.

Sectioning

The object is divided into segments of equal size. Each segment can

be cut separately. The segments can be moved individually and also

positioned exactly. You can deactivate individual segments by

clicking on them. The most recent setting will be saved

automatically.

Register marks

For the assembly of the cut by color layers register marks are necessary.



The register marks are set by using the mouse.

In order to enable the exact assembly of foil colors, the register marks are cut independently of

the used color, at the same place on the foil.

Jog marks

The jog marks function is used in order to create Sticker. Printed vinyl with jog marks is put in

the cutter. The numbers of duplicates are cut with a contour.



Load Bitmap and create contour with

contour function.

Note: Not to mistake with outline

function.

Setup jog marks

Objects align over universal jog marks



Set jog marks

print material with jog marks



Output your image

Setup for specific plotter

Click “Read material” to take

sure the width of your

material.

Plot Manager

The Plot Manager defines which devices are used, how local and network connections are

configured, which PC runs as plot server, which job is active or passive, calculates and

summarizes the tool movements for each job/tool and allows to configure how often jobs are

repeated.

The following graphics describes how the new Plot Manager of GreatCut works. In the right

column you'll find an extended description of the most important options.



Driver selection is done by

selecting your cutter in the

driver list box on the right

side.

The plot server option displays

your local IP address, which

has to be entered as TCP/IP

address in the clients. Detailed

configuration

Local ports and USB devices

connect the selected device to

your PC. The settings button

allows to configure baud rate,

data bits, etc..

Over the TCP/IP option you

can send your plot data to an

external network print server

device.

The spooler option allows

selecting a network printer

(generic text only). Via this

spooler you can send raw data

to any device you like.

Figure 1: Setup dialog - driver and port selection

http://www.cocut.com/produkte/cocut_cosign_leistungsprofile.htm#plotserver

http://www.cocut.com/produkte/plotmanager-server.htm

http://www.cocut.com/produkte/plotmanager-server.htm



The clipart.job

is now being

cut. In the

preview you

see a

thumbnail of

the cutting job.

With drag &

drop to

'Passive jobs'

you can

deactivate the

running job.

All cut jobs are

listed under the

'Saved jobs'

tree and can be

reactivated by

dragging them

to the 'Active

jobs' tree.

Figure 2: Tree structure with configured devices and cut job management branches

You can define specific output options

for each device.

'Count of saved output files' defines the

length of the history of saved jobs.

Output count defines how often active

jobs are given out from the device.

Figure 3: Output option



This window shows the

distance each tool of the

device has covered since last

reset.

Figure 4: Summary of tool movements

POWERweedTM

What is POWERweed?

It can be seen in the figure 1 below that the objects to be cut are only surrounded by a weeding

frame.

Especially when the objects are small, this is often insufficient for weeding them quickly and

easily.

In the GreatCut cutting preview you have three possibilities of using this feature.

The POWERweed feature of GreatCut simplifies the weeding act by adding horizontal or

vertical weeding lines.

These additional weeding lines besides the weeding frame leave out the cut vectors of the

objects. (See fig. 2 below)

Example of Adding Weeding Lines in the Cutting Preview



Figure 1: Adding Horizontal/Vertical Weeding Lines

1.Manual/Individual

Position the mouse cursor on the weeding frame surrounding the objects.

The mouse cursor turns into a double arrow. Now drag the horizontal/vertical segment line

(comparable with guidelines in your illustration program) to the position where you wish to

make a segment. Repeat the procedure until you have added all the segment lines you wish.

2.Via the Options Menu

Select the particular menu item; once or as often as you like and in any order.

3.Via the Shortcuts ‘h’ or ‘v’)

‘H’ adds a horizontal, ‘V’ a vertical weeding line. The weeding line is set automatically in the

middle of the width or height.

The second weeding line is set in the middle of the half, the next one in the middle of the

quarters and so on.

In the figure below you can see how a cut job is prepared for cutting with segment lines.



Figure 2: Example of Adding Horizontal/Vertical Segment Lines

It can be seen in the figure above that if you keep on clicking one of these two menu items the

segments created

will be divided at the centre by further segment lines.

Result

Figure 3: This Is To Be Cut in vinyl!

If the job to be cut is situated to the left of, above or below the material preview when the

Cutting menu is activated, you will automatically be informed that the objects to be cut are

outside the cutting area.

FOTOcutTM

This module creates vector patterns such as Lines, Rhombuses, Circles, Squares, Single

Rhombuses, Single Rectangles and Spirals from Windows bitmap files (*.BMP, *.PCX, &

*.TIF). These patterns can be cut on every cutting plotter or similar device. The image is

divided into logical pixels and the average grayscale is worked out for each of these logical

pixels. Thus, an image is created having fewer pixels than the original. This image is then used



to create horizontal or vertical lines, circles, squares, etc, whose width is proportional to the

grayscale in the corresponding place.

The following image will serve as a model for all the examples:

Figure 1: Model for Examples (photo.bmp)

Figure 2: Example of Reversing the Grayscale Value

Line width upwards Line width downwards

Figure 3: Example of Reversing the Line Width



Figure 4: Example of Line Width Enlarged Upwards and Downwards

Even small modifications of the values produce very different results.

Elaborated Weed Aid

Create Weed Aid The lines are thickened at the ends so that the image can be weeded more quickly.

Strap Width

You can specify the width of a strap in this box.

Strap Thickness You can specify the thickness of a strap in this box. Strap Offset to Weed Border

You can enter the offset to the weed border in this box.

Stripes per Strap

In this box you can enter the number of stripes that each strap should contain.

The bitmap dimensions in pixels and mm and the probable Number of Objects are displayed

beneath these fields.

Example of Stripes per Strap, Strap Width, Strap Thickness and Stripes



Modes:

Lines, Rhombuses, Circles, Squares, Single Rhombuses, Single Rectangles and Spirals.

Which mode will obtain the best result depends on the bitmap used and the parameters set.

Check results by print out It is not easy to judge the quality of the result from the screen display. Therefore you should

print out the result so that you can assess it accurately and don‘t run the risk of wasting

expensive vinyl

Creativity without limits. Use this elaborated feature to create outstanding signage.

Job Manager

The Job Manager, which is included in GreatCut, is a powerful tool to organize and preview

designs, clipart, cut jobs, etc…

Highlights

Compatible with the following file formats: *.CMX, *.CCJ, *.JOB, *.AI/EPS, *.PLT,

*.TIF.

It is able to scan complete clipart CD-ROMs in one pass and display the contents

afterwards without inserting the CD-ROM.

File search is supported by using search paths or search masks.

Thumbnail size can be changed by simply pressing + key or - key.



Figure: Job Manager Window with search path tree, search masks and thumbnails

djustments and mistakes reserved.

greatcut software for plotters - welcome to florida...

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