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VinylWriter's printed instruction manual is up to date with most programs,
but this file describes some recent changes and some practical issues that
may cause problems for users.
Please be sure to invesigate how your quality and speed of cutting vary
according to the A number in CUTOUT. VinylWriter's logic for cutting
curves as lots of little straight lines has changed recently, and there
are big differences between plotters, and between types of sign, in the
ideal A number to use. It is sad to think how many sign makers never
produce top quality signs or cut as quickly as possible, simply because
they never experiment with the curve smoothing options of their plotter
(if it has them) and/or their cutting software.
GRAFIKIN received received a major upgrade in 1998, intended to
squeeze more performance out of the DOS environment, followed by lots
of little bug fixes and improvements. The way that defaults are
remembered from one run to the next has been changed, in accord with
the majority of users' requests (but horrifying some experienced users)
so please watch the screen carefully.
Most other recent program improvements have been small and difficult to
see, for example: more varieties of EPS files accepted, improved font
listing in SIGNIN, more devices handled by INSTALL, annoying oddities
removed from DESIGN, improved Wrap distortions and router paths in
TOOLPATH, adapting to Windows 95's different way of timestamping files,
and so on. As far as we know, none of these changes should cause any
problems or be anything but a net benefit to a user.
For the major changes in CUTOUT that gave it a more sophisticated
ability to handle "layers" please read its new chapter in the
instruction manual and its new help file, CUTOUT.HLP. At the time of
writing, CUTOUT was still being changed to cater for 3-dimensional
routers and engravers.
In our experience, a lot of Windows 95 PCs have been set up hastily,
with just an icon shortcut to C:\VINYL\SIGNMENU as the normal way into
VinylWriter, which can lead inexperienced computer users into problems.
In fact, VinylWriter runs beautifully in a DOS session of Windows 95,
and CUTOUT then delivers better performance than most other sign output
modules on the market. But Win95 needs to be set up correctly to
provide a really "clean" DOS environment and there are often multiple
ways to do any particular task in Win95, which Microsoft don't always
document clearly. So here are our recommendations.
Create an icon shortcut to a DOS prompt by finding C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM
in My Computer and dragging it onto the Win95 desktop. Right-click that
icon and rename it to VinylWriter, then change its Properties. On the
Program tab set:
| Working directory |
C:\WORK |
| Batch file |
C:\VINYL\VW.BAT |
| Run |
Maximized screen |
| Close on exit |
ticked |
On the Screen tab set Full-screen and on the Misc tab tell it not to
intercept Alt-Space. This way of creating the icon launches VinylWriter
lets you "Exit to DOS" without forcibly crashing back to Win95 and uses
a batch file VW.BAT, which usually looks like this:
C:
CD \WORK
SIGNMENU
to launch VinylWriter in your working directory.
To maximize the complexity of a sign that can be handled by TOOLPATH,
IMPORT, or GRAFIKIN, as much as possible of DOS's 640K memory should
be available and not, for example, stolen by "drivers" for sound cards
and networks. Unfortunately Win95 has baskslid by not providing
MEMMAKER to optimise a DOS box's use of memory. So you need to edit the
files C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT and C:\CONFIG.SYS the old, painful way.
CONFIG.SYS usually starts with these lines:
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS
DOS=HIGH,UMB
and may then go on with lines loading device drivers, for example to
cope with national variations:
DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\DISPLAY.SYS CON=(EGA,,1)
COUNTRY=044,850,C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\COUNTRY.SYS
AUTOEXEC.BAT needs to contain a line:
PATH=C:\VINYL;.......
which is normally put there by VinylWriter's SETUP. Then it should
have LOADHIGH in front of most of the programs that it loads, such as:
LOADHIGH KEYB UK,,C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\KEYBOARD.SYS
LOADHIGH DOSKEY /KEYSIZE:32
Satisfy yourself that this has worked by typing MEM/C/P
A major plus point of Win95 is its multi-tasking ability, so that it can
send output to your plotter in the background while you create your next
sign. Go to Control Panel ... Printers, open the Properties of your
default printer, take Details ... Port Settings and set it to Spool MSDOS
Print Jobs. Some manufacturers' printer drivers forbid you to do this,
so you may have to make one of Win95's own drivers, e.g. for an H-P
LaserJet, into the default printer.
If CUTOUT or SIGNOUT say that they cannot send data to your plotter or
printer (and you have checked the cables carefully) maybe you have one
of those annoying computers in which Win95 cannot "see" hardware properly.
