Signcut Double cut

[Angel135612]

I am trying to figure out some things in Signcut (decided to buy it last night, but still using the trial for now).

I want to figure out where things are going to be placed on the mat, relative to how I have my machine and the software set up. I created a simple file in Inkscape, using a square and triangle. I'm using the pen tool, so I can see where it is cutting without actually cutting paper. I can see where things are on the mat compared to my file, but when it "cut" it went around each design twice. I noticed that when I brought in Penny Duncans Rose file, that it also wanted to cut each image twice, but in that file, there were 3 colors, one for just the rose petals, one for the leaf, and then one with all of the parts. I could click on the color for all the parts, intead of all colors and it only cut out once. In the file I created it is only showing one color, so I can't stop it from cutting twice that way. What do I need to do, so that when I create a file in Inkscape, it doesn't try to cut around the design twice??

Okay, never mind.. I just figured it out. I had Fill and Stroke on both images, if I changed to only ONE, and it didn't matter if I had fill or stroke, as long as I didn't have BOTH, it would only cut once.

A tip for those that are trying to figure out WHERE on the mat something is going to cut.. no matter which software you are using. Put in a plain piece of paper ( the stuff you use for your printer, not good card stock) and use your pen tool...place some images on your mat that will let you see a "top and bottom", so something that isn't the same on all sides, and send that to your cutter.. watch how it is "cutting" and see how that is relative to what you see on your screen, and how you have your settings.. ie landscape vs portrait. Once you figure out how it "cuts" with YOUR set up, then you can make notes of what your setting are to get it to cut where you think it should.

I'm still playing and trying to figure out just what my set up should be... but instead of cutting paper, I'm just drawing on it to figure it all out. Once I figure it all out, I'm going to make notes on the paper, showing how the paper was on the mat (landscape or portrait) and how it was showing on my computer and what settings were used. And mark where I put the knife point, and where it started to cut. That should give me a visual to look at when I get confused again.

[pigtailpat]

My understanding is that the cougar will see BOTH fills and stroke. If you have both showing, the machine will cut twice. If you want to cut only once, it has to be one or the other.

I am not sure if this is true for .mtc, but for signcut, this is the situation.

Pat

[Tyler]

you are right - there is a double cut. That is why Andy had to put in the fuse and weld feature into MTC. PDFs would import with both fill and stroke. If you have a color inside a shape with MTC, then it will automatically ignore the fill when cutting and only cut the stroke. When importing from outside MTC, depending on the nature of the import, you get both fill and stroke imported, which make your image look like there is no color.

I know this is about SignCut, so I will keep it at that. But great job for figuring it out!

[Gigi]

One thing that I have learned to do if I am not sure how many cuts I am going to get (sometimes the black in an image will give me two cuts) is - after I have send it Signcut - I hit cut>preview>animation. I usually click on the fast as I just want to be sure it's only going around once. That just takes a couple of seconds and saves any mishaps.

Hope that helps someone.

[Angel135612]

Gigi, that is what I am going to be doing until I'm sure the files I'm using are just what I want. It does only take a second or two, and it could save some aggravation. I think with the file I was testing, it didn't show any colors separations to cut by color because the stroke and fill were the same color. So that is something else to think about when creating a file. I'm sure I will get the hang of this software, just going to take me awhile... LOL

[Tyler]

And we will do webinars and stuff to help you too!

[Gigi]

Tyler to the rescue - as always!

[Angel135612]

And we will do webinars and stuff to help you too!

Thanks Tyler... I probably need more help with Inkscape than I do Signcut... but knowing any tricks or tips on either would be great!!!!

[Phyllis]

Tyler, when is the next webinar? Or did I miss one while I was away.