DSF

Can you post a picture of the design?

Earl, I had an idea that 'By Eye' would be the way to go with shirts but I want to produce Motorcycle Decals and they need to be spot on.

I don't have a printer-cutter so need to print the design first, so no reg marks would be printed on the sub straight.

gorgall2 - Here's the 'test Image' I am using for this.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1992[/ATTACH]

Using the above image, why can't I print the Silver as it is and not have to print the whole character in silver and lay the black over the top? I realise this will not save me vinyl but it would make a flat sticker as opposed to a 'Layered' one which, surely would be prone to de-laminating over time more than a flat decal !

Please correct me if I am trying to re-invent the wheel, this is all new to me.


Earl, I do agree with something you said - I had said that to my other half earlier that day when returning from a nice meal "I am probably Over-Complicating things". Most things I have done in life have been difficult as if it were easy everyone would be doing it so I am used to having a battle with most things.. also had to learn myself as nobody would share secrets with me (most of my associates were - when starting off, in regular jobs so had no idea about the kinds of things I got myself involved in).

Not sure why you are printing. For t-shirts I would do it by eye and just cut the silver that you see. For the motorcycle, I think most people would layer but you could do the same as for the t-shirts. This video will help you with registration marks in vinyl
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOa0jdGVDWw

Or this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0EWjId0NZE

Sorry, I meant "Using the above image, why can't I Cut the Silver as it is and not have to Cut the whole character in silver and lay the black over the top? I realise this will not save me vinyl but it would make a flat sticker as opposed to a 'Layered' one which, surely would be prone to de-laminating over time more than a flat decal !"

NikGrey;77530 wrote:Sorry, I meant "Using the above image, why can't I Cut the Silver as it is and not have to Cut the whole character in silver and lay the black over the top? I realise this will not save me vinyl but it would make a flat sticker as opposed to a 'Layered' one which, surely would be prone to de-laminating over time more than a flat decal !"

I don't know about other software but in Corel Draw you could 'isolate' the colours and cut them separately. However if the image is one where the silver is the 'full shape' of the image and not just what you see it would need to be changed to allow it to be cut as seen.

Another possibility in Corel Draw is to convert the image to bitmap which will allow the two colours to be separated and cut individually.

If the file is a true EPS file (vector) then it would be very easy to ensure that just the visible silver is cut using either Coreldraw or Illustrator. If you are working in Photoshop it is still quite easy but takes a little bit longer.

Other programs I have no idea about!

Hi Nik,
If you can "isolate" the black, why can you not isolate the silver? Doing this would give you a flat print and you can then line it up by eye....

Thanks for sending me that file Earl, that's what I was looking for - it's cutting the shadows seaerately from the main black now as I was hoping for.

Now, I need to work out how to do this - I have Photoshop CS5, Inkscape, Illustrator and Flexi 10.

As I am still working out the best way to do things is this way the best way to go about it OR would it be easier all round to just 'layer' ?

No Nik, Do it the way I seperated it. Layering will only thicken the print. Try it and you will see what I mean.
Learn how to Vectorise the image. I would use Illi to do it. I dont know if Illi has an auto trace function, that would be a start. Learn the bezier tool, you will be surprised how easy it is. Look for tutorials on Youtube.
Good luck.