Serial ports seem to be a common problem nowadays. Often the solution is
to make sure you turn on the plotter (or printer) before you turn on the
computer. Microsoft's diagnostic program MSD.EXE (which Win95 or Win98
do not automatically load onto a computer, but leave tucked away on their
CD ROM) can sometimes persuade a sleeping serial port to wake up after
a PC has been turned on. Misbehaving serial ports also sometimes wake
up for a DOS MODE command such as:
MODE COM2: 9600,N,8,1,P
where that final P is a slightly dangerous option to set the port to keep
on indefinitely trying to send data and not stop with a time-out error.
If you are receiving these programs as an update, be sure to claim a
new instruction manual. As an alternative to a manual in its usual form
of a set of photocopied sheets, you can also ask for it on a disk ready
to print on a Hewlett-Packard-compatible laser printer. This means you
pay for the paper and toner, but you are guaranteed a crisp top copy.
An important new page in the manual is headed "How to load an EPS file
into VinylWriter" - an activity that can sometimes strain one's sanity!
In brief:-
SIGNMENU's "Import Images ... Encapsulated Postscript" process actually
submits your chosen EPS file to TOOLPATH, which converts Bezier curves
into circle arcs, which lets you perform all of VinylWriter's tricks on
that EPS-file artwork and can help speed up its cutting. However, there
are two other ways to read in an EPS file that are usually more useful.
First, CUTOUT can cut a suitable EPS file without any ado: just type
CUTOUT filename.EPS
at the DOS prompt, or press Alt-E to explore the current directory for
EPS files. Second, GRAFIKIN can read in a suitable EPS file via its
File menu ... Import.
Exporting from VinylWriter to Corel Draw can be an even bigger strain
on one's sanity, because of the multiple versions of Corel, each with
its own set of bugs, but EPS files written by TOOLPATH will go into
most versions of Corel.
VinylWriter's font catalogue now includes nearly 700 fonts checked for
plotting quality. Behind that is a range of more than 3000 printing
fonts available in Adobe Type 1 format which can be quickly converted
for cutting on request.
If you are updating from a very old previous version, here are some other
changes you may notice:-
SIGNMENU's file-management feature has been enhanced, to show you the tree
structure of the directories on any disk and also to show hidden files and
directories. As ever, read its on-screen instructions carefully.
There is a new estimating and accounting program, COSTING. You must feed
in your own figures as a basis for costings, to replace our provisional
figures. Feedback welcomed.
GRAFIKIN added some important new features and its instructions chapter
was revised, late in 1994. Almost-unlimited Undo lets you experiment with
layouts easily and "sticky" editing makes it easier to edit SDA files
derived from scanned images. Please play around with the drop-down menus,
particularly "Options".
TOOLPATH underwent a major overhaul late in 1994 and became faster and
more resistant to awkward cases than before. However, be warned that
now Relief Shadow works only for quite small shadow depths. Some
other changes improved its ability to exchange files with other
programs, by working around bugs in those other programs' reading
and writing of EPS and DXF files.
FONTCALC has new options for printing out fonts. See the printed
instructions. It can now process up more than 500 fonts in one go.
SIGNOUT's major overhaul in spring 1994 led to: on-screen preview,
ability to print hugely complex signs, arrays and tiling, and colour
printing. The colour printers catered for at present are H-P DeskJets
and Epson Stylus. Canon BJ series coming soon. Note that White-on-Black
printing has changed. To print reversed-out text you put a rectangular
box around the relevant text (as in previous versions) but now you must
positively select one option (Black + Black = White) on SIGNOUT's menu.
SIGNOUT has now fallen into line with CUTOUT in regarding the position
of a sign as a job for an output program, not for an input program.
So it defaults "automatic positioning" to ON, with signs positioned
to print across the middle of one sheet of paper, scaled down if
necessary. Note that the Automatic positioning dialogue offers you
a chance to scale a printed sign to a chosen size.
SIGNIN can now show you a screen preview in full glorious colour.
INSTALL has a whole new section so you can fine-tune screen and print
colours to match your vinyl stocks.
The changes to SIGNOUT and SIGNIN had a series of knock-on effects on
other programs, so it is extremely important, when updating, to change
over everything cleanly. Mixed vintages of programs are a certain recipe
for mysterious crashes. Replace ALL the programs (not leaving any rogue
copies lying around in other directories), create a new SETTINGS file,
and re-FONTCALC the fonts.
