Not quite common knowledge

One of the most common misconceptions many of my customers and other people I speak with have is that you can just cut a file from a jpeg or a bmp file. Nothing could be further from the truth. The type of file that is needed to cut vinyl is called a vector file. Many sign makers out there use various sign making software to accomplish this. Some of the most commonly known are Coreldraw and Adobe Illustrator. I looked up the definition of vector in Wikipedia and it confused even me. A vector in the simplest terms is a measurable object (in inches or centimetres) when drawn. When you enlarge a vector file from a business card size to a billboard size, there is no degradation of the image. Not so even with the highest resolution jpeg. All of the jpegs I get, I have to redraw as a vector file. At times this can be a highly time consuming process. There are some vector tracing programs that work really well but the quality of the trace is highly dependant on the dpi of the image being used. As time goes on I will show some of the basics to creating a vectored drawing, using cutting software, and running a file through the cutter.