STAINED GLASS SOFTWARE

Does anyone have a recommendation or comment regarding stained glass design
software, i.e. Glasseye? I am a novice hobbyist.

John - as suggested a few years ago you can download full copies of
hte software available and use it for 30 days for free. Just make
sure you can allow yourself the time to play with them and work
through the tutorials to see what the capabilities of the programmes
are and if they are right for you. Many people seem to wait till the
29th day to do this and dont give themselves a fair trial!
I have been using GE2K for a couple of years now and have updated to
the pro+ version this summer and would recommend it as worth the money
if you need to draw up lots of cartoons etc.
For showing potential clients I find it excellent as I can scan in a
black and white sketch or design from another drawing package and then
use the autotrace to get the design on screen quickly and fill with
glass samples, change lead face widths etc to give a fair impression
of what the final panel will resemble. Clients can change colours
easily while making their mind up and are always impressed by the
'experience'.
It also has the ability to work out panel dimensions if you want to
design a panelled lampshade as well as being able to give you an
indication of costings which many people use to decide how much to
charge.

This package looks pretty neat. Tried to find the specs on their
website but couldn't find it - what is the maximum size patterns it
can make?
Bart.

custom compensated banjo bridges,
tabs, stained glass: www.haruteq.com

**may your moments of need be met by moments of compassion**

I dont think there is a maximum size stated - I have been able to draw
designs over 50 feet wide when trying to show clients how various
panels will relate to each other but I didnt try to print it out!
I have printed cartoons for panels measuring several feet by several
feet and stuck the many pages together without distortion.
You could email them and ask - Michael and Mark are always helpful I
have found.

(Elizabeth in UK) wrote in
om:

I dont think there is a maximum size stated - I have been able to draw
designs over 50 feet wide when trying to show clients how various
panels will relate to each other but I didnt try to print it out!
I have printed cartoons for panels measuring several feet by several
feet and stuck the many pages together without distortion.
You could email them and ask - Michael and Mark are always helpful I
have found.


I have plotted windows as large as 12'x 6' on HP roll plotters with
distortion over the full length of less than 1/8" (most likely from the
plotter).

The software is well worth the money if you like to use the computer. I
still use hand cartoons for some of the simple stuff though.

The new pro version has an auto tracing function that is fairly good when
you need to capture stuff like stock bevel clusters or line art. It is
also nice to ba able to quickly resize a pattern. I have used this on
more than one occasion when my client changed frame styles after the art
was done. I just shrunk everything proportionally 2". (Beware- don't
scale all when using stock bevels or other fixed design elements)

Regards,
G^2


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I wish GE had printer support for cad printers. That's there only downfall.
Scotch taping a bunch of sheets together gets tiring.
Liam

GE doesn't compare favorably with professional illustration software
packages or or even basic CAD packages, Liam. Its got plenty of downfalls.

"Liam Striker" wrote in message
news
I wish GE had printer support for cad printers. That's there only
downfall.
Scotch taping a bunch of sheets together gets tiring.
Liam

"Liam Striker" wrote in
news
I wish GE had printer support for cad printers. That's there only
downfall. Scotch taping a bunch of sheets together gets tiring.
Liam




I use B size and Roll plotters all the time with GE. It uses whatever
you can find a windows driver for. My preference is the HP755cm, but
have plotted to files for output on some big oce' laser plotters at the
local graphics house with no problem.

It is not a CAD program it is for SG design and it does it well in my
opinion. I have and use AutoCAD and CorelDRAW for many other purposes.
They are both way overkill for SG work. In addition, they are not as
fast or convienient in my opinion. I like having a lead line that I can
turn the face on and off. I like being able to color with glass. I like
the idea of having it auto count pieces and calculate sqr. in. of each
glass. There is much more I like... Lamp patterns with automatic
deductions for the angles (lamp wizard) and more.

Just my two cents.

Regards,
G^2


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interesting. GE used to only support 11x17. Must be new for ge2000. Off
to ebay now to find a plotter

Liam

"G^2" wrote in message
...
"Liam Striker" wrote in
news
I wish GE had printer support for cad printers. That's there only
downfall. Scotch taping a bunch of sheets together gets tiring.
Liam

I use B size and Roll plotters all the time with GE. It uses whatever
you can find a windows driver for. My preference is the HP755cm, but
have plotted to files for output on some big oce' laser plotters at the
local graphics house with no problem.


I email glasseye printer files (B size) to Kinko's (local 24hour copy/print
shop) and have them print several copies and laminate one of them for me.
Works well, is cost effective, and I don't need to find space for yet
*another* printer in my somewhat cluttered apartment. :-) Kinko's supports
a file type of "kdf" which I suspect is their proprietary version of a "pdf"
file.