eCraft Plug-in BETA Available!
in MTC Updates
Hi everyone...
I finished a little ahead of time, so instead of waiting, I am going to launch a BETA now.
I have the BETA of the eCraft plug-in ready for testing. Here is a link to install the plug-in:
http://www.make-the-cut.com/Download.aspx
Directions:
1) Make sure you have the latest version of MTC installed (3.2.1)
2) Make sure MTC is not running (i.e. close it down)
3) Download/run the file above.
4) Start MTC back up. You will see a new cutting option in the "Cut project with..." menu item.
Right now the plug-in works best if you choose the "Tray/Roll" cutting mode. The "Front" option isn't quite as functional as it should be.
Good luck!
-andy.
I finished a little ahead of time, so instead of waiting, I am going to launch a BETA now.
I have the BETA of the eCraft plug-in ready for testing. Here is a link to install the plug-in:
http://www.make-the-cut.com/Download.aspx
Directions:
1) Make sure you have the latest version of MTC installed (3.2.1)
2) Make sure MTC is not running (i.e. close it down)
3) Download/run the file above.
4) Start MTC back up. You will see a new cutting option in the "Cut project with..." menu item.
Right now the plug-in works best if you choose the "Tray/Roll" cutting mode. The "Front" option isn't quite as functional as it should be.
Good luck!
-andy.
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Comments
Did anyone with 1.x firmware try this and is it working?
Like "Andy" but with an "S"
Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Free MTC Tutorials:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MTC_Tuts/
I just did a few basic cuts using the tray mode and the front mode and so far no problems! I can't tell you how excited I am! If I have any troubles with anything, I will be sure to let you know, but so far great job!
www.PurplePaperParadise.com
Bryan
Bryan
Just one little issue, when cutting from tray or front my machine cuts the shape sideways from what is pictured on MTC and all the way down in the right hand corner.
Is this normal?
Thanks,
Joan
Never mind, I forgot to put it back to Portrait.
Thanks
Do you know if you are set up for Landscape or Portrait mode?
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Jeanette in Orange County, CA
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Own a Create: Krikee, getting used to a Black Cat Cougar: Bagheera
Is there a way to change from inches to centimeters?
Also it appears that it uses tabs in the cut, is there a way to turn that off. The plastic I am using leaves behind stretched plastic when I try and remove the pieces due to the tabs (unless it's not cutting all the way through).
Lastly can we set a custom size (and standard international paper sizes) for the media.
Thanks a lot for doing this Andy. This cutter may just be promoted from large paper weight to a functional device!
Will now go and give it a try - agree with last comment, maybe a very large and expensive paperweight will be come a useful craft cutter at last.
Will be back after I have tested it out.
Richard
Blog: http://www.cutandcreativity.co.uk
Andy: thank you for implementing this so quickly and giving us the chance to play with the beta version of the software over the weekend.
As I said before - I do not own MTC yet - but I have downloaded the trial version and installed the plugin to see what it can do, and more important if it can make my eCraft behave.
Some quick observations:
- The eCraft is supposed to cut custom sizes, up to 12" width and any length. There is no option to set a custom dimension tho.
- As dakka mentioned, in other parts of the world the inch is not a common measurement and having an option to switch to centimetres would be higly appreciated.
- My target paper will be common A4. I have tried to cut a proportional rectangle centred on an A4 paper and that is currently almost impossible. To aid figuring out where the centre of the paper ends up I made a lot of "pen" prints and I tweaked the position of the rectangle until it came out "about right". The green rectangle in the attached screenshot is the actual size of an A4 paper. The grey rectangle is the proportionally resized rectangle that I cut (draw) centred on an A4. The margins left and right are not at all where I expected them to be. Also to make this cut centred on the paper I used the cutting mode "roll/tray" and fed the paper in manually, making sure that the bottom of the paper was flush with the cutting guide (the rail where the trolley is mounted on).
- Cutting of fonts is now easy as it can be: thank you that was a big aggrevation for me. I have not been able to cut fonts with nice curves in a large size with the eCraft software, MTC did this beautifully!
