Expert: Ran - 2/21/2010

Question
Hello, I have a Seiki 870t vinyl cutter with Flexistarter 8.6 dongle version,and I have just bought Coreldraw x4. How can I get a scanned image ready to cut with my cutter?? Thanks in advance..It is a drawing on plain white paper, simple I thought...

Answer
Hi Chris

I have no experience of using cutters but I believe they require a vector file (i.e. lines) and you can't just send them a photograph like you could if it were a printer.

When you load your image into CorelDraw, choose Bitmap/Outline Trace/Line Art and make sure it says "Before and After" in the top-left Preview box. Play around with the options until you get something you like.

I don't know what level you're at, but this will produce a CorelDraw drawing over the top of your image. I would shift the drawing to one side and delete the image and the you can ungroup the drawing and select which bits you want to send to the cutter. Great results will take some effort but, if it was easy, anyone would be able to do it!

Good luck and have fun