# whats the significance of having a vinyl cutter with an optic eye vs. on with out???



## sunra1081 (Aug 8, 2009)

im having a hard time understanding the significance of having a vinyl cutter with an optic eye(like i think the roland gx-24), so i'm asking for a few people to tell me what are some (or all) of the things that i wouldn't be able to do with a vinyl cutter without an optic eye???


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## princessracer (May 31, 2009)

Okay, so i'm a little rusty on the terms but it could be a couple of things.. 

1- Optical eye is used for measuing 
2- Optical eye is used to read registration marks.. so say, you have a vinyl printer.. you print something, and then you take it to your cutter and it cuts it out via the registration marks that the printer printed. 

Its nice to have just incase you do expand.


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## SandyMcC (Jul 23, 2009)

The optic eye process works something like this. You have an image... say a color clipart .jpg image that you want to cut out. You import it into the software and trace it (either auto-trace it or manually trace it) so that you have a vector version for cutting aligned with the colored image you will be printing. Now the vector tracing might cut it right along the border of the image or you might expand the cut (contour cut) so that there's a white border cut around your image... like a "sticker" OR you might just want to cut another shape altogether around the image... just a rounded rectangle with the printed image in the middle. It all depends on your particular application. 

Before printing the image, registration marks are added to the outside of the image. See the attached photo below. After printing, the printout is placed into the cutter and the optic eye will be sent to scan the printout and locate the registration marks so that it then knows where to make the cut.

Some cutters, like the ACS line of cutters, have a laser alignment light instead of an optic eye. In this case, the laser light is manually moved to the dead center of each reg mark (see second screen shot, where "+" signs are used). Once the little red laser dot is over the center, you click on Set Position in the ACS software and then move the light to the next reg mark and repeat. Then the cutter knows where to cut the image.

The advantage of the optic eye is that it's automatic and fast... when it works. The disadvantage is that it doesn't always work... kind of like how a grocery store scanner might fail four times in reading a bar code before it suddenly CAN read it. The other disadvantage is that optic eyes don't normally work on colored papers or clear vellum. You need the marks printed on white paper, vinyl, or cardstock. 

The advantage of a laser alignment light is that it will always work because you are manually moving the beam to the reg marks. However, you need to be diligent about accuracy, thus it takes longer and requires your involvement in the process.

Back to the vinyl cutter application: some people make decals on printable vinyl. For example, one of my customers owns a jewelry business targeted to young girls. Here's a link to show the jewelry they make and sell and he uses a manual print and cut method to cut the printed vinyl decorations designed by his wife in Photoshop:

http://www.lillyplum.com

These are about 3/4" in size, so he can fit a lot on one sheet of vinyl that he runs through his ordinary ink jet printer and then cuts all at one time.


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## sunra1081 (Aug 8, 2009)

i appreciate that response sandymcc. i really do, but my question is what are some(,or all) of the things that you can do with the optic eye feature that you can't do without it, or rather what is the real need??? see the thing is i'm ready to buy my first heat press, printer, and corel draw software, and i would really like to purchase a vinyl cutter as well, but im seeing some for $300 to $500 and im seeing some for like 1200 to $1600(with the optic eye). i can't really afford all the above and a $1600 vinyl cutter right now so im tring to figure out should i buy the $400 one or should i wait until i can afford the (say) gx-24 and the only way i feel i'll be able to make that decision is if i know what the limitations will be????


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## SandyMcC (Jul 23, 2009)

As far as I know, the only reason you would need the optic eye is just as I explained. Do you think you'll ever need to cut around an image that has been printed first? That is the purpose of having it. If not... then you'll be fine getting a vinyl cutter that doesn't have that feature.


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## texasmoma (Jul 12, 2009)

you can still contour cut on pre-printed artwork without an optic eye or laserpoint....by aligning the STARTING POINT of the cutter with the TOP-LEFT CORNER of your artwork.

that's another option if not having a optic will decrease the price of the cutter you are looking for.


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## sjidohair (Apr 9, 2008)

Abdul,
It is my understanding that a optical eye helps you with regsitration marks so you can contour cut. Some have a laser alignment and some have a optical eye,
Example
you have made a transfer out of Jpss or Iron all or something similar, and istead of cutting everything out with a scissor you do not want left behind on the shirt,, with the oprical eye, you can have your cutter remove all the area you do not want to show up on the shirt.. 
I hope this helps,
Sandy jo
MMM


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## sunra1081 (Aug 8, 2009)

> sjidohair said:
> 
> 
> > Abdul,
> ...


yes that helps, but im tring to find out if i can do the same thinngs with out the optical eye??? like trim designs, or or print designs through the cutter as there being cut,or anything else that the optical eye(or laser) is designed to do??? in other words are these vinyl cutters with the optical eyes a necessity or a luxury???


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## SandyMcC (Jul 23, 2009)

If you are planning to cut out printed shapes with a certain amount of accuracy, they are a necessity. You just cannot manually align for accurate cutting without either an optic eye, laser light, or an alignment pin. And the software needs to also have the functionality to know how to handle the information once the three registration marks are identified. Note that part of this reg process is to account for printer inaccuracy as well. For example, lets say I have have four squares on my screen and I have them situated so that each one is 1" from the top, bottom, left and right sides of an 8.5" x 11" page. When I print them on my printer, and then physically measure the distances from the outside edges, I might find they print at 1.08", .98", 1.04", and .95" or whatever. I actually did a test like this myself and that's exactly what I found... the printed boxes were off... and not even in a consistent manner. That's why you need those reg marks around the outside borders of your overall printout so that the software can best determine exactly where your images have been printed. 

Now, if you can afford to have the cutting be, say, 1/8" off, then you can forgo getting an optic eye or a laser light. But most users need it to be more like 1/32" inch and that's where you'll need an alignment device of some kind. 

Note that not all cutters with alignment devices are expensive! You can find them for less than $1000.


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## mrdavid (Sep 14, 2007)

I have had my laser point 24 from uscutter for over year now and still cant get it to contour cut right and it is laser or may be I am to fussy, now I am looking at new cutter with the eye and wish I would have done this the first time...


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## mrdavid (Sep 14, 2007)

Craft ROBO Pro is at good price and for what I need this is the one I am thinking of getting


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## jrsamwel (Apr 28, 2009)

Anybody with GCC AAS11 driver for Coreldraw X4 or FlexiSIGNPRO.for my PUMA 3,please I need that file to install I cannot reach my distributor.Any help is greatly appreciated.


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## freebird1963 (Jan 21, 2007)

texasmoma said:


> you can still contour cut on pre-printed artwork without an optic eye or laserpoint....by aligning the STARTING POINT of the cutter with the TOP-LEFT CORNER of your artwork.
> 
> that's another option if not having a optic will decrease the price of the cutter you are looking for.


Hello
Interested in how this works ? My USCUTTER MH-721 doesn't have a optical and and would love to be able to contour cut .

Thanks
Mark


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