# Which Rhinestone software are you using?



## cubamex (Apr 1, 2013)

I just got coreldraw x6 and now looking to dive into a Rhinestone software. I looked through the post of "the list of Rstone systems". Need an update on the current one folks are using.

I've been following TRW Stone wizard but I haven't seen any comments on that program.

I'm a noob coming into this. Can you please recommend a rstone software that is up to date and current with the times. 

Thanks,


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## gtrayler (Sep 8, 2010)

I am in the same boat exactly. I have a GX-24.


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## mesewsatx (Aug 4, 2007)

The TRW Stone Wizard is amazing. Matt has also make lots of videos to explain every function. I would suggest looking at the videos first, but for my money it is the best thing out there.


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## nycmerch (Mar 29, 2009)

cubamex & Gtaylor... 

I have seen and or tried all the different options for Rhinestone Add-ons. R-Stones, DrawStones, All the Wizards and Easy Stone. I have purchased all the stand alone programs too... I would suggest sticking with CorelDraw and using Easy Stone for a variety of reasons. 

1. First and Foremost they have a FREE Full Working... Unrestricted Demo... that is how confident they are in their product which I think is awesome... try before you buy. None of the other macros have a free demo. 

2. The price is only about $150 and worth every penny.

3. Not only do you get the cool Easy Stones Macro... but when you buy the macro you get a 3 month membership to the design of the day membership. Thats like 90 or more designs for FREE. And Im not talking those lame useless designs that you will never use. Im talking awesome and useful designs.

4. Customer Service. Because you are dealing with the programmer directly. 

5. With the tools in Easy Stone you can edit pre-designed purchased from any vendor. Not only can you do the basic change color and size of stones... But you can clean up some of those sloppy designs out there if you happen to buy them.

6. You can create and export your own TTF Rhinestone Fonts... Where none of the others offer this feature!! Or you can take EPS Fonts from others and create your own type-able TTF font. 

7. One important Feature... Design capability. Lets face it... doing out line of text is easy for any of them to do. Do an contour outline around that text is easy for any of them to do. They all have videos of how to do these simple things. Truth is these features can be done without a macro, so not so impressive right? But for people who dont know it is very impressive when it really is not. So all of the macros can do the basics. But the only one that stands apart and shows you how to do real designing of real world logos or just cool tricks on how to design things is Easy Stone. Easy stone is by far for the rhinestone designer... Simple designs or very detailed... Easy Stone Can Do it. Its a real designer's tool and not some glorified set of tools for button pushers.

8. Useful tools. If you are a user of corel draw then you know ctrl G is for Group... ctrl U is for Ungroup. ctrl C is for copy, Ctrl V is for paste. You know ctrl Z is to undo. Do you really need a buttons on a macro for these? Do you need a button for Copying and Pasting? Do you need a button for undo or redo's? These are all easy key commands and as we know... the more we keep our fingers on our keyboard the faster we are. Dont believe me... take this test: Type a word... after you type the word... stop and grab your mouse, highlight a word and then go up to edit menu... click on copy and then go back to edit and click on paste to paste the word. Now do the same thing with keyboard strokes... type the same word... highlight the word with your mouse then hit ctrl c and ctrl v in succession and how much faster was that? So do you need buttons to click with your mouse as part of a macro? NO!!! thats not real functionality of a macro for rhinestones... because you can do it more efficiently without a wizard or macro.

9. Speaking of keyboard and short cuts... Easy stone happens to be the ONLY macro out there that allows you to assign your own keyboard short-cut to most of the functions!!! This is priceless in saving time. So you want to add stones to a path... create a quick short cut for it. I use ALT S for Add Stones. So its nice and easy and fast.

10. If looking at a stand alone option you have a learning curve. I bought them all... including WINPCSIGN and others and with each there is a different learning curve... and some things and the way things are layed out make absolutely no sense. If you know corel... stick with it.

