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Gravograph software


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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.

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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

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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

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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!

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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!

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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

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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!

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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

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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

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  • 2 weeks later...

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

IMG_4858.JPG

 

 

 

Then go to "Tools"

Select a different tool (Not No.0 as that is default "black")

IMG_4859.JPG

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.

IMG_4860.JPG

 

 

Once ready, Go to "Machining"

You should see Tool 0 & Tool 1 in the Cutter Box. Now go to "Path Select"

IMG_4861.JPG

 

De-select Tool 0, So only Tool 1 is highlighted.

IMG_4862.JPG

Now click the green tick.

 

 

 

You should now only see Tool 1 in your Cutter Box

IMG_4863.JPG

 

Press preview just to check what's being sent over to machine

 IMG_4864.JPG

 

 

Like said earlier, do the year separate to the name so you can stretch or shrink accordantly. 

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