Using the Signlab e6 Design Environment
Part 3 – Using Signlab with Print and Cut Devices
I. INTRODUCTION
Even though outputting to print and cut devices is a fairly straightforward affair, we at CADlink have found
it useful to be equipped with some useful tips to get it all working flawlessly. Towards this end, this part of
the “Using e6” document will provide a general procedure to help you get Signlab and your output device
to work together correctly.
As with so many things, there can be many methods that will accomplish roughly the same thing. The aim
of this document is to outline the main techniques involved towards accomplishing a print and cut through
the RIP and Print feature, and will leave out the more obscure and “routine” items. For Example: You may
be asked to Draw an object on the screen, but you will not be told how to do it as it is a routine and
documented feature. Therefore, it is a good idea to have the user’s guide handy while running through
these procedures, in case you need to read up on a feature referred to in this document. This document also
outlines the procedures to send a print-and-cut job through the Roland Colorchoice RIP.
NOTE: Although this procedure applies to all print and cut devices, particular emphasis is placed on the
Roland PC-600.
II. PREPARING THE DESIGN ENVIRONMENT
Using the Correct Palette
When your intended output is to a resin or foil type print and cut device, it is recommended that you use
one of the Manufacturer’s Palettes supplied with Signlab. This is because the manufacturer’s palettes are
already customized with the spot color foils which these devices often use. If your print and cut device is
an ink-jet type, or you never intend to use spot-color foils, feel free to use the Signlab default p alette.
Loading the correct manufacturer palette
If you do many print-and-cut jobs that include spot colors, you will probably wish to make the
manufacturer’s palette your default (shop) palette. Full instructions for loading a palette are in the users
guide but, in a nutshell, here’s how to do it:
- right-click on the default palette ( a menu will appear)
- from the menu, select Load .. New
- select the palette you want to use, then click on the Open button
- the manufacturer’s palette will now be showing as the palette
So that’s how to load the manufacturer’s palette from within Signlab, but how do you make it show up
every time you start your Signlab application? Here’s how:
- From the Options menu, select Signlab Setup.. General Preferences
- In the dialog box which appears there is a section regarding the palette
- Enable the “Load Palette on Startup” checkbox, but Disable the “Save Palette on Exit” option
(having the Save Palette option enabled can cause corruption of the palette file, so I do not
recommend using that option)
- Click on the Browse button then, in the dialog box which appears, specify the name of the
manufacturer palette; click on the Save button
- You may now exit the General preferences dialog box by pressing the OK button
- The next time you open Signlab, the manufacturer palette will automatically load
Here is a list of several devices and their corresponding palette names:
- Gerber Edge – GerberEdgeDirect.Pal (not a print and cut device, but it uses spot foils)
- *Roland PC-60 – RolandPC60.Pal
- *Roland PC-600 – RolandPC600.Pal
* If using Roland ColorChoice, you MUST load and use the ColorChoice.pal palette file as your shop
palette.
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