11. Almost every day there are freebies given to Easy Stone macro users... every week the macro is updated with new features and you are not charged for the upgrades and the price remains the same. Its not even 2 weeks and from what I have seen the Stone Wizard already has gone up in price by $30! and I think they said in one of the videos that they will charge for upgrades at some point. R-Stones has recently gone up in price with its latest release and they charge full price for upgrades. I have easy stone since it first came out version #1. And I have not been charged for upgrades. Easy stone supports its users... the others expect their users to support them financially with the charging for upgrades etc. 

Easy Stone is the choice to make if you want to design rhinestone designs. It works great for easy and complicated designs and there are a lot more benefits over the others. When you buy it you get 90+ free designs over the course of 90 days... at least one design per day... If you priced out the value to $10 - $40 per design (As compared to other sites selling designs)... thats over $2000 worth of designs. The others dont give you that! Even if you used only 10 out of the 90+ designs... that more then pays for the macro. Its a no-brainer. 

So with Easy stones you have what all the others have plus more features... Plus more tools plus you get well more then $150 worth of designs. It should be a very simple decision. If not... download the free trail... give it a whirl yourself. 
http://www.easystonetemplates.com/HTML/store.htm#!/~/category/id=3593116&offset=0&sort=addedTimeDesc

While you are at it... Download some of the freebee designs they offer for FREE. You will see they are better quality then other websites charge a fee for. 

Apples to apples... there's no comparison in my book.

This is not meant as a Rah-Rah session for Easy Stone... as i have spent money on most if not all the options out there. Much of that was wasted money. If I had to do it all again and save myself a couple of grand... I would have corel and easy stones and thats it.

Forget all the above Do a visual test... 

Every Design that Easy Stone has for sale or part of their design of the day program... every one of them was created using Easy Stone. Every design looks professionally done... every one of them is nice and neat. Every one of them was made using their own macro. 

NO ONE ELSE CAN SAY THE SAME! 

Look at the design quality of other rhinestone placements in the other's designs. Stones out of whack, things not symmetrical, etc. rough edges, un-even straight lines, uneven curves etc. If their programs, macros or add-ones were so good, why are they not using their own tools for designing? Then ask yourself even with using other design software and tools... why are their designs not as good as Easy Stones Designs? You are only as good as the tools you have to work with. Enough Said!!

Hope this helps!!!


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## cubamex (Apr 1, 2013)

Awesome breakdown. Love the detail in your reply . Thanks for the advice going to DL demo here shortly


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## mesewsatx (Aug 4, 2007)

I've always been bothered by vendors (will remain unnamed) who not only tout the advantages of their products but bash others so will give the trial a go, but I have been very happy with Stone Wizard, was using the editor before the entire program came out so am comfortable with it. Easy Stone/Stone Wizard are in the same price range - one that I can afford. I do agree with the advantage of using keyboard shortcuts , but there are also a wide range of users some with more experience and some with less. Any good program needs to be geared to all levels of users.


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## brndagayle (Oct 29, 2009)

Hi Marian and others, nycmerch is not an Easy Stone vendor -- just an Easy Stone user like I am. I agree with a lot of what he has said about Easy Stone but I believe in educating people about the benefits of the software I like and letting people make the comparisons themselves. People need information to make informed decisions. I don't want to talk negatively about other software because I believe there are good things to be said about a lot of the rhinestone programs/macros. 

I'll say just two things comparing the two Corel Draw Macros that have been compared the most above:

1. Easy Stone has a GREAT rhinestone simulation feature that I don't believe
the Stone Wizard has. HOWEVER, the Stone Wizard has a really nice mock up
feature that Easy Stone doesn't have.

2. Easy Stone has been around for 2 years now and is on version 3, where
the Stone Wizard has only been around a few weeks.

Other things I like about Easy Stone (other than what has been mentioned above:

1. I do the majority of my work on my laptop so I really, really appreciate the small interface that Easy Stone has. I don't mind at all putting forth a little effort to learn the available shortcuts so that I gain more screen real estate. that's REALLY important to me. Plus, if I need to move Easy Stone out of the way to get even more screen real estate, it has a minimize button to help me do that. YAY!!

