prlocks Posted May 16, 2015 Report Share Posted May 16, 2015 Hi all, For the last 10 years we have been providing a fairly busy engraving service with a Mastergrave Universal using vistool. Last year the local sports shop closed and we got inundated with their engraving trade. So at the trophex exhibition in January we decided it was time to upgrade our machine and went for a IS400 volume. We have had a couple of problems with the machine one being the tension spring jammed which to be fair to Gravograph they come out to fix, the second being the machine losing the centre origin randomly which they are coming out Monday to fix. This week we were trying to work out how to "convert to curve" a line of text to be able to move letters individually within that line. After trying for a couple of hours we decided to call Gravograph for help, only to be told that the software we have is only a basic package and if we wanted to be able do this and use other features we would need to upgrade our software at a cost of over £1100 plus vat We paid over £13000 plus vat for the machine and at no stage were we told that this would only come with a "basic software" and that there would be additional costs for the software needed to carry out simple tasks. So my question to you guys are have any of you had a similar experience when buying a machine from Gravograph and is the program worth upgrading to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Count Muppet Posted May 16, 2015 Report Share Posted May 16, 2015 I think a member of the VOC will probably be along to tell you where you went wrong. Paul_ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Gardner Posted May 18, 2015 Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 Just return the machine as not fit for purpose buy a brand new universal 350 and treat yourself to something with the change. You will then have a machine with the top level vistool software which you will be more at ease with due to previous experiance. Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hibsjo(SCO) Posted May 18, 2015 Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 ive got a volume and its the best machine in the world ! the software package you need is worth upgrading to. carry on! Lock Stock 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevenB Posted May 18, 2015 Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 I bought an IS400 once, biggest mistake I ever made. Vistool all the way for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kastanza Posted May 22, 2015 Report Share Posted May 22, 2015 yup , i experienced a similar thing with gravograph, i was well and truly bent over.... can just about sit down now. prlocks 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kev Posted May 23, 2015 Report Share Posted May 23, 2015 What is it that you need to do exactly? If I'm reading it right you want to increase or decrease the space inbetween some of the letters on the same line of text? So you want to break apart the line to move a couple of letters? Try this - put the curser where you want the change to happen. Press control and - (minus) at the same time to decrease (the more you press the more it reduces). To increase space press control and + (plus). This allows you to move text on a line and keep it editable - if text is converted to curves you can no longer edit it. If this doesn't work or I have the wrong idea of what you are trying to achieve please give me a call on Monday morning. 07974 126220 Regards Kevin - Gravograph Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hibsjo(SCO) Posted May 24, 2015 Report Share Posted May 24, 2015 You working from Wembley on Monday Carry on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kev Posted May 24, 2015 Report Share Posted May 24, 2015 Whoops, yes sorry - unavailable on Monday I forgot about the Bank Holiday. I meant Tuesday Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hibsjo(SCO) Posted May 24, 2015 Report Share Posted May 24, 2015 every fukkers gonna phone you on monday lol carry on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike at Vauxhall Posted May 24, 2015 Report Share Posted May 24, 2015 I'll probably phone you on Monday. I don't even do engraving, but I'm definitely a fucker. Lol. Lock Stock 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prlocks Posted May 25, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2015 Hi Kevin I have this week off but I'll get my colleague to phone you Tuesday. There are a couple of things we are finding hard to do. Let's say we are doing 2015 John Smith We needed to reduce the 2015 in size to line up with the previous years but not the name. I couldn't un group the text and edit it individually Also we were doing a brass plate with lots of text, how do you highlight a single letter or from that job and send that over to be engraved rather than the whole job or complete line of text ? Regards Phill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hakeemz Posted May 25, 2015 Report Share Posted May 25, 2015 highlight a single letter by drag selecting it and then send the job, it will only engrave that letter, go into engraving preview just to be sure before actually engraving it, it will show you what the machine is about to engrave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hakeemz Posted May 25, 2015 Report Share Posted May 25, 2015 notice when you drag select a single letter