A Digital Printing Network
Can't understand something about Corels mirroring
I'm not sure why, but I'm not comprehending something for some reason. It seams like this should make sense, but it's not.
Here's the scenerio...
I have a piece of 12"x24" acrylic that I need to cut 2 shapes out, but I need to raster something on the top. I don't want to burn the tops while cutting the acrylic, so I mirror the shapes that need cutting. After cutting, I flip the piece of acrylic around the same way I mirrored it, put the cut out pieces back in like a puzzle, and then raster the other image on top. This SHOULD align correctly in my eyes, but it doesn't. I don't understand why.
Ex:
Take to items, lets say 2 rectangles(outline red for cutting). then in the top right of each rectangle, put a smiley face(colored black for rastering). Now mirror vertically the 2 rectangles so you can cut from the back. Once cut, flip the whole peice of 12x24 acrylic over vertically and put the pieces back. Now raster the little smiley faces. In my mind they should be rastered in the top right like we placed them in the graphic, but the don't line up correctly.
At first I thought it was because when I mirrored the shapes, I didn't include a 12x24 box around them to simulate the acrylic. I'm asumming that when I mirror the shapes alone, they were be mirrored on the center of the verticle axis so it wasn't accurate. I tested this out by making one big item close to the top edge and 1 small onefar from the bottom edge. Highlighting them both and mirrorroring them should me that they mirror on their axis, so that was one reason I was off.
Then I thought to include the 12"x24" box so it mirrors in the center at 6", that way when I flip the piece of acrylic over, everthing should match. It still didn't work.
I hope this makes sense because my head hurts now. It seams so simple, yet I can't get it to come out like I thought it would.
Any suggestions?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Joseph Tovar on -
Attached is a Corel file that I used as a sample and it still doesn't work correctly. See how the star is close to the top and the polygon is further from the edge on the bottom? If you highlight them both and mirror them they stay in the same spot, but swap places. This was my first problem so I made the 12x24 box. Now select the star, polygon, and box, then mirror them, now this simulates what should really happen when I flip the acrylic over and cut. DON'T select the black dots, only the 3 shapes.
Once cut, select all three items again and mirror them back. See how the black dots in them stay in the same place from which they first started. Now if I select the dots and raster them, they aren't rastering where I thought they would(just like you see in the Corel file). They are actually off, and I'm not sure why. - Attachments:
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SampleProblem.cdr, 10 KB
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Permalink Reply by irving donaldson on -
Not sure - but one thing you can try is to mirror the content which will keep the exterior still and flip the content. I know in doing inlays - you cut one side and flip and cut the inlay to fit.
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Permalink Reply by Steven Jackson on -
Joe,
I agree with Irv. Mirror the whole job and cut and raster from the back. Run it in one shot rather than 2.
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Permalink Reply by Joseph Tovar on
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I can't raster from the back because the acrylic is not transparent. It's a solid black so it has to get rastered on the top. I'll attach an image of the exact item I did for the sample and you'll see what I mean.
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Permalink Reply by Joseph Tovar on
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Attached is a picture of the sample I made. You can't see it, but the front plastic has "melt" spots around and on the front due to the heat. This is why I want to cut from the back. Also, if you notice the little ear piece, it's etched in the front. There has to be an easy way to cut the pieces out from the back, flip the acrylic over and raster the ear piece. I just assumed that I could mirror the graphic, cut it out, mirror it back, flip the acrylic over and it would all align up just fine, but it doesn't.
The second picture is of the back of the frame. This is to show the shape of the item that is being cut out. After it's finished, it's simply taped to the back of the frame.
I hope this all makes sense now. - Attachments:
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TiVoAntFrame1.jpg, 36 KB -
TiVoAntFrame2.jpg, 20 KB
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Permalink Reply by DanielTF3 on -
When vector cutting materials such as Acrylic, its quite risky as they are flammable as you may already know. I use a 40watt laser engraver from Epilog. I have times when i Vector cut through 3-10mm acrylic at 100power and 3% speed 5000frequency. To avoid flaming and damage to the acrylic try laminating or covering the acrylic with adhesive backing paper and spray water over it, i use this method with 10mm acrylic and get perfect results with the 100power flaming the rough edges.
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