2. Easy Stones comes with 100 rhinestone designs ready to go and 20 typeable rhinestone fonts so even if you never used the macro it's still a great value.

3. Easy Stone has a fully functional demo version that I was able to try out before I gave up my hard-earned money. Not only that, but there are a ton of free videos that are available to help me take advantage of having that fully functional demo. I don't know about you, but I'm tired of spending money on rhinestone software/macros only to be disappointed and regret having spent the money I did.

Anyway, that's my two cents.


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## nycmerch (Mar 29, 2009)

mesewsatx said:


> I've always been bothered by vendors (will remain unnamed) who not only tout the advantages of their products but bash others so will give the trial a go, but I have been very happy with Stone Wizard, was using the editor before the entire program came out so am comfortable with it. Easy Stone/Stone Wizard are in the same price range - one that I can afford. I do agree with the advantage of using keyboard shortcuts , but there are also a wide range of users some with more experience and some with less. Any good program needs to be geared to all levels of users.



Allow me to reply:

1. For the record... I am not a vendor... nor do I sell anything to do with designing rhinestone designs. I am a user... A user that tried almost all the stand alone and add on options out there and spent a couple of $1000 not knowing what is good or not. So I have no financial or other benefit in recommending any program or addon. 

2. There was no vendor bashing.... My reply is my opinion... just as yours is your opinion. My opinion is based on my sole experience with multiple products... from all different vendors. What I purchased... or what I tried.

3. My opinion is that Easy Stone with Corel Draw is the best thing out there currently for designing rhinestones designs. I bought WinPCSign, I bought New Era, I bought Bling-it, I bought R-Stones, I bought DrawStones, I tried the Oobling demo. So I have vast experience across many of the stone designer tools out there. And that this is what I based my opinion on.

4. No, I have not tried Stone Wizard... I would love the opportunity to but there is not a free demo available.  But I have seen all the videos made about the features... and there are a couple of features that are good like the mock-up... but I cant really justify spending yet more money for a add-on just for the mock-up feature... To me the stone simulation or Create Font Tool in easy stone is far more valuable in my opinion. Mock-ups can be done very easily and with better appearance in corel, photoshop, winpcsign or just about any other graphic program... so do I think its enough to spend another $180 on it? Or the $30 difference? No... not for me.

5. Now I have watch just about every video made for the Stone Wizard... Every Video for Easy stones as I have watch many videos of many of the others. To me... a lot of the features of the macros are very similar to each other. But feature for feature... if you made a list of features there are a lot more designing features built into easy stone then there are on any other macro... and there are more coming all the time. Some of their tools have 3-4 functions for the single button... just by using alternate keys or clicks... you get different tool actions. So there is a lot more functionality built in. I dont see that on any other software or macro.... if im mistaken.. please point it out to me. I would love to see if there is a really a better way to do things.

6. To me, I think the end results is ultimately whats most important. What is the end result that can be created using the tool or software, and that helps me as a consumer decide what is good for me. Why do any of invest in rhinestone software over cutting holes in material manually with an exacto knife? It helps us do our jobs better, easier and faster. So looking at the final result of what the software can do helps us decide what to go with right? If money was not an object... would you choose that Paint program that comes with windows or would you get photoshop? Your saying photoshop? Why? because the features are better and ultimately more powerful allowing you to do more things right?

With that in mind... look at the many videos that were produced for all tools, software, macros out there. Which one out of them all shows the most elaborate designs being done with their product? Which one has the most features specifically for rhinestones? Not Coreldraw featur buttons like copy group and nudge... but actual Rhinestone design fuctions? Which is constantly updated with new rhinestone design features? In my opinion it is easy stone hands down.

So this is not about bashing. I did not say any program is bad or that they should not get this or that program or addon. I basically spelled out differences that are not so obvious until you spend money on them... and not having free trials can cause that to happen... spending money on something that may not be right for you. 

Im not married to Easy Stone, Coreldraw or any product. I tried almost all of them. Just looking for what I think is the best solution. If something comes out better then Easy Stone... I will get that and use it. 

