Yipes! How does the laser know?

[Carla Lange]

Hello Everyone, this is my first post but I'm sure not my last!
I'm a real newbie, so my question is with CoralDraw. How does a person let the laser know which line to cut, and which line to engrave? Do you color code them, or make the lines different widths, or? I think I'm right when I say that you can't cut raster, but only vector.....but how do you tell the laser raster vs vector? As you can tell, I just picked up the Coral program, and am staying up VERY late every night just so I can make my first project. So far I'm still reading....
Thanks in advance for your help. This is a great forum, and it's really nice that everyone wants to help out each other.
Carla

[Keith Outten]

Carla,

Start with Corel Clipart, most of it is vector art. Pick any graphic image and load it into Coral then ungroup and change the line weights. Any vector line that is changed to "Hairline" will vector cut and you can change any vector line to raster engrave by changing the line weight to anything other than hairline.

When I work in Corel I assign all lines that are hairline to the color red and all others black. This way I can visually see what is going to cut and what is going to be engraved.

[Chris Cordina]

As Keith said hairline cuts, everything else rasters. The red (cuts) black (raster) colors are so everyone speaks same language like red green for stoplights. Now for the confusing part, they can be any color for jobs where you might want more than one power level on the same job. Like one part rastered deeper than another you could change the area you want deeper to green and set different power and speed. I know I'm not saying this the best but somebody will add to this and say it better than I did. Good luck, this is a good place to learn.

[Bruce Volden]

Carla Also, in your "prefrences" settings that are built into the machines drivers you should have the options of enabling; vector, raster, or both! Bruce

[Carla Lange]

Thank you for your quick reply everyone. I'm starting to catch on to this, but have a long way to go. I guess once I learn the Corel program it will be a lot easier. I'll continue to read this forum for all of the tips and tricks. Maybe someday I can help too.;)
Thanks again,
Carla

[Joe Pelonio]

Carla,

Welcome, I see that we're in the same state but you're way up there north from me. Even so feel free to stop by the shop if you get down
Bellevue Way. There are probably not too many Corel Classes offered
up your way, but they do have a good help facility. I was lucky to have used older Corel versions here for years before getting 12.0 and the laser, but I still get help from the forum after 18 months using it.

[Anthony Welch]

Carla,

I like you knew nothing of the software used in this industry. When I heard of the tutorial presented by Mr Roy Brewer, through the ARA. I decided to get Corel 12 Suite, the Tutorial and some clip art that Shaddy has mentioned in several posts. The suite comes with a tutorial that is informative, but the tutorial presented by Mr Brewer was a godsend. It's not hard to learn from, if you can operate a basic vcr, you can do the tutorial. I can now manipulate clip art, I have designed coasters with local highschool mascots, and every thing taught on the tutorials, although I have to refer to it quite often. Still I don't have a laser as of yet, (still haven't gotten the back-bone to order one yet), and I also haven't been challenged by any customers to do the designs they will want like everyone else here on this forum has.

Keith,

In your post you mentioned assigning line sixe to a particular color. Is there a way to set this by "default" so you won't have to maually choose the color when you set the line size in Corel.


p.s. I by no means intend to push a product on this forum and if it is deemed that I have broken a policy, by all means void this post. I only intended to help.

Thank You
Anthony Welch

[Carla Lange]

Joe,
Thanks for the offer. If I am ever over your way I'll be sure to look you up. Right now I'm chained to my desk until I learn a little more about this CorelDraw program. (It's snowmobile season, and it's killing me to stay home!)
Thanks again for you're help.


Keith,
I was also wondering about the line colors, and if there is a way to make them as a default. Maybe someone will tell us in a future post.
Is the tutorial you're refering to called CorelDraw Unleashed?

Carla

[Lee DeRaud]

I by no means intend to push a product on this forum and if it is deemed that I have broken a policy, by all means void this post. I only intended to help.If mentioning Corel violated the terms-of-service, I don't think we could have a laser forum: it would be like trying not to use the word "Delta" over on the general woodworking group.:p

[Lee DeRaud]

Keith, In your post you mentioned assigning line sixe to a particular color. Is there a way to set this by "default" so you won't have to maually choose the color when you set the line size in Corel.You can assign a particular color to a particular line width and define it as a style, but I don't think you can work it as "any width besides hairline goes to black", for example. In any case, it's probably faster to change a line's color than it is to assign a style to it, especially if you leave the palette docked to a screen edge. My default line properties are 'hairline' and 'red'...if I change the size, it's just one more click to change the color.

[Jeanette Brewer]

Is the tutorial you're refering to called CorelDraw Unleashed?

Carla

Carla,

I believe the tutorial mentioned earlier in this thread is the 3-CD series offered by ARA (Awards & Recognition Assoc.) & produced by Roy Brewer (my dad). For more info, refer to www.ara.org (http://www.ara.org) or send me an email at zjeanette@zbrewersales.com (remove both Z's).

[Carla Lange]

Thank you, I'll check into it. At this point, any and all help will be great.