# Bounding box, signcut and illustrator problem.



## SeasonEnds (Sep 9, 2007)

Ok, I've searched the forums but can't find an answer that works. First off, I rarely use Illustrator and am just now getting into it because of my vinyl cutter. Here's my problem:

I am creating a vinyl sticker for my cutter in Illustrator. It includes some type, which is not a problem because I tell Illustrator to Create Outlines for the type and all is well. 

I found an image online that was a JPEG. I heavily modified it and would now like to place it in Illustrator to vectorize it. 

I put it in Illustrator and go to live trace, which seems to work fine. I get great results. The only problem is a bounding box remains around my image. I can't ungroup it or de-select it or anything else. I am able to get the image to look right in the overall design in Illustrator, however.

When I send the total image to Sign Cut and I go to preview, it shows me that it is going to cut the bounding box. This destroys my final product. The question is: How do I remove the bounding box? Am I missing a step? Is the image not really vectorized? Any help is greatly appreciated!


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## BRC (Mar 27, 2007)

I am not familiar with Signcut, but in Flexisign there is an uncompound and an unmask command. One of these usually will seperate the box and you will be able to remove it.


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## baddjun1 (Aug 5, 2009)

In Illy, click the triangle next to the JPEG layer that will show the JPEG layer below. Click on it, select the JPEG on the canvas then go to Object/Live Trace Options, select the color options then click Trace. Click Object/Live Trace/Make.

Hope this helps as I did it just yesterday.


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## SeasonEnds (Sep 9, 2007)

Going to live trace / make doesn't solve the cutting problem. The bounding box still remains around the image. 

I figured it out, however, and it is related to tracing. Once you place an image and live trace it, you have to expand it. Once you expand it, you can ungroup and delete the background color you don't need. Now I won't have problems cutting the design.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. This forum is a great place!


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## eprint247 (Sep 28, 2012)

I have a black logo of a crescent...How do i create just the outline and remove the bounding box for flexi sign?? Its driving me mad!!!!


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## tcrowder (Apr 27, 2006)

eprint247 said:


> I have a black logo of a crescent...How do i create just the outline and remove the bounding box for flexi sign?? Its driving me mad!!!!


When you send to the cutter, deselect the color white from the colors to cut. This should solve the problem. If this does not work, e-mail the file to me and I'll see if I can remove it. Easier to do than explain sometimes.


Terry @ CCDepot.com


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## eprint247 (Sep 28, 2012)

tcrowder said:


> When you send to the cutter, deselect the color white from the colors to cut. This should solve the problem. If this does not work, e-mail the file to me and I'll see if I can remove it. Easier to do than explain sometimes.
> 
> 
> Terry @ CCDepot.com


How do i deselect the colour in flexi sign?


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## tcrowder (Apr 27, 2006)

eprint247 said:


> How do i deselect the colour in flexi sign?


I use LXi which is the generic of Flexi. This is how you deselect a color in the cut manager.

Open your design in Flexi, click the send to cutter button. When the plotting manager opens, click the tab I have highlighted. Then click on the cutter symbol next to the color you DO NOT want the cutter to cut.


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