Vision MaxPro, Operation Manual

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Vision MaxPro 160
© 2006 Vision Engraving Systems
the material. This is a very useful option for plastic engraving. The color display below this
option allows you to specify the palette color for the cut lines.
Use Plate – This is an important option to understand when using multiple plates in Vision
Pro. With this option checked, Vision Pro will create the multiple plates based on the size of
the original sign blank of the master job. This way if you create a 1” x 3” tag, the program
will duplicate the sizes as 1” x 3”, which is usually what is desired. If this option is not
checked, the program will only duplicate the dimensions of the selected objects on the
screen. This can be useful if you are cutting out shapes and do not want to waste material,
or if you have created a toolpath around your plate that extends outside the original plate
borders. The normal option for most users is to leave this option checked on.
Plate Height and Width
– Enter the material size that you will be using to engrave out the
multiple plates in these fields. The dimensions entered here will determine how many plates
Vision Pro will be able to arrange on the engraving material. If you requested more plates
than can be fit on the material size entered, Vision Pro will create additional pages to handle
the total number of plates requested (See “Total Number of Master Plates” on page XXX).
The default value here will be either the size of the original single layout or the size of the
selected Vision engraving table.
If your plates to engrave are precut to size, just leave or set the size to match the layout
size. Vision Pro will automatically create the number of pages to match the number of jobs
you have set in the “Number of copies” field discussed above.
Margins
– This group of values determine how close the nesting of multiples plates will be
placed to the edge of the material. These values are normally left at 0 if you are engraving
metal plates that will be sheared or if you are using precut plates. If you are cutting out
plates using the “Use Score Lines” option, these values should be set to ½ of the width of
the cutter used to cut the plates. For example, if you are using a .060” Cutter/Beveler to cut
out the plates, then enter .030 for all four margin values.
Spacing
– These values control how close each multiple plate is placed next to each other
in the matrix. Again, for metal engraving that will be cut with a shear, these values should
be set to 0. For plastic cutting, enter the actual tip size of the tool used for the cutout. For
the Cutter/Beveler mentioned in the previous paragraph, you would enter .060 for both
horizontal and vertical values.
Compress Equally Over Copies
– This option appears only when Frame Text is used in
the layout. When selected, lines on all plates are supposed to automatically compress to
match the line that compresses the most in the matrix. Ordinarily, each line would compress
based on it’s own length and the margins defined on the plate. This option would cause
lines on each plate to compress to match the percentage of the longest line in the matrix.
Page Preview – This area shows the arrangement of the plates on the material you
specified with the Plate Height and Width parameters. If more than one page is required,
the preview window shows the arrangement on the last page with the remaining plates. If
the preview area is grayed out, then the plate dimensions, margin, and spacing values do
not leave enough room to fit any plates on the material. Recheck your material size and
margin values until you have a visible preview in this window.
The graphics to the left and below the preview window allow you to select if plates are to be
arranged left to right and then top – down (click on the left button), or top – down first and
then left to right (click on the lower button for this option). The last icon in each set shows
how the last plates would be arranged in a multi-page job.