Alien Skins - anyone ever use it?

[Stephen Beckham]

I saw it in Indy Show last year and thought it looked pretty good. At $500 plus more for the graphics - it was a hard sell. I'm going to try it with the 30 day test phase, but wanted to see if anyone had any input before I cry over the bill...

My understanding is that it will be more useful for my Sublimation of T-shirts and stuff, but I'm betting I'm not going to use it enough to pay for it right out front. It's a long term investment...

[Jack Harper]

I own the entire lot. I find them to great enhancement plug-ins for photo manipulation. However, I'm not sure they would be of much use with a laser image. I use them mostly for my Epson 9600 fine art printer.

If you are looking for a great set of plug-ins to improve your lazing, may I recommend PhotoTools 1 Professional Edition from onOne Software. These tools not only will substantially speed up your image prep time, they will increase the quality of the image in the end. The plug-in that converts an image to gray scale does a better job smoothing out the gradation patters than any I have seen. In addition to that one, the frames plug-in gives you literally thousands of frame affects for your photos. This is great to fade the photo away to reveal the material you are lazing into. You will find several others included just as helpful. The only word of caution is, by the professional version over the less expensive consumer version as it lacks a lot of features and ability. The package I believe is around $250.

[Stephen Beckham]

Jack,

Thanks - that's what I wanted to hear. My plan behind the "Mini Mall" was that I'd offer a store that's more than just a Trophy or Plaque or T-Shirt or engraving....

In our small town, there's very little here that allows personalized items. We have an Ace Hardware, a PAMIDA (Sub of Walmart) and a Kroger. Everyone has to drive at least 30 miles for the nearest real mall.

I bought a DK20 and a Epson 1400 for doing the shirts - I was looking for something that would allow me to put some Pizaazz in the shirt versus just simple lettering in Corel.

As far as the Gradients - man, just learned about a new tool (new to me at least) yesterday in X3. The Interactive Mesh Fill Tool. Now I'm going to give it an effort at making some 3D files again because of how this tool works...

Take care and thanks for the encouraging thoughts... I'll check out the other software when I get over the buyer's remorse on this one....

[Jack Harper]

Stephen,

Good luck, and don't forget the most important part, have fun!

[Frank Corker]

Hey Jack I see you have an Omax 80160 waterjet. How cool. Who did you have to kill to get one of those? Tell me, are they expensive and are they expensive to run?

[Jack Harper]

Frank,

I was looking for a hobby business and came across the technology when I remodeled my house and wanted some custom medallions for my entry. I thought it was fun to cut up to 6" thick steel to create something artistic (I,m not artistic so this part was going to be a stretch).

They are not cheap though. You can get into a little one, maybe 2'x4' for about $100K. The large ones like mine, 80"x 160" run over $200K. Operating cost is not too bad. You need 3P/480 power or a step up transformer and then you have the garnet costs of about $.23 per pound. While I have not ventured into the market myself, I'm told that the big money with these machines is in the glass market cutting thick glass for designers and glass shops.

It was while I was shopping for my waterjet that I learned about lasers and added my Vy-tek 610 (6'x10') to my shopping list. Truth be told, I,m having more fun with the laser than the waterjet. With that said, it's all fun. If I have any problems cutting anything on the laser, I just show it who's boss and take it over to the waterjet. 55,000 psi, three times the speed of sound, the size of a needle, it always bends to my will.

[Tom Bull]

The glass co. I work for uses a waterjet service from time to time. The waterjet guy had his hand under it and someone hit the go button. Punched a hole through his thumb and injected enough water under the skin that they thought they would have to split it open at the ER to remove pressure, but found another remedy. He is recovering nicely.

[Bill Cunningham]

I built one 40 years ago to cut a very dusty insulation type glass foam board we were fibreglassing, and using to insulate beer vats.. It was not amazing power machine, about the same force as a modern pressure washer 1500-2000 psi, but it sure did the job, and kept the aggravating glass dust from this stuff to a minimum.. Have also used hand held water jets under water, to cut the protective wrappings and dope off of pipelines. It does quick work to the wrappings, and no damage to the pipe.. I would love to watch a 'real' water jet do some 'real' cutting ... 6" steel eh! amazing..

[Larry Bratton]

Frank,

I was looking for a hobby business and came across the technology when I remodeled my house and wanted some custom medallions for my entry. I thought it was fun to cut up to 6" thick steel to create something artistic (I,m not artistic so this part was going to be a stretch).

They are not cheap though. You can get into a little one, maybe 2'x4' for about $100K. The large ones like mine, 80"x 160" run over $200K. Operating cost is not too bad. You need 3P/480 power or a step up transformer and then you have the garnet costs of about $.23 per pound. While I have not ventured into the market myself, I'm told that the big money with these machines is in the glass market cutting thick glass for designers and glass shops.

It was while I was shopping for my waterjet that I learned about lasers and added my Vy-tek 610 (6'x10') to my shopping list. Truth be told, I,m having more fun with the laser than the waterjet. With that said, it's all fun. If I have any problems cutting anything on the laser, I just show it who's boss and take it over to the waterjet. 55,000 psi, three times the speed of sound, the size of a needle, it always bends to my will.

Say Jack..I've been having a few financial problems lately..how about a loan?

[Jack Harper]

Sure Larry. In the spirit of the American banking system, a million dollar cash collateral deposit buys you a half million dollar loan. Of course we will have to charge you the higher risk interest due to our exposure.

[Frank Corker]

Jeepers Jack it sounds like the machine I need. Yep for fun mainly. However the number of applications and for big money are enormous. You're a lucky guy.