it becomes red in colour, thats what i mean by highlight incase u wondering Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hibsjo(SCO) Posted May 25, 2015 Report Share Posted May 25, 2015 hi mate do it in two jobs hit mannual mode type 2015 measure where your date starts and ends bring your lines out from the siderule and make your date fit inside lines (so double click on the 2015 and stretch or shrink highlighted box) then bring your lines out from the edge for the name and repeat. carry on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hibsjo(SCO) Posted May 25, 2015 Report Share Posted May 25, 2015 with regards to highlighting one letter i would convert to curves and highlight the one letter and engrave dont know what you mean by drag highlight Hakeem? what i think you mean doesnt work for me carry on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prlocks Posted May 25, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2015 Yeah I can't convert to curves because I need to pay for software upgrade that I wasn't told about when we bought the machine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Gardner Posted May 26, 2015 Report Share Posted May 26, 2015 why does gravo make it so hard to do such a simple task dump it and go to vistool software simples craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hakeemz Posted May 26, 2015 Report Share Posted May 26, 2015 i agree craig , software side of gravo really lets it down.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hibsjo(SCO) Posted May 26, 2015 Report Share Posted May 26, 2015 i disagree its all about the application. its not the software thats limited its the users knowledge.(and that also refers to what level youre buying ) i am still learning things every day with it cos our application doesnt scratch the surface to what the software can really do and ive used gravo for over 15 years. there is obviously a group on here who want to knock it because its expensive, get over it. carry on! grahamparker, k4mrc and Lock Stock 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hakeemz Posted May 26, 2015 Report Share Posted May 26, 2015 for a business when comparing like for like, price certainly does matter..even if i ignore overpricing by gravo i can clearly see lack of user friendliness. even with top level package of software in gravo ,some things can be done in a straight forward way rather than backwards 80,s way..just sayin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevenB Posted May 26, 2015 Report Share Posted May 26, 2015 there is obviously a group on here who want to knock it because its expensive, get over it. I agree. Obviously, vistool is my software of choice, like you I've been using it for a long time & am still learning. It's like going to France & continually telling the locals that they are speaking the wrong language & that English is much better. Each to their own. Vive la difference, you might say! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hakeemz Posted May 26, 2015 Report Share Posted May 26, 2015 what you're learning now is advanced stuff, basic jobs should be easy and inclusive in even the basic packages..i mean come on ..right upto couple a years ago we were stuck on windows xp and serial ports..if u had windows 7 on a a laptop or PC with usb ports only, even the topmost level software from gravo did'nt run on it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hakeemz Posted May 26, 2015 Report Share Posted May 26, 2015 i have never used any other machine or software other than gravo (in engraving industry) so i am not comparing within the industry but when starting out, coming from a vinyl cutter/plotter user which is essentially same principle, i was gobsmacked to see how backwards and yet expensive the softwares were by gravo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lock Stock Posted June 6, 2015 Report Share Posted June 6, 2015 Hi Kevin I have this week off but I'll get my colleague to phone you Tuesday. There are a couple of things we are finding hard to do. Let's say we are doing 2015 John Smith We needed to reduce the 2015 in size to line up with the previous years but not the name. I couldn't un group the text and edit it individually Also we were doing a brass plate with lots of text, how do you highlight a single letter or from that job and send that over to be engraved rather than the whole job or complete line of text ? Regards Phill Yeah I can't convert to curves because I need to pay for software upgrade that I wasn't told about when we bought the machine You can do this without needing to convert curves. When in Text. Highlight letter or letter you want to be engraved separate Then go to "Tools" Select a different tool (Not No.0 as that is default "black") Double click on selected tool, this will now change the colour of letter you highlighted to which ever tool colour you used. Repeat this for the remaining letters. Once ready, Go to "Machining" You should see Tool 0 & Tool 1 in the Cutter Box. Now go to "Path Select" De-select Tool 0, So only Tool 1 is highlighted. Now click the green tick. You should now only see Tool 1 in your Cutter Box Press preview just to check what's being sent over to machine Like said earlier, do the year separate to the name so you can stretch or shrink accordantly. prlocks 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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