HELP! Corel or Pinnacle Advise NEEDED!

[Debbie Sweet]

Help---I have a job that needs engraving onto acrylic. I'm a newbie to Coral and laser engraving. But Signwarehouse doesn't have Coreldraw so they can't really help me determine what my problem is and how to correct it. But I've struggled with this for 3 days now and am very frustrated and need to get this job out on MONDAY!!!

The first time I went to engrave I stopped the input to correct something. Then I resent. I got the wierdest little 1" lines engraving all over the place plus bands of lines and blank areas where there should be engraving. I called Signwarehouse they said that I should shut off my laser and restart it after I stop something in the middle of being sent. The laser gets garbeled up. So I tried it - It worked but I had to redo it because it had a bad edge from the laser hitting the cutting bd.pins. Ever since I tried to engrave again (about 8 times now) I get the same garbage again and sometimes different. This last time I didn't get any random lines but got blocks of missing engraved areas.

I'm trying to (mirror)engrave 2 graphics that I imported into Corel. But I had to clean the edges up. Being a newbie I can't figure out how to do this except make small patches of white (to block the black) or black patches to fill in. I think these patches are floating around and making these blank areas?? But when you go to look, they are in the right place and haven't moved. How are they getting there? And I keep shutting my machine off to clear everytime. The frustrating part is that it worked once and never again.

It would be nice to just correct the graphics original edge but I can't seem to click on them to change their outline Or find their outside outline.

Please I need help - if I do well on this job it would mean more potential work plus good word of mouth around our chamber meetings.

I appreciate any advise!!! Thank you Thank you Thank you

Debbie

[Robert Stremcha]

Hi Debbie,

These lasers can really kick your butt sometimes! If you want to send the file to me I will see if I can find something there you are overlooking. I don't have a pinnacle laser, but I am fairly good at Corel. I have versions up through 12, so you can send it in whatever version you have. My email is: bob at kklaser dot com

[George M. Perzel]

Hi Debbie;
I fear that you are trying to modify parts of a bitmap graphic after you are importing it into Corel- not something easily done because it is not a vector graphic.
Clean up your image in Photoshop or some other photo program and then import it.
I have a LaserPro unit (same as Pinnacle) -send me the image and tell me exactly what you want to do with it and I will try it on my system or modify the image for you so it works. Email is gperzel@rochester.rr.com.
Good Luck
george

[Matty McQuilkin]

Debbie I emailed you my phone number, call me if you still need help.
I also agree that the image should be cleaned up before importing into corel
We use Photoshop to edit most of our images.

Once again I see a comment that Signwarehouse will not offer support CorelDraw
I’m Going to make my comments regarding this in a new thread

[Chuck Burke]

Debbie,
I would be happy to help you if you could email me the file, although it looks like you have plenty of people willing to help. ( Funny how a cute girl gets so much attention ) [insert laugh here.]
About signwarehouse I share your frustration, and I have added to Matts post.
George Perzel, is extremely knowledgable regarding the laserpro/pinnacle and Corel and has helped me tremendously.
Either way, I would like to see your graphic if you would not mind. It would help me learn also.
Also are you an ARA ( Awards and Recogntion Association ) member? They have some GREAT training material by Pradhan Balter and Roy Brewer about Corel.
Good luck and feel free to contact me if you need some more help

Chuck Burke
American Pacific Awards

[Shaddy Dedmore]

I'm going to agree with those that said all image corrections should be done with a photoediting program. Do you also have Photo Paint? That'll work. My program of choice is Paint Shop Pro. I have the version 8, before Corel bought it from JASC. I'm afraid to upgrade. I've used Photoshop, but that's too expensive and bloated for me. There's enough in PSP for me to learn.

If your shapes have a border, make sure they aren't "Hairline" or the laser will try to use them as cut lines. Make them thicker, and the same color as your fill, or better yet, make them non existant.

It should have worked, that's why i'm suspecting the line thickness. It also might have been that the fill wasn't perfectly white (or black, depending) so it etched the shape instead of acting like it was a coverup.

That's all i got. Today's monday, did you finish?

Shaddy