by pigtailpat » August 6th, 2011, 7:53 am
OK, here's my situation......
I need to do a photo mat for my MIL, as I must get to her a new photo of my kids. Husband advised that I should do a reg. size photo, as there really is no space in her bedroom where she spends most of her time.
So, considering I have no oversized matboard yet (and my new mat is taking its own sweet time in getting flat - it still curls), I'm going to try for either a 4 x 6 or 5 x 7 photo in an 8 x 10 mat, to leave space for words in pen.
However, I have no pen tool yet for the cougar (it's on my list, but last because the tables/engraver are more important to me at the moment), and that means the words must be done by the gazzy. This means I probably must do this project in .mtc to bridge between the gazzy/cougar. I've discovered the hershey text tool for inkscape (yes, a very late comer to it) and this is precisely what I wanted, so I will do a copy/paste to .mtc for the text. The new thin paths is very cool, but it doesn't give good results for script (I've tried various script fonts with that tool and it works best with non-script fonts). For this project I want a script!
So, this leads me to the question - I need very precise placement of the cut (which will be for this project a simple rectangle - I don't have the space for the fancier cutout for the photo) and the text so that the cut to the cougar is placed really accurately in relationship to the text. I am pretty sure knifepoint (KNK plugin) probably won't work for something like this or should I try that? I do have my calibration numbers from the signcut side, if I use a WYSIWYG cut, what is the process (which I have never done before) and which plugin KNK or BC? I know the laser has to be activated and set it 2 inches in, does the media get placed 2 inches in? I'm a little confused about this. I do plan to experiment by using only icky paper and the test pen in the cougar, until I get a sense of how to do this, as my matboard stock is rapidly getting low......
I know I am asking something probably covered in a video, it helps to have your experience pointing the way...
Thanks for your patience with this post!
Pat
New owner of an 18" cougar and the gazelle...still a newbie at the cougar and will soon explore it............