GSD Registration Mark and Calibration Questions

[WaffleM]

I'm working on making GSD files for the top secret Armor Grid Terrain models (shhh! -it's a secret!) and I was wondering if anyone had any tricks for lining up the registration marks in the print with the registration marks in the GSD file. So far, my test cuts seems to work well but they're a millimeter to low and half a millimeter off to one side.

Could this be a calibration issue? Is there a way to calibrate a Silhouette SD cutter with the 5.3v of the CraftRobo software?

I've already tweaked my registration mark locations to better fit the cutter, but I've had to line up my registration marks in the drawing "manually" (by manually I mean with the mouse) with the GSD registration marks. Is there a way to get them to snap?

[lordmanimal]

Well, my workflow follows the one that the legendary SquirmyDad setup for us last year, except that I don't put registration marks on my PDF's. I make a combined GSD file that you can print and cut from in one go. The filesizes are larger, but the way I see it is that if you have a robo-cutter and need the registration marks, why wouldn't you just download one set of GSD's? The PDF's are un-necessary at that point.

With that said, here's a brief pictoral of how I would do it. Firstly, download the template pdf I've attached here.

1. Open up the template attached here in photoshop.



2. open up the file you want to work on in photoshop.


3. Draw a select box over the file you want to work on, and copy it.



4. Close out the file you want to work on, not saving any changes.

5. Control + V (paste) the copied file on top of the template. (This creates layer 2 as you'll see in the photo; work with this layer until the end, then merge them.)

6. Select the magic wand tool.

7. click any open area to select all the white.

8. Press the delete key.



9. Now you can see where to organize your file to fit within the registration marks.

10. You can also draw down lines from the edges of the rulers at the top and to the left 1 inch down from the bottom, 1/2 inch from the top and both 1/2 inch in from both sides.



11. Merge all layers and save as whateveryoureworkingon.pdf!


12. Profit!

Attachments:

[squirmydad]

Nice start.
The next step is to take that layout and import it into RoboMaster to create your cut data. I've got some posts at One-Monk's forum about this very topic;
onemonk.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=fantasyadventuregsd&action=display&thread=1938
There's a little bit in here too that may be useful;
onemonk.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=craftrobo&action=display&thread=1507

Robomaster won't accept pdf's as imports so you'll need to save your graphical work as a BMP or TIFF file, import it into RoboMaster, and line up the registration marks on the image with the registration marks in RoboMaster. The easiest way to do that is to make a pdf of your RoboMaster workspace and use that as your base layout in Photoshop. much as LordManimal suggested above.

Then, since the two workspaces are identical in size (8.5"x11" presumably), when you are importing the image into Robomaster right-click on the image to get the menu that has position settings, select 0,0 as the new image position (the origin in RM is in the lower left of the workspace), and the image should line up nicely with the workspace.

From there it's probably easiest to use the line or polygon tool to draw in all of your cut and fold lines.

Let me know if you have any problems, I'll happily help.

P.S. LordManimal-please stop calling me legendary, I'm not dead yet. ;D
No computer anymore, but not dead.

Eric

[WaffleM]

Since all my work is Vector based, I've been taking the original Corel Draw files and deleting everything but the outlines. After some object welding, line offsetting (to make the outline .5mm larger) and line type changing (half-fold lines in red, cut lines in blue, and registration marks in black), I save the file as a DXF that I can open in Robomaster and then save as a GSD.

One of the downsides of this is that the expanded outline sometimes has a ton of extra points on curves and to keep the file size down I've had to go in and delete four out of every five point "by hand". Time consuming, but it seems to work.

Positioning the origin point and spacing the registration marks correctly has made a huge difference too!

[aalvarez]

Please, I just bought the Silhouette SD to do a project for a client since none of the printers in the city or country seem to be available because of the Holidays, anyway I tried the machine at a store with a file that I sent to a printer and it worked fine so I ordered the machine, when I got it it has ruined most of my work. I don't understand what you mean by GSD I am not aware of this term, I tried the CraftRobo software but since I am on a Mac I guess it's not working, it says it should work and I was able to install the plug-in for my Illustrator but when I try to output it it just doesn't work. I tried then redoing my die cut on the Silhuette Studio software and it's been working 1/10 tries then it just seems to go off. I done have registration marks on my files because I have no idea how to set them up and this is just driving me crazy please help me!!!!

[WaffleM]

Dec 5, 2010 23:43:30 GMT -5 @aalvarez said:

Please, I just bought the Silhouette SD to do a project for a client since none of the printers in the city or country seem to be available because of the Holidays, anyway I tried the machine at a store with a file that I sent to a printer and it worked fine so I ordered the machine, when I got it it has ruined most of my work. I don't understand what you mean by GSD I am not aware of this term, I tried the CraftRobo software but since I am on a Mac I guess it's not working, it says it should work and I was able to install the plug-in for my Illustrator but when I try to output it it just doesn't work. I tried then redoing my die cut on the Silhuette Studio software and it's been working 1/10 tries then it just seems to go off. I done have registration marks on my files because I have no idea how to set them up and this is just driving me crazy please help me!!!!

I'm not sure I fully understand what difficulties you are having. I use a PC, but maybe someone else here uses a Mac and could help you with that if that is the cause of you difficulties.

To what I can help with: GSD is the file type used by the CraftRobo software. When I first got my Silhouette SD machine, I was quickly frustrated with the software. This was caused by me using only the software CD supplied with the cutter. Once I downloaded the current version of the program from the Silhouette/CraftRobo website -->LINK<-- or maybe this one: -->OTHER LINK<--

One other difficulty that can occur is that the registration marks are a little too low on the page. This causes the page to run out of the machine while it checks for the marks. To solve this use a slightly longer carrier sheet (I make my one and have never used the one supplied with the machine).

Also, I've never been able to get the automatic detection of the registration marks to work, regardless of what files I try to cut out. But using the manual setting to locate the cutter marks solved this.

I hope some of this helps! Having said all that, I'm definitely no expert in the automatic cutters. It took me about six hours of frustration to get anything to work on the first day I set up my Silhouette SD machine, but now it seems to be working fine. Several other folks here are more experienced than I and may be able to help you better.