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Chuck Stone
06-23-2012, 5:39 PM
I've used power clip a few times and it always throws some sort of monkey
wrench at me.. like you place the bitmap carefully where you want it and then
power clip moves it on you. Ok, power clip first, then edit the contents. But it
just throws me that I don't understand why it does what it does.

But THIS one has me scratching my head.

I clipped a bitmap into a border.. rectangle image into a (more or less) round
container. Edited the bitmap to erase the parts outside the container because
even though it doesn't SHOW you the rest of the bitmap, it's still there and
it will engrave. So I erased everything outside the container. Saved the file.
Brought the file to another computer, opened the file and engraved.

The rest of the image (all the parts that have been erased) are still engraving.
I can't find it in the file anywhere.. I've extracted the bitmap to look for it, but
I don't see it anywhere. I have no idea why it is engraving something that should
not even be there. Any ideas? Am I missing something really basic here? Am I
still asleep and this is a variation on the dream where i wake up in front of the
class in just my underwear?

Frank Corker
06-23-2012, 5:52 PM
Chuck I don't think the picture can be altered after it has been powerclipped. If you have four squares, group them, then break them apart. Each of the four squares has the same picture in it full size. I think you have to right click and check the properties, it will tell the picture to behave as a full size or as a cropped image, if you don't put that tag on it then it behaves like a full image.

Chuck Stone
06-23-2012, 6:14 PM
Hmm.. then i wonder what "Edit Contents" means?
But now I think I have to start all over. I extracted the image, got rid of
the power clip and ran it again .. still shows all the erased parts. But if what
you say is correct, they're still there (seems so, they're engraving even though
they don't show on the screen)

Mike Chance in Iowa
06-23-2012, 6:53 PM
Which version of Corel are you using?

Also, depending upon which version you are using, try going into Tools, Options, Workspace, Edit and uncheck "autocenter new powerclip contents" and your items should remain where you had them before you powerclipped them to an object.

Chuck Stone
06-23-2012, 7:07 PM
Thanks Mike and Frank..
I just re-did the file without power clip and it's fine. But I'm wondering why
anyone would use it when engraving.
I uncheked the 'autocenter' .. thanks for that one! i'm in x3

Mike Chance in Iowa
06-23-2012, 7:29 PM
I'm still running X3 for the next few days, so if I have time tomorrow between farm chores, I'll play around with powerclipping a bitmap image and see if I can duplicate your issue.

Mike Chance in Iowa
06-23-2012, 7:59 PM
Okay, I had time before dinner was ready ... I placed a 16" x 11" color photo (jpg) on a new document and created a 7" x 10" rectangle. I used Edit Bitmap and went into Corel Photopaint and changed the photo to grayscale. I powerclipped the photo to the rectangle and moved the rectangle to the upper left and sent the engraving job. Only the powerclipped portion of the bitmap engraved. I then placed a different color photo (jpg) on another page and powerclipped it to a new rectangle. I then Edit Contents and once again edited that bitmap via Corel Photo paint and changed it to grayscale. After saving those changes, I moved the rectangle to the upper left and engraved it. That too only engraved the powerclipped portion of the image.

What type of bitmap image are you using? Dinner is ready so I must go!

Chuck Stone
06-23-2012, 8:45 PM
this one happened to be a .gif .. but it has also happened on other images that I
converted to bitmap from jpegs, tiffs, gifs etc.
I remember last year doing Christmas ornaments with photos in them and having
the rest of the photo engrave outside the clipped area

Martin Boekers
06-24-2012, 12:14 AM
Chuck, maybe you could post a file so we can see whats happening. I use power clip a ton.
I have posted a link that shows how to get an outline of a bit map image a while back and it has
save me a lot of time. I hate erasing parts if I don't have to. Are you sure that you have just one
bitmap and there isn't a duplicate underneath it?

Chuck Stone
06-24-2012, 8:44 AM
absolutely certain the was no second image..
here's a quick and dirty example (I deleted and saved over
the ones that didn't work, so I made this one and just tested
it now. Inside the center circle is 1.67" . THe outside circle is 2.5"
Power clipped to the inner circle is a 2" square in grayscale. The
square isn't showing, but it is still square and it engraves as a square.

