Postby brynn » Fri Jan 13, 2017 5:56 am
I can't imagine what kind of sign you might have in mind. If you could show us the photo, and tell us what you want to do with it, we can point you to the specific tools and techniques you'll need. Or if you can't show us, at least describe with some detail. For example, what is in the photo, and which parts of the photo you want to use.
But for what little I can imagine, you may be trying to jump to intermediate Inkscape skills. So there will be a learning process (which is where Maestral is leading you, I'm guessing).
If you were just thinking of text for the sign, that should be easily do-able by a newbie. But since there's a photo involved, it must be more than text?
Before you get too far along, I assume you're sure that Inkscape can produce the kind of file that your machine can accept? You mentioned sending a PNG to your machine. And that makes me wonder why you're using Inkscape. PNG files, as well as photos (which are usually JPGs) are both raster graphics formats. Inkscape is a vector graphics editor. The difference between raster and vector is hard for many newbies to understand. But it's an important difference that often guides the most basic decisions that you need to make, when you start a new project.
There are many differences, but the point that you need to understand the most, is that raster graphic images are made with colored pixels. The pixels are tiny squares which make up what you see on the screen. If you zoom in on the photo far enough, you can see them (although if you do that with Inkscape, you would need to change some display settings). The only way to edit a raster image, is to change the color of the pixels. The pixels can't move, because they are....well, this is a simple, and probably not accurate way of saying it, but they are part of the screen.
The parts of a vector graphic image are not tied to the pixels. Some parts of a vector image are paths, groups, shapes, and many others. But paths....well, at least I think of paths as being the defining feature of vector graphics. Any object in a vector image can be moved around on the screen.
Usually, these cutting machines require a vector image, specifically vector paths. The machine actually cuts along the paths. I think some machines can take a raster image and convert it to paths before it cuts, but I'm not positive about that. So since you're a newbie, I wanted to make sure you understand that, and make sure you check the machine's documentation, so you can produce the correct type of file.
Anyway, after we know more about what you want to do, we can point you to info about the specific things you'll need.
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