You said for your money the Stone Wizard is the best out there. Thats great. But thats all you said. I would love to hear what makes Stone Wizard or any other product for that matter stand apart... what makes it the 'BEST" in your opinion? I would really be interested in knowing. If there are some really awesome benefits Im missing that the videos are not showing... please share it with us all and I will be happy to buy it if it is in fact better.

But as of right now for my money... CorelDraw and Easy Stone is the best option out there to Design with. If I want a Push Button CorelDraw functions tool... then yes... Stone Wizard would be the best for that... although I think i'd buy a $20 corel draw tips and tricks book or cheat sheet for $5 and learn all the short cut keys. 

Bottom line is that we all use and make referrals for products we like. Some make bad reviews and complain about products they dont like.

I did not say I did not like anything... I did say that Easy Stone is the best for rhinestones as a macro in my opinion and better then the others. So there's no bashing. Its my opinion.


Oh as for pricing: 

Stone Wizard $180.

Easy Stone is $150 
and that comes with over $1000 worth of Free Rhinestone Designs.

That is not in the same price range as you mentioned.
Easy Stone's purchase price is $30 less... which makes it even more affordable then Stone Wizards.
Not to mention the 90+ free designs that have a value of over $1000.

Finally... For the record.... I am a current and active customer of the vendor for the Stone Wizard. But just because I like them does not mean I cant like another products or vendors. It also does not mean I have to like and think every product they put out is the best. There are some products that they have that are great for me.. some not so great. That does not make them bad and it does not mean Im bashing anyone. Just sharing my opinion in response to someone looking suggestions for a good software solution for rhinestones using corel draw. In my opinion the best solution out there currently... with all things taken into account is Easy Stone.


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## serdnaclsg87 (Dec 8, 2011)

I use rStones 2, works great for me.


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## valleyboy_1 (Jan 23, 2010)

Where do y'all buy easy stone?


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## cubamex (Apr 1, 2013)

nycmerch said:


> Allow me to reply:
> 
> 1. For the record... I am not a vendor... nor do I sell anything to do with designing rhinestone designs. I am a user... A user that tried almost all the stand alone and add on options out there and spent a couple of $1000 not knowing what is good or not. So I have no financial or other benefit in recommending any program or addon.
> 
> ...


Thanks again.


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## nycmerch (Mar 29, 2009)

valleyboy_1 said:


> Where do y'all buy easy stone?


You can try or buy it from their website: Rhinestone Templates Made Easy with Easy Stone - Macro


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## nycmerch (Mar 29, 2009)

brndagayle said:


> Hi Marian and others, nycmerch is not an Easy Stone vendor -- just an Easy Stone user like I am. I agree with a lot of what he has said about Easy Stone...
> 
> 3. Easy Stone has a fully functional demo version that I was able to try out before I gave up my hard-earned money. Not only that, but there are a ton of free videos that are available to help me take advantage of having that fully functional demo. I don't know about you, but I'm tired of spending money on rhinestone software/macros only to be disappointed and regret having spent the money I did.


Exactly!! Unless another rhinestone design option comes out that proves that its better... not just new... but actually gives me more then what I got and he end results are better... why waste more money? 

If I started new... I would look at videos of the designs demonstrated with the software. I would compare what the vendors or others do with those designs. 

Straightening out a couple of stones can be done without a macro.... so that does not impress me. I want something that is for Rhinestone Design.

If there is something better out there... show me a video of it... give me a demo. Im open minded!!


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## nycmerch (Mar 29, 2009)

serdnaclsg87 said:


> I use rStones 2, works great for me.



Serd... Did you upgrade to the latest version? What do you think of it? is it a let better then the previous version? I would be interested in hearing your feedback on it.