For the second test, I took the same file but Edited the contents of
the power clip. I erased portions of the gray square outside the circle.
Visually there doesn't seem to be any difference, but it also engraves
the same as the first test.. ie: the erased parts are still there and they
still engrave.

Interesting that while the files are visually identical, the one that has
erased portions is larger

Mike Null
06-24-2012, 9:30 AM
Chuck

I just ran your file with no problem. I'm wondering if you have a driver that is set incorrectly. If you list the specs on your machine perhaps others who have the same equipment can provide the answer.

When you erase in Corel it adds invisible nodes covering the erased area. It can sometimes enlarge the file considerably.

Glen Monaghan
06-24-2012, 9:31 AM
Without having looked at them yet, I'd guess that the edited one is larger because it contains information about the edited area, ie the shape and before/after contents.

-Glen

Chuck Stone
06-24-2012, 9:49 AM
thanks guys.. I checked the driver but I don't see anything there that might
relate to this. It's a GCC Mercury 30w, BTW.
When you're erasing, you can see the additional nodes at the edges, so I keep
erasing till those are gone. File size was just interesting, that's all.

I think I'll continue to combine Photoshop and Corel and avoid this. I'm sure Corel
didn't spend all that time and money to do it wrong, so it has to be something
that I'm missing on my end. I can save the 'container' as a bitmap and bring that
into Photoshop and do a 'paste into' .. which seems to work exactly the way I
thought power clip worked in Corel. Then ditch the border and have a bitmap that
exactly matches the container in Corel. I just won't need to use the power clip that
way. Thanks for all the suggestions!

Mike Null
06-24-2012, 11:07 AM
Chuck

See if this offers a solution. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?41553-Problem-with-Powerclip-in-Corel-12

Chuck Stone
06-24-2012, 11:32 AM
I'll try that (on the way out the door now) but never saw that setting before.
I was looking in the Windows driver, not Corel. This applies to each individual
printer
Funny, I remember searching for this issue last year and never quite found
what I was looking for. Thanks!

Glen Monaghan
06-24-2012, 2:39 PM
This appears to be an old problem with some print drivers. In CorelDraw, go to Tools/Options/Global/Printing/Driver Compatiblity, select your laser in the printer drop down box and put a check beside "Use Software Clipping For Fills", then see if the powerclip engraves correctly.

If not, substitute intersect for powerclip... Select both items and use Arrange/Shaping/Intersect, then remove or delete the original square and circle, leaving only the "circularly trimmed square" (basically what powerclip is doing, only intersect is destructive in the sense that it creates an entirely new object that can't be pulled back apart to get the original square again).

You can do something similar with powerclip if, after powerclipping, you select the powerclip and use Bitmap/Convert to Bitmap. The difference between this and the Intesect method is that the Intersect method retains the circular vector around the trimmed bitmap, whereas powerclipping and converting to bitmap converts the circular vector to a bitmap as well.

-Glen

Bill Overturf
06-25-2012, 10:04 AM
I had this problem once and found a fairly quick and easy work around. After you powerclip your image select it then click on bitmaps-convert to bitmap. You can always undo that after you send it to the laser but it was the fastest and easiest way I found to do it with out spending alot of time on it.

Chuck Stone
06-25-2012, 10:57 AM
thanks everyone ... that did it.
I tried the bitmap and it worked, but unfortunately I'm not doing circles.. they're
fairly detailed shapes. So re-creating them wouldn't have been fun.
Don't know why they buried that in the driver though.. why can't things just
work the way *I* think they should instead of how they really work?

Mike Null
06-25-2012, 5:58 PM
Chuck

Over the years I've had several pieces of equipment that didn't work the way "I" thought they should. Sometimes it's hard to change what I think.

Chuck Stone
06-25-2012, 11:09 PM
Mike, they should just call you or I first. Problem solved!

.. silly buggers..