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Robert Alexander
04-02-2005, 10:45 AM
Well I just got back from Vegas, and got a laser. All the reps had excellent
laser engravers. It was hard finally decideing which machine would best for the type of work that I would be doing, and want to do. I picked up a Epilog Helix 45 watt 18x24 table engraver. :)
Now I will start workingon Corel 12 so I can get the learning curve out of the way. My laser will arive sometime in May. There is a 3 to 4 week delay for the engravers. But with a wedding coming up in early May, I won't mind the wait.
Chuck Burke
04-02-2005, 12:03 PM
Congratulations on your new engraver Robert. You will have a lot of fun with it.
You will have fun learning Corel also. In case you don't know, there is a training video that comes with Corel 12. It is on CD 4.

I also purchased a book from Retlab Graphics, called Corel 12 the Basics and Beyond. It's a great read and easy to follow.

Good luck with your new engraver and endeavors.

Chuck Burke
American Pacific Awards.
Robert Alexander
04-03-2005, 2:50 PM
Dear Chuck,
How long did it take you to master the basics of Corel 12?? Have you used it to convert images into vectors?? I read that Corel is not the fastest at coverting vectors from scanned imiages. So I don't know if it would be better add some more software for that type of work.
Chuck Burke
04-03-2005, 4:32 PM
Robert,
I wouldn't say I have "mastered" the basics, but I am pretty comfortable with them now. It took only one or two hours to learn the "basics", like how to set page size, basic diagraming tools etc. Like I mentioned, if you watch the media course from Lynday.com on disk 4, you will be up and running in no time.
As far as using Corel to convert scanned images to vector, corel does do that with Corel trace. It only takes a second or two, but like any vector conversion tool, you will need to clean up the converted file. This is where you can only practice practice practice.
HP used to put a very good vector conversion program out with their scanners, so if you have not bought your scanner yet, find one that has a scan to vector feature that will save you some time. Either way, you will need to spend some time cleaning your file, and corel is EXCELLENT at doing that, but it takes practice.
I'm still learning myself, so I hope I have been of some help to you.

Chuck Burke
American Pacific Awards.