- I created some SVGs to cut with the eCraft software: as their program crashed with font selection I created stencils from a single letter in a font style in Inkscape, converted it to path and saved it as Inkscape svg. When I try to load such an svg the preview does not match the SVG and the path is distorted when opened in MTC. Saving to plain SVG did not bring any change. ( I still do need to check the forums if there are any specifics with Inkscape/SVG/MTC so please forgive me if this is a "known item").
- My "Kokeshi Doll" stencil on the other hand cut perfectly - also an Inkscape SVG - so I don't see the pattern yet :)
- And as mentioned before.. I use an eCraft with firmware v1.02 and your release seems to work fine with that.
Anyways - I am quite impressed with the achieved results in such a short time (considering I am waiting since October for software that can cut my SVGs). Very cool - and this is just the beta :)
Cheers,
Sylvia
http://syllie.com - personal website
I will go away and play with it some more as its difficult to know how many hassles are coming from the machine, how many from me or whether I have an issue with MTC (somehow doubt it!).
Just thought - maybe if I cut from the ecraft software via the tray then that would mean I could identify where the issues lie.
Back later!
Rx
Everything I have tested has worked perfectly.
I'm really impressed and I just wanted to thank you for doing this.
You sofware is incredible and now I understand why other owners of the eCraft were mad at craftwell because of the software we got, if they were used to your software there is no comparisson.
Anyway, back to testing!
Have a nice weekend everyone.
Abi
AND I used a 12x12 piece of card - I was using a piece of A4 so of course it was working it out on a 12x12 so it just kept running out of card! I think being able to have an A4 mat would be fabulous - nudge nudge (I dont know, no sooner do these ecraft people turn up then they want more stuff!!!!). I think I can work around by just using a plain piece of 12x12 to "hold" the scraps I would like to use...I guess this is what other people do normally? Prior to MTC, I have just been feeding in from the front and lining up the blade to cut exactly where I want so I can just use little scraps. Any better workarounds anyone???
Going to go and have another play and let you know how I get on.....BUT amid all this waffling....it works!!! I didnt even need to use the tray and it worked fine! Well done Andy - and thanks for giving us something brilliant!
Rx
Well not having cut anything from the eCraft Software I pulled in a pdf and it cut perfectly first time in firmware v1 both from the tray and front loaded so a big thank you for making this possible.
I look forward to further refinements - my only problem was working out where to put items on the cricut mat to make sure they were on my paper. So my first wish is for a eCraft on screen mat layout for different sizes - preferably custom size but with some standard sizes eg 12 x 12, 12 x 24, A4, A3 and other common crafting sizes, so that we can use any size of paper.
Many thanks for your efforts, i am now spreading the word to eCraft owners in the UK.
Richard
Blog: http://www.cutandcreativity.co.uk
I've been playing with the new plug-in and I've been trying to get it to cut/draw reliably in the same place. It was going OK until I ran into an unusual problem. I have 2 MTC files open, the first file always (lets call this the "Reference File") cuts/draws as expected (ie in the correct place on the page). The second file or any new file I open for that matter draw in a different location. If I go back to the reference file and draw/cut, then switch directly to the second/new file and cut/draw without changing anything it cuts where I expect it to.
All the settings for the mat are the same in all files. 12"x12", Landscape, Caret Size: 1.00", Snap Position 1/32. I'm using the Roll/Tray option to cut. Everything else is default. My settings on the eCraft are Mode Selecting: Manual, Landscape, Tab Settings - Density: 0.
Also I should mention that I am loading the card stock into the tray as identically as I am able on each attempt. I place the card into the tray and then lightly pull on top of it with my had to push it to the right-bottom edge of the tray. Using this method, when the file cut as expected I was able to exactly draw over the same shape 3 times in a row.
Switching between Draw and Cut seems to have no effect on the positioning. Although at one point when I experienced this problem on one of the new files I noticed that my Caret Size was at 1.1" and my Snap Position was 1/64. I changed them to match the Reference file and I was cutting where I expected again. I thought this was the answer but on yet another file changing the Caret Size and Snap Position had no effect so I gathered it must have been some sort of coincidence.
Apologies if this post makes little sense I'm having trouble finding the words to explain this more clearly.
Let me know if you need more details.
Cheers.