Thank you


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## mesewsatx (Aug 4, 2007)

I downloaded the demo and tried it (after it crashed Corel once)and still think I will stick with Stone Wizard. I've been using it for a while and am very comfortable with it. I can make a center-line font in corel and place stones along that path. It is easy to remove and edit the overlaps. I like the fact I can cut templates grouped by color and just push a button to have the cutter do a double cut plus to make sure it weeks easily (like butter ;-) I love the mock-up with my logo on it and the new feature that lets me add a watermark to the mock-up. I love the 2 color fonts from TRW and just have to push one button to add them to a design. Thank goodness there are different options for all of us as none of us work or think in the same way. Competition keeps the prices down and meets all our various needs.


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## nycmerch (Mar 29, 2009)

Here is some new information.

Easy Stone just released another beta version today... beta #5... which features some new features and fixed the crash issue some may have.

There is also a new beta version scheduled to be released on Saturday with a new Glitter Fill feature to help make doing heat press vinyl designs and mock-ups for our customers. You can see more about it here:

Easy Stone

This is yet another cool feature that none of the macros or stand alone options have!!


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## nycmerch (Mar 29, 2009)

mesewsatx said:


> I downloaded the demo and tried it (after it crashed Corel once)and still think I will stick with Stone Wizard. I've been using it for a while and am very comfortable with it. I can make a center-line font in corel and place stones along that path. It is easy to remove and edit the overlaps. I like the fact I can cut templates grouped by color and just push a button to have the cutter do a double cut plus to make sure it weeks easily (like butter ;-) I love the mock-up with my logo on it and the new feature that lets me add a watermark to the mock-up. I love the 2 color fonts from TRW and just have to push one button to add them to a design. Thank goodness there are different options for all of us as none of us work or think in the same way. Competition keeps the prices down and meets all our various needs.


Sorry it crashed for you... you may want to contact the website for help in getting it up and running. There is always a chance of things having issues with adding macros to corel... all of the macros out there can have issues. Some have issues with easy stones until its worked out some have problems with stone wizard and r-stones until they are worked out. Thats the key... work out the issues and give it a try.

Features... Yes... All the features you mentioned... including the double cut... cutting colors etc... all cool features... and features of Easy Stone too. Some new features released today and even more coming on Saturday including Glitter Fills!! 

The 2 color font thing is pretty cool, so is the font finder... but I heard from another user that it does not work with anything but TRW fonts... Is that true? That would be something I personally would frown upon as I have many 2 color fonts from different vendors. I personally dont want to be limited to one vendors fonts in order to use a design feature. So hopefully that is not the case.

Easy Stones font finder can be used with virtually any vendors fonts. And if you create your own rhinestone fonts using Easy Stone... it will work with those newly created fonts too. Now thats cool. 

Another really cool feature of Easy Stone is the ability to simulate rhinestones on your design to show your customer. Thats where the design is not just colored dots... but they look like actual rhinestones in your mock-ups you send to the customer. That is a huge feature I absolutely love. very professional looking proofs for the customer to see... helps then get a better visual on what the design will look like. You can add Bling or a bit of sparkle with a click of button to the simulated rhinestones to give more depth to them.

So there's some plus and minuses for each of us. 

Get Easy Stone Working on your system... ask them for help if need be and they will do a screen share with you and get you up and running. play with it and give it a chance. 

Give it a fair chance... you may just like it. 

And if not... you got the Stone Wizard.  

Much Success To You!!


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## nycmerch (Mar 29, 2009)

cubamex & gtaylor...

Here are two awesome features I love about Easy Stones... Which no other macro has. You may think these are very useful. 

The Intersections is one that you will probably use on every single design... rather then doing it and then hitting a button to merge over lapping stones and then have to manually tweak a couple of stones to make it look all nice and neat... you can click one button for the macro to recognize intersections, then when you add stones it adds the stones nice and neat with no overlaps or need to clean up overlaps and no tweaking! That's huge time saver. Take a look:

Automatic Intersections:
Easy Stone


I mentioned about creating rhinestone fonts... very useful. Can also be used for converting EPS fonts. I like using this feature on older fonts that I purchased that are dont done so well. I use the tools in easy stone to correct the old font, be it a TTF or EPS... then simply export the new clean-up perfect font.

Creating Rhinestone Fonts:
Easy Stone

No other add-on macro out there has these 2 features.... and there are lots of others!!


