Corel Draw

[bryan henderson]

I was wondering if someone call tell me how to pick items that you are cutting in a specific sequence in Corel Draw. I am using version X4

Bryan

[John Salitsky]

I'm a little confused...are you looking to dtermine cutting order? For example, instead of cutting from left to right, cutting from roght to left?

[bryan henderson]

It is in regards to cutting order yes. So lets say I have some objects that i want to cut completely (sometimes it only cuts part of it then goes to another object). How can you chain a whole part that it comes completely around it. Lets just say a square. Also say you have multiple objects inside and the have a square around them all and you want the objects sequenced a certain way. Hence I would want to outside square last and cut all the items inside first. If that makes sense.

[John Salitsky]

Okay, that makes sense. I believe, and I could be wrong here as I don't do a ton of cutting mostly name badges which are pretty straightforward, but I beleiev when using Corel that the order is determined by the color you assign to the object. I've never had it cut a letter partially and then move onto another letter before going back to finish the first one though. If I am cutting one object inside another I just send two files to the machine and cut them in the appropriate order.

[bryan henderson]

I understand that John but if you receive a file from a customer that has multiple objects in it, it just jumps all over the place. I have a trotec speedy 300 30 using Job Control 9.4.4, but there has got to be a way to chain (talking in CNC) so that it cuts the complete object before going to another and also sequence the parts, maybe colour is the only way.

[Tony Lenkic]

Bryan,

You can assign different colors to cut lines and in laser setup you can set power/speed/ppi/dpi for each color.
Also using object manager in Corel you can set the order even if all lines are of same color. Open object manager and drag the lines up/down to your preference.

[Scott Shepherd]

I understand that John but if you receive a file from a customer that has multiple objects in it, it just jumps all over the place. I have a trotec speedy 300 30 using Job Control 9.4.4, but there has got to be a way to chain (talking in CNC) so that it cuts the complete object before going to another and also sequence the parts, maybe colour is the only way.

Color map it. We do that every day.

[Jiten Patel]

Not sure if I am missing the point here, and not sure if your version of Job Control has vector sorting, but can you not just use that feature to find the most efficient cutting path?

[Ronald Erickson]

I understand that John but if you receive a file from a customer that has multiple objects in it, it just jumps all over the place. I have a trotec speedy 300 30 using Job Control 9.4.4, but there has got to be a way to chain (talking in CNC) so that it cuts the complete object before going to another and also sequence the parts, maybe colour is the only way.

There are a couple of ways to control the cut order: the position of the object/curve in the object manager and the color of the object/curve in the object manager, both of which are in CorelDRAW. When CorelDRAW prints a file, it sorts with a First IN, First OUT methodology regardless of color. The curve in the lowest position of the object manager will be processed first, then the second lowest and on up to the top most object/curve. When JobControl gets the print job, it processes the job based on color. Black is first, then red, then blue, desert blue, cyan, etc. Each color can be set to perform a certain task (engrave, cut, skip) at certain power settings and speeds, found in the Material Template Setup of JobControl.

So in your example, you have a square that surrounds other objects inside the square. If the objects inside the square are set to hairline RED, and you set the square object to hairline BLUE, the JobControl will process the RED curves first and the BLUE curve second regardless of the position of the curves in the CorelDRAW object manager. This will be your quickest method to control cut order if you just want to change one thing to cut last (You don't mind the order of cuts of the inside Red objects but want to be sure the Blue square is cut after them). You'll need to be sure to set your Material Template in the JobControl to the correct settings.

Alternatively, if all your curves are set to hairline RED and you change the position of the square in the object manager so it is higher on the list than the objects that fall inside the square, it will process the square after it is finished processing the lower objects. (Remember, when looking at the object manager in CorelDRAW, the first/top item on the list is the LAST thing that will be processed. The last/bottom item on the list is the FIRST thing that will be processed; First IN, first OUT.)

With a combination of the two, you can control the cut order of the objects inside your square box through sorting in the object manger (same color, lower is first) as well as color (black is first regardless of position). I typically use Black as my engraving color, Red as my first cutting color, and Blue as my outside/cut last cutting color.

Here is a post I made about vector sort/cut order that goes into more detail: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?200174-vector-sorting-question&p=2076563#post2076563

Let me know if you have any questions.

[Craig Matheny]

I found the easiest fix is to just select all the parts that are in the one item and combine that item it cuts the complete item then goes to the next one.

[bryan henderson]

thanxs for all the help, between colour and object manager that is what i was looking for.

Bryan