Cut Marks, Crop Marks, Bleeds. My head hurts...

**jimhanus** · 26 February 2010, 07:48 PM

I'm producing a 4" circular sticker that will be printed on vinyl and cut out to the outside edge of the 4" circle. I'm supposed to supply cut/crop marks (are they the same thing?) on the exported pdf but can't figure out how. I've searched the forum and a lot of it refers to XX5 Pro so I downloaded the trial version with the imagesetting options. I still can't figure out how to make crop marks so only the circle is cut out. Could someone explain it in simple terms, or supply a 4" circle with crop marks? If I don't do anything to the file, crop marks appear on the exported pdf but don't appear to be in the correct place. So something is telling the file where to place them but I don't see how. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Jim

**steve.ledger** · 26 February 2010, 07:52 PM

'Cut' line is generally a simple vector line around the perimeter of the object the cutter needs to plot. Sometimes known as a 'decal-cut'.

In Xtreme, this single line which follows a shape perfectly can be achieved using the contour tool.

See post#2 here:
►http://www.talkgraphics.com/showthread.php?p=325426

**jimhanus** · 26 February 2010, 08:01 PM

sledger,
How does a cutter know that a single line around the perimeter is designated a cut line and not just a line following the perimeter? Do I have to supply them 2 files?

**steve.ledger** · 26 February 2010, 08:10 PM

The cut line usually is named 'cutline' (or whatever the plotting software requires) - this is how the plotter knows.
And yes, the hardware/software I used during my time at the sign shop needed two files. eg: decal.ai and cutline.ai
It can differ of course, based on which software and hardware the sign shop are using, they can advise on this.

**Tao jones** · 27 February 2010, 02:12 AM

I Just did a job that needed cutlines. After a bit of testing it came down to a named colour 'cutline path' and cyan 85. Exported as a PDFX. It would n't work with ordinary PDF settings. It then showed up in his printer software as marching ants....

If you need crop marks you have to go into printer option, imagesetting and apply crop marks before you exporting as PDF. Then in the pdf export box tick the crop mark box. Your page will have to be the right size for the crop marks. Yours is a circle you may not need them just make sure it is aligned to centre of your page....

To make the cutline select your circle make a copy on top crtl K delete the fill of the circle so your are left with just the outline and bring in the outline to where the cutline needs to be.

Get the name and the CMYK colour % the printer uses for their cutline. Create a named colour with that name and colour %. The colour will appear in your colour line, apply this colour to the outline...it should work, tj