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## serdnaclsg87 (Dec 8, 2011)

nycmerch said:


> Serd... Did you upgrade to the latest version? What do you think of it? is it a let better then the previous version? I would be interested in hearing your feedback on it.
> 
> Thank you


I did upgrade from the previous version, and for the most part it works the same for me. I don't have experience with the other software solutions that are available but I'm pretty sure that it boils down to you tweaking the final design to how you like it anyway.


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## nycmerch (Mar 29, 2009)

Serd... thank you for your reply. I was wondering if there were any new features that would justify the upgrade. 

I think we all look for the one click solution to a complete and perfect fonts and design conversion. Just not possible.  Gotta find the tools we are comfortable with to help us do it. 

Thanks again for your polite reply.


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## cubamex (Apr 1, 2013)

thanks fellas,

Great information i'll research and make my decision soon.


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## nycmerch (Mar 29, 2009)

You're welcome.

FYI... this was posted today about the Stone Wizard: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rXD4B9bdvOs#at=39

Fast forward to 8:15 - They talk about they will be charging for upgrades!! And it sounds like they will be raising the price again to $199... as they mentioned if you already have $199 invested and the upgrade is only $30 all you pay is $30... but a new person will pay the full price ($199 + $30) So what if you bought it today at $179... does that mean that $30 upgrade now just turned into a $50 upgrade to make it the same $229 program... so its fair and even like they mentioned so every user pays the same price? If you paid $159 when it first came out... They raised their price to $179. And it soulds like they will raise again to $199. If their next $30 upgrade comes out... will that mean the users who paid $159 will now have to pay $70 for the upgrade to keep the pricing the same for all users? If not then it is not fair and even like thay are claiming... so if you bought in early... you still pay in the long run if you want the added features. Too much to figure out... And where does it end?

8:40 they state: "We dont want to gouge you for prices or upgrades... you just pay that minimal fee for that upgrade." 

May not be gouging in regards to the legal definition... but definitely not fare to their crew!!


With Easy Stone... pay one price $150!!
Plus 90+ Designs Free!
Plus A Bunch of Free Rhinestone Fonts!

Just released a new upgrade the other day... no extra cost.
Releasing new MAJOR features in the next couple of days... no extra cost.

Why deal with pricing games and upgrade fees?

Just something else to think about in the decision process.


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## nycmerch (Mar 29, 2009)

FYI...

New Major Upgrade with new Features:

Enhanced Watermaks - Full control of watermarks for mock-ups. Including adding text, images, you can control color, rotation angle, transparency etc. You can have the watermark behind the design or on top of the design. You can also select the size of the watermark. Lots of control and cool features. 


Proof Sheet with Mock-Ups - An awesome in depth tool to create proof sheets for your customers or to create a marketing book if you do trade shows etc. 

There a lot more features to come... and Still only $150!!!

Take a peek here:
Easy Stone

Pretty Cool if you ask me.


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## cubamex (Apr 1, 2013)

nycmerch said:


> FYI...
> 
> New Major Upgrade with new Features:
> 
> ...



SOLD... just have to get my x6 64bit to run 32bit. I've contacted them, quick response by the way.


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## nycmerch (Mar 29, 2009)

I had to do the same thing. Basically install a 32 bit version... and then install easy stones. Kevin should be able to assist you if necessary. Im sure you will see that you made the right decision. The macro can do so much more then anything else out there... and Kevin and his team is adding more to it all the time.

happy designing!


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## valleyboy_1 (Jan 23, 2010)

I want to do glitter vinyl and rhinestones combined.


Blood, Sweat, and Vinyl Cutters!


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## brndagayle (Oct 29, 2009)

Well you are in luck and have hit the jackpot if you are wanting to design with rhinestones AND glitter in the same design. Easystonetemplates.com has either released already or will be releasing in the next day or so a new version of EasyStone that allows you to do just that.

Take a look at these videos and I think you will be very pleased:


Easy Stone (New Glitter Fill Function)

and this one

Easy Stone (Cheer Multi Deco Project)


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