EDIT: Almost forgot. I'm on firmware 1.00. Also I'm not sure if this is by design but the top edge of the mat on-screen in MTC lines up with the right edge of my card stock when cut. That is, the cut is rotated 90 degrees clockwise compared to what I see on screen.
Rx
(now just to keep adding things to the wish list. I see room for improvement / further functionality - but I am very very happy that finally I can cut my designs)
Cheers,
Syllie
http://syllie.com - personal website
I have purchased MTC - installed it and the plug in but I cannot get it to cut. Comes up with a message asking have I got the cutting machine plugged in which I definitely have done so.
Hope someone can help.
p.s. it is Sunday morning here in Australia so I must be half asleep. I had the USB plugged into the computer but not the Ecraft. I just created a welded word and it cut beautifully from front loading into the machine. I had to play around with where to place it on the virtual mat as I like to work from the front of the paper.
CUTTING with my BLACK CAT LYNX!
in Northern Maryland
http://paulathompson.ctmh.com
www.carterieplus.com
Anyways Thanks Andy. After some testing I find that it cut everything well but things it has to turn back and forth in short distances (like wave edge) you really notice when they and smaller then 3/16 vertical are prefect but horizontal are shorter then drawn by about the knife radius. Is there a way to adjust this?
In terms of the blade offset, it is not just for the closing of the shape. I believe Andy has it coded for any angle changes in the path (or maybe angle changes over a certain degree). For instance, if your offset is set correctly, you will get nice 90 degree sharp corners on a square. If it isn't set properly you will get slightly rounded corners or corners that have extended nibs on them.
www.PurplePaperParadise.com
www.PurplePaperParadise.com
Cutters: Craft Robo, Cricut Expression, and the absolute BEST A BLACK CAT COUGAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am using v1.00 and everything I have tried so far cuts, as with Denise the only real issue I have is with the virtual mat not being an exact match to the cutter position.
As you can download a trial version and this is only a beta plugin, give it a go before you purchase.
I am looking forward to Andy's next update of the plugin......
Richard
Blog: http://www.cutandcreativity.co.uk
www.PurplePaperParadise.com
Cutters: Craft Robo, Cricut Expression, and the absolute BEST A BLACK CAT COUGAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My ecraft has firmware version 1.02 and several more complex cuts I've tried just sort of left off pieces of the outline. Could this mean an open path? Also, I created a shadow for a complicated cut and some of the pieces cut out inside didn't end up where they should have been.
These were quite complex cuts, and again i do think it could easily be that the files (I got from free svg blogs) could be the problem, but i wanted to see if anyone else had experienced the same problem.
To check if the problem lays with the svg or with the machine, you best test with a file which you know will cut for sure. I have noticed a few problems importing SVGs - I am using Inkscape and sometimes there is some 'garbage' in the svg files when they are saved. This problem is bigger with some versions of the program and the Inkscape developers are aware of it.
You could check if the svg looks good (contains no open paths) using an svg editor (such as Inkscape, Illustrator or a simple viewer like Irfanview with SVG plugin.
I use an eCraft with firmware 1.02 and have been able to make quite complex cuts
I've made this SVG available on verysimpledesigns.com > cutting files if you'd like to test.
Cheers,
Syllie
http://syllie.com - personal website
Keep an eye on the blue light on the carriage. It is actually a pretty neat feature. The blue like will glow bright if your cut is going all the way through the material.
As for cut placement not being exactly how you see it inside MTC, the issue is when you feed from the tray. If I put a 12x12 paper in the tray then cut, you can see the tray bounce around a bit shifting the paper and sometimes it ends up in the machine crooked. I have no idea how to resolve this as of yet.
To do pen/cut combos, what you need to do is select the pen tool first. After it finishes drawing, the paper will end up sticking out the front when it's finished. Leave the paper as is and then do your cut lines, but this time select the "Front" cutting mode. This should give you the results you are looking for.
http://www.make-the-cut.com/
'It always seems impossible until it's done' -- Nelson Mandela
We, myself and Pam, spent last Sunday promoting this programme at the monthly workshop we go to.
Hopefully we will have a larger Irish based MTC community soon %%- :)