The process of importing an Adobe Type 1 font was overhauled in November
1993, mainly to improve the conversion of fonts containing characters
outside the English-language core, but also with a few small quality
improvements. The printed instructions explain all.
DESIGN had a major overhaul late in 1993, leading in particular to a new
menu of Loop Operations, with some consequent rationalisations of screen
messages and key-strokes, plus dozens of little enhancements. Please read
its HLP file for the latest information.
When CUTOUT reads in a sign that already contains colour information,
it assigns each colour (up to a maximum of 9) to a separate layer, just
as if you had tagged those parts of the sign inside CUTOUT. You can
overrule these layer assignments by tagging loops on CUTOUT's preview
screen in the usual way.
When reading in an EPS file CUTOUT pays attention to fill colours, not
outline colours. CUTOUT does the best it can (in a small program) to
cope with multiple flavours of EPS file, but it cannot defend you from
all possible oddities. For example, if you forget to Convert to Curves
when exporting from Corel Draw, the resulting EPS file will contain two
copies of each letter. One copy has your chosen fill colour and so
CUTOUT puts it on the appropriate layer. The second copy has your
chosen outline colour (which CUTOUT ignores) and no fill, so CUTOUT
puts it with the pool of uncoloured loops on layer zero, but of course
it perfectly overlaps the first copy and the loop gets cut twice!
By far the commonest computer problem that our technical staff sort
out for customers is to tidy up messy disks - logically messy, with
files scattered all over the place, and sometimes physically messy
with dirt in the works. A few hours spent reading your DOS manuals,
and keeping your work-place clean, may save you many hours of driving
your computer back for repair!
The Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 500C prints incorrectly in SIGNOUT. (This
is the non-recommended model which prints in only 3 colors, as distinct
from the recommended 550C which has a separate black cartridge and prints
in 4 colors.) The problem arises because it handles Left Margin Offset
commands incorrectly. A "fix" to get around the problem is to ensure
that your sign has a vertical left edge. You can do that by putting
a long thin vertical stripe alongside the sign in GRAFIKIN, in a pure
undithered colour (cyan, magenta, yellow, or black) or you can type
B at the initial screen of SIGNIN to put a thin box around the sign
(even though there is no prompt for it on-screen if a plotter is your
principal output device). Over the years we have encountered lots of
printers with bugs in their firmware, especially concerning left margin
offsets. Of course businesses of the size of IBM, Epson, and Hewlett-
Packard NEVER put bugs in their products, do they? Oh no! They create
standards for the rest of us to follow. We believe other 3-colour
DeskJet models may show a similar problem.
Recent Roland plotters have intelligent interfaces which pay particular
attention to the very first byte sent to them, in order to auto-detect
what command language they are receiving. Unfortunately, that first byte
is extremely vulnerable to electrical noise arising anywhere in the chain
from PC parallel port, through a dongle and a cable, to the plotter. If
your Roland plotter misbehaves, try these possible solutions:
• Turn off auto-detection, on those plotter models that allow it.
• Use a good, short parallel cable, avoiding extensions and switch boxes.
• Install a second parallel port in your computer and put your dongle(s)
on one parallel port and the plotter on the other.
• Install VinylWriter to drive them in their "Mode 1" command language,
rather than HPGL or "Mode 2".
Some other common problems that provoke support calls:
• Cheap mice often come with faulty mouse drivers that make GRAFIKIN unhappy.
• Huge signs may involve distances over 3.3 metres that SIGNIN cannot handle.
This limit may catch you out unexpectedly, e.g. trying to put a gentle arc
on a line. Input these signs smaller, then scale up at the output stage.
Be careful with stretched or italicised characters. When VinylWriter
plots a character (i.e. in CUTOUT and GRAFIKIN) it spends time doing
these distortions "properly", i.e. in lots of tiny steps around the whole
of a character outline, whereas when it needs to save time or memory (i.e.
in SIGNOUT, SIGNIN's preview, or TOOLPATH) it applies transformations
only to the marker points. Most of the time these two approaches give
indistinguishable results, but if you apply a large italicisation or
stretch to a character with widely spaced marker points you may notice
serious differences. Just to confuse you, the Wrap distortion works
better in TOOLPATH than the analogous Bulge distortion in CUTOUT.
If you solve a particular technical problem of sign production, please
tell Wight Scientific promptly, so that we can share your hints with
other VinylWriter customers.
This README file was last revised 3 June 1999
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