Need help coreldraw x3

[Dean Belk]

I am engraving black anodized aluminum for a label tag----the area is blocked off (engraved silver) but needs to have black lettering within---how do i get coreldraw to engrave block but leave the letters ( island if you will)

thanks

[Howard Garner]

Start with a black square.
Add your lettering, change the lettering to white outline, white fill. This is not the same as no fill/outline.
It may help to use an intermediate color until you see what really happens.

Howard Garner
VL300

[John Noell]

Welcome to the Creek Dean! I think you will find this is a geat place to get answers to the engraving questions (be they simple or complex) that WILL come up.

[Dee Gallo]

Hi Dean, welcome! Howard's advice is good, especially the part about the white outline. I find that depending on the font, you can lose some parts if not outlined with white. Big fat fonts are okay, but any with thick and thin parts need that extra ooomph.

Have fun, dee

[Larry Bratton]

or...make your square WHITE, type your text in BLACK, then with all of it selected, Effects/Transform/Invert. There are always more than one way to do things in a computer.
Welcome to SM Creek!

[Dean Belk]

Thanks for the help---i must be doing something wrong----since it is black anodized material, within the silver (engraved) box i would like the word "stop" in black (not lasered)---i made the box black and the letters white with no luck--it looks as if it is getting some laser burn on the letters, almost like it is layered ---one telling it to engrave and the other not---is that possible (as you can tell it is all new to me)---on a different note---why white---i also tried orange with is skip on my machine versalaser 6.60----help---thanks

[Dean Belk]

Here is the photo of part---the word stop is in the bottom box194483

[Chuck Stone]

is that box already black and white?

You're not going to turn the white area black with your laser unless
you use some sort of coating.

I think we were all assuming that the box was blank and YOU were
putting the white areas on it.

If the area is already white or silver, and you need it black.. you'll
need to use something like Cermark or Thermark.

The advice you've been getting is on how to leave black letters
by not engraving that area in the first place. Looks like it might
be too late!

[Dean Belk]

Your last statement is correct. The material starts off black and all the silver is where laser engraved. That bottom silver box needs the word stop in it in black (not engraved). I tried to follow the early post making stop white in color, but it seems laser still did something to that area. If you zoom in on the picture you can see faint outline on letters in silver box

[Dee Gallo]

You got the other areas to do the right thing... so why don't you just copy and paste the "IDLE" box, then change the word inside and reshape the box. Might sound like the long way around a problem, but if you are not able to get it any other way... sometimes there is just something wrong that you can't fix, so I say come at it from another angle.

[Chuck Stone]

I tried to follow the early post making stop white in color, but it seems laser still did something to that area. If you zoom in on the picture you can see faint outline on letters in silver box

It's a small pic, so my eyes didn't pick it out.

If white letters on your screen still engraved something, perhaps your 'white' is
not really white.. maybe an off-white? Use your color picker, palette or however
you specify the color. In RGB mode, use 255,255,255 for pure white. In CMYK mode
you would use 0,0,0,0 for white. That should not engrave at all.

[Dean Belk]

I check the white and it is correct 255,255,255 (0,0,0,0)----if i draw a black box and then put letters within that box, do the letters completely override the black beneath and if so is it coreldraw or the laser software that sees it that way? The way that i have it drawn the laser must be firing a some level because the original black surface is gone----i can send the cdr file if someone were willing to look at it and see if i am doing something wrong--just do not see where i can put an attachment file on this forum

[Dan Hintz]

Make sure the text is in front of everything else on the layer. Make sure the layer the text is on is printable (printing enabled) and not on the "layout" layer. Consider flattening the file to a raster image and printing that instead.

[Mike Null]

Try selecting the box with the text inside and use the trim tool. Then select the text and delete it. That should leave the box in black with a blanked out area of text.

BTW, the other suggestions should have worked so I'm inclined to think you may have a driver setting checked or unchecked opposite of what it should be.

[Larry Bratton]

I would do the part that is working, leaving the block area where the word Stop is required undone (remains black). I would make a separate object with a black background and white letters and drop that object where you need it. Select it and engrave it as "selection only". I think that will work.

[George D Gabert]

To insert an attachment. click on "go advanced" underneath to the right of the quick reply entry box, then you will see a paperclip near the top center click on it. you can than attach your file.

GDG

[Dan Hintz]

Ooh, Mike's post of images reminded me of a possibility that I don't think has been raised here yet...

If the text is a raster image (and not an editable font), that could be causing a problem... most drivers have issues with overlying raster images, so the full black box might take precedence depending upon the layer stackup.

[Dean Belk]

194552You might be right---tried trimming and deleting text and i still get some burning in the text area---someone else is looking at my cdr file to see if anything i am doing is wrong---here it is if you want to give it a shot---thanks---the file might be before i trimmed

[John Noell]

Well, what you've done should've worked. but since it didn't...I would take a black box, put white letters on top, right-click onthe text and "convert to curves", then select the black box and the letters, then choose Arrange->Shaping-> "Remove front from back." That way there cannot be anything where the letters were.

[Mike Null]

Dean

I have checked run your file and changed the palette to rgb--you probably should be using the rgb palette with your machine. The file ran fine on my machine. The text will be more visible if you bold it.

Why don't you list the kind of machine you have. Also do a screen capture of your driver settings. I still think this is the problem.

[Glen Monaghan]

I don't know but maybe you have a mix of raster and vector going on that is the problem? If I understand it correctly, you have black anodization and the white areas were lasered, but there is supposed to be a black word showing in the lower white box. I'm guessing that the white outlines/box is rastered and the text is vectored. The words "cruise" and "idle" are black in your cdr file so they get lasered and show as white on the tag. However, the word "stop" is supposed to be black in a white field, so you have to NOT laser the word itself. But, if the box gets completely rastered, you're out of luck.

You might select all the boxes, outlines, and text, and then convert it all to a bitmap and just raster engrave that. Or select the black box area and the white word "stop", and then subtract the word from the box (assuming you made the box first and then the word, use "back minus front") to create a black box with white letters "cut out" from it. Either way, when engraved on the anodized aluminum, you should get black letters in a white box.

-Glen

[Dean Belk]

Thanks everyone----i feel like an idiot----i just keep increase the font size and bold and it magically appeared---i guess lasers do better or your eye picks up better positive (burned) letters for small fonts (i think i was using size 7)---again thanks, i learned alot of other tricks