ISO tutorial-Weed Lines by Color-Scal

[JerryLK]

I am looking for info on how to weed by color. I cannot get Help/F1 to work and cannot find any tutorial on the subject. How do I put weed lines into a multi-color image? It appears that I only have one layer for weed lines. This might waste a lot of vinyl if done this way. The weed panel does not show the actual image so lines might not be positioned optimally. Or do I have to send each color to SCAL individually?

[DogCarbon]

I may not be the best one to answer, and I don't fully understand the terms you are using but let's get the conversation started.

I think you are referring to weed lines as the cut lines? You are looking at the layer box and referring to that as the weed panel? And only see one layer? Click on the eye and you can see more layers, create new layers, move objects to the new layer, etc.

Feel free to post an image to help clarify anything.

[JerryLK]

Weed lines are added to an image to make it easier to remove excess vinyl from the image. This is particularly useful for large or complex images. When you select Weeding under the Object tab, a weeding window appears. SCAL draws a box around the bounds of the image being cut; it does not, however, show the image in this window. If you were to add horizontal or vertical weed lines, they appear but leave blank portions where the image itself intersects with the weed lines (it is hard to explain without a drawing). If, for example, I have an image that is 3" x 5" and say it has three horizontal lines of text and each line is a different color. SCAL will draw boundary lines around the 3x5 image and will cut those lines for each of the three colors. When an individual color is cut, space is reserved for the two other lines of text. I end up with three sheets cut 3" x 5" but only 1" x 5" area contains text. Surely I do not have to send each color individually to SCAL?

[HeatherM]

Jerry, it sounds like you have SCAL Pro version. I don't have that version, but here are some things to try.

First make sure that you have the Layers window showing. From the menu select Window/Workspace/Advanced if the Layers window isn't showing.

How was your file made? Was it made in SCAL or another program? If it was an imported file, how it was made affects how many layers there are. Each Path will import into its own layer or sub-layer.

If you are only seeing one layer, look in the layer name for a twisty triangle. It there is one you can click on it to see all of the sub-layers included. You can drag and drop the sub-layers out of the main layer or you can un-group and reorganize as needed (it depends on how the file was made.

If the file was made with only one Path you will probably need to Break it apart to separate the colors and then use Path/Combine to put any pieces of the same color back together.

[JerryLK]

No, the image layer and the weed layer are both showing. The problem is in the CUTTING. And is is SCALP.

[HeatherM]

If you only have one layer for your artwork, then I would think that is the problem. I'm pretty sure that each color needs to be on its own layer, unless SCAL Pro is very different from SCAL3/eCAL.

You should contact CraftEdge if you can't figure this out since I don't think very many people here have the Pro version.

[JerryLK]

Do the other Sure Cuts a Lot versions accommodate weed lines? If so, how do you use them in a multi-color plot?

[gj1]

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=28857&p=111541&hil ... ng#p111541

You could look this post over and maybe it will help you. You could maybe contact Louise by personal pm message, direct, for thoughts on the subject. She has not been posting lately, but also has links to her websites, I believe. (Miss you, too, Louise).