New Nova 35. Impressed with the hardware, not with RDWorks

[Bryan Spiegel]

I have many, many existing laser files in Coreldraw (X5 and X6) that combine raster and vector elements, and RD works exports almost none of them correctly. It will miss vector lines, or corrupt places where power clipped objects are supposed not be seen. If the transparent part of a PNG file overlaps another image, then they both get corrupted.

One one computer it will think, open RDworks, and then the items will be there fine. But that computer, lets call it 1, cannot talk to the laser (same network, same settings, same OS, etc) .
On machine 2, I hit the send to laser button in corel, and it opens and crashes RD works, and then if I close that window, and manually open RD works, its there, minus vectors.

I also get random vector lines dropping, no matter the PC (Both win 10 machines, i5's, with 12gb ram and SSD hard drives, and FireGL rendering cards for my occasional 3d CAD work).

But, hey, the laser is shiny and whatnot. Just for many things, absolutely useless if I cant get the thing to run. I know lasers, having used a trotec speedy 300 for many months, and then having a Full Spectrum 5th gen for 3 years. I can uplad pictures, but will have to make new files, as most of the work I am doing right now is covered by NDAs.

[Keith Winter]

Export your corel files then import them into rdworks. The layers issue is annoying the Chinese software doesn't interpret them the same you'll have to simplify your file layers.

[Clark Pace]

I never use layers and import ai version 8 or plt. They import fine

[Bryan Spiegel]

Export your corel files then import them into rdworks. The layers issue is annoying the Chinese software doesn't interpret them the same you'll have to simplify your file layers.


Its been some time with this machine, and I seem to not get notifications from SMC.

Its simple to say "export" but that does not work the way you might think it would. Export to what kind of file? Am I letting the export change the raster effects to something that RD has no idea what to do with? Or exporting to a PDF (Corel PDF conversion works great when it wants to, other times... ug) and relying on that to convert raster elements to EPS?

No matter what, RD does not allow for WYSIWYG when it comes to mixed raster and vector elements, powerclips/ clipping masks, and gradients. What I have done thus far, especially since my engraving work has been slowing down as my main business ramps up, is to just use my Nova for cutting, and my full spectrum for engraving. Its a bit more setup, but in the long run, faster. The FSL machine does better detail and runs about the same speed for raster operations, where the Nova cuts like a lightsaber through a young man's hand. Ive done 3/4" hardwood on this thing and it is a beast.

And as for layers... I never use the actual layer function inside of Corel. Find it makes things order strangely, and thats after using it in graphic design for the last 17 years. I'll pass. its no Autocad in that regard. I do however use things like symbols all the tiem to make the workflow that much smoother, another area that seems to confuse RD.

And its habit of screwing up files when you run them from the plug in (converting all text, removing and adding fills) makes it just undesirable to use for anything that isnt cutting.

[Bill George]

Bryan its been nearly a year since you posted this, if you don't check back in after posting you will never get the answers. RD works was never intended to be a graphics program, just a means to get files into your machine. With my Chinese machine I never had issues importing files, as long as your expectations were not to high. Mixed raster and vector files, but not the rest you have mentioned.

[Bryan Spiegel]

Yeah, it has been some time, but personally get frustrated when googling turns up unanswered issues.

Im also quite aware that RD works is not a graphics program. Its a CNC control suite, and a poor one at that. Ive worked with a few laser control suites, and this one is the bottom of the barrel.

[Kev Williams]

I It will miss vector lines, or corrupt places where power clipped objects are supposed not be seen. If the transparent part of a PNG file overlaps another image, then they both get corrupted.

If there's one thing I've learned about "transparent objects", Chinese software don't care about transparent. "Transparent" usually means something is still there, but you can't see it... Great for printing on paper but not for laser programs because they DO see it...

Everything exported should be dead on specific, like no transparencies, white can't be used as holes, no open ended closed objects, and most important, no intersections--

I don't do much combo raster/vector other than cutting out something after I've engraved it, but-- whenever I'm having issues like your having, I separate the 2 entities... example, something I'm working on is 4" wide, I'll set my nudge for 2-1/2" and start moving parts, closed raster stuff left, open vector stuff right... when done I group each side, which are now 5" apart, leaving a 1" space between. Now, I'll export the 2 separate sides. Since they're separate, once they're in the engraving program it's piece o' cake color each one diffferent. Then just slide one of them 5" (127mm) into position, and being different colors they're now separate entities, and the program should treat them as such...

[Bryan Spiegel]

The odd thing is that if you have any transparent background, it will make a box around 1/2 of the raster image area. If you make it normal white background, and make sure it is RGB, it will be fine.

I use the laser for a lot of things, and my files all work great in both Job Control and FSL's Retina Engrave, power clips or not. I just never thought it would be that bad.

[John Lifer]

Two things i have learned since working with coreldraw and rdworks. One in Corel, make a box, fill with pretty color. Send to back. Then place your finished artwork on top. Insures all holes are holes and no hiding white. And what you see is what you pretty much get in rdworks. Then at least take a quick look at your art using preview once you have selected the layers for engrave and cut. Almost 99% accurate at getting the result you want.