Pause Mode - need some help!

[SueA]

I'm just getting started with the 24" Silver Bullet -- haven't started cutting yet, still playing with the pen. It works great until it's finished drawing the shape. It completes it exactly as expected (WSIWYG mode). When it's finished, the machine spits the mat out and THEN goes into PAUSE mode. All the buttons are unresponsive at that point, and I have to turn it off, and then back on to get it out of pause mode.

I have read through everything I can find, and am not seeing an answer. I'm working on the far RIGHT side of the machine. There are no extra nodes.

[Gigi]

What are you drawing? Can you send me the file you are using and details about where you are setting your origin etc. There just isnt enough information for me to tell what is going on. It certainly sounds like an errant node which you can easily see if you do a Control A and see where your outline box ends up. Are you sure you dont have other images on there?

What size is your virtual mat? What size regular mat are you using? Where are you placing the paper on your real mat and where are you setting your origin?

[SueA]

I figured it out -- It was evidently my virtual mat size.

To answer your questions: I used two different images - one from the SCAL library, and the other I created in Illustrator. When I tried ^A, I DID see the outline box going off the left side, but when I checked my original in Illustrator, there were NO extra nodes. I used the WSIWYG setting with the 0/0 point set to the bottom RH corner of the paper with the paper placed at the bottom RH corner of the mat. Both times it printed exactly where I expected it to. I was just getting started, so I'm sure there was nothing else on the mat. I tried the SCAL library image first. Got the Pause when it was finished. Tried my file next with the same results.

When you asked about the virtual mat, it made me wonder if that was the issue. Since I was seeing the dotted line go off the left side for BOTH images, I figured that was the likely culprit. I'm using the large mat that came with the 24". I had originally set the virtual size in SCAL to the match the dimensions on the grid. When I changed it to 8.5x11 to match my paper, the problem went away. Wish everything in life was that easy to solve!

[SueA]

Oh, and thanks!

[Gigi]

Oh good. And you are so welcome!!

And your mat does not have to be the same size as the paper, but it helps to understand what will happen if you are in WYSIWYG mode vs. origin mode. If you were using origin, it would not have been an issue because you would have been drawing from the point where you sent the origin. And you can draw that way, but you nare learning how things draw from the software to the mat and that is great. But the WYSIWYG and the placement of your item was the culprit. Keep playing and have fun. You are doing all of the right things to ensure success when you start cutting!

And one more thing, if you are going to be designing in Illustrator, you can download a plug in from the craftedge website if you have not already done so, so things will cut from Illustrator to SCAL without having to save in Illustrator and then reopen in SCAL. You have probably already found that!

Have fun learning!

[SueA]

Thanks for the tips.