Sign Wizard Pro 5
Sign Wizard Pro 5.1 Quick Start Guide
Sign Wizard Pro
Demo Quick Start Guide
Aries Graphics International
365 South Rancho Santa Fe Rd - Suite 200
San Marcos, CA, U.S.A.
Phone (760) 752-7640 Fax (760) 752-3221
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Sign Wizard Pro 5.1 Quick Start Guide
Introduction
Sign Wizard Pro 5.1 is the only signmaking software program that supports vinyl, neon, and wide format color printing.
This document will serve as a guide to show you some of the many benefits that Sign Wizard can offer your sign shop. It is impossible to go through all the program’s capabilities in this brief introduction, but we will cover many of the highlights.
This guide will cover the basics of designing a sign, including entering and editing text, creating distortions and shadows, importing custom graphics, using various design tools, and outputting to a plotter, vinyl cutter, or printer. We will first describe the functions, and then proceed to an exercise to give you direct experience with the software.
Aries Graphics International launched the first version of Sign Wizard in 1991. Since that time we have helped thousands of sign shops around the world be both more creative and more productive. Our software is installed in some of the largest sign shops in the world, some of the smallest garages, and everything in between!
Our software is known to be the easiest to use in the industry, and we’re sure you’ll agree when you finish this guide. You will see how easy and efficient Sign Wizard is to operate. Sign Wizard is able to perform functions in one step that take several steps with competitive software. You will also see how creative you can be as a signmaker and artist with Sign Wizard. The software provides tools that enhance, not dampen, your creativity. Finally, you will see how productive Sign Wizard can make your shop, with its numerous time saving tools.
Sign Wizard comes in five levels to meet your needs and budget. The capabilities of each level are covered in a separate flyer. This demonstration covers some features found in Sign Wizard Pro, our flagship product. With the demo CD, however, you may run the demo version of any of the Sign Wizard levels.
Sign Wizard was designed by second and third generation signmakers in San Diego, California. Aries Graphics International is a family owned company that has been in business for over 12 years. Our pioneering experience in the Computer Aided Signmaking (CAS) market dates back to the early 1980’s.
Thank you for your interest in Sign Wizard, and we hope that this guide will help you evaluate our product. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Aries Graphics International directly or your local sign supply distributor.
Installation
Installing the Sign Wizard Pro demo version will only take a couple of minutes following the instructions below.
When you place the CD into your CD-ROM drive, the following screen should appear automatically. If this screen does not appear automatically, open the Setup file from the CD.
This CD contains demo versions and complete versions of our Sign Wizard and Neon Wizard software, versions 4.1 and 5.1. Click on Try the Demo for Sign Wizard 5.1.
If you already have Sign Wizard 5.0 installed on your computer, and your security key is connected, then you may use this CD to update your previous version by clicking on Install Sign Wizard 5.1.
If you have Sign Wizard 4.1 installed on your computer, and your security key is connected, then you may also use this CD to update your previous version by clicking on Install Sign Wizard 5.1. However, there is a fee for this upgrade and you will be prompted for a password. Please contact Aries Graphics or your sign supply distributor for upgrade information.
After you click on Try the Demo for Sign Wizard 5.1, the following installation dialog box will appear:
Enter the directory where you want the demo installed, making sure that you have enough space on the drive you select. Click on Install Demo.
As part of the installation process, you will be asked to select your plotter/vinyl cutter. Even though you may not create original files and plot/cut them, we have included some sample files so that you can see the excellent output quality of Sign Wizard. Select your plotter/cutter from the list and then hit Continue. If you do not yet have a plotter/cutter, you may select HPGL as the default.
The installation will ask if you want to create a shortcut on your desktop for the Sign Wizard demo, and if you are ready to run the demo. Select Yes for both. Finally, you are presented with an option to select the level for the Sign Wizard demo. Click on Sign Wizard Professional, and this will launch the demo.
Online Help
This document will introduce you to Sign Wizard Pro by going through sample designs illustrating the program's major features. It is not, however, a complete reference manual. For further information at any time, you can press the F1 function key or click on Help to access the online help.
The Help file has a detailed explanation of all the Sign Wizard Pro commands, such as this one for the new Network Plotting feature:
You may also click on the tab called Index, which will provide a complete listing of all Help topics.
When you purchase the complete Sign Wizard Pro software, you will receive the complete User's Guide, along with the 5.1 version addendum, which together describe all of the functions in detail.
This demo version is fully functional, except for the following features which are disabled: plotting/cutting an original file (sample files which can be plotted are included), exporting, cut/copy to the clipboard, and saving. You may print a design at 8.5” by 11”, but a large "X" will be printed across the design.
The Layout Window
The graphic below shows the Sign Wizard Pro Layout Window, as it will look when you first launch the demo.
This window is completely customizable, so that you can set it up according to your unique preferences. The default layout size is 30” by 20" for our sample exercises. Along the left side of the screen is a set of icons for quick access to the most common Sign Wizard Pro functions, and along the top are menu items for the complete set of functions. Along the right side of the screen is the color palette, which enables you to add color to your designs.
Below the menu items are a series of toolbars that provide information about your design and allow you to access certain functions. These toolbars will change depending on what you are doing in the program, so that the relevant options are always easily available. Finally, at the very bottom of the screen, there are brief text messages providing help for the task that you are currently doing in the program.
Before we get started, there are two important features that we will use throughout this guide: Zooming and Undo. Zooming in Sign Wizard is done by simply drawing a box around the selected area while holding down the right mouse button. To zoom back out, hold the mouse still and click the right mouse button once. Undo lets yougo back one or more steps if you make a mistake or simply want to do something different. Press the Backspace key or select Undo from the Edit Menu.
Entering and Manipulating Text
Description
One of the biggest strengths of Sign Wizard is how it handles editing text. Since nearly all of your signs contain some lettering, it is important that your software is fast and efficient in entering and manipulating text.
Sign Wizard lets you enter text directly on the screen or through a dialog box, whichever you prefer. Either way, you have complete control both graphically and numerically.
Once you have text on the screen, there are a number of transformations that you can make with just one click and drag of the mouse. No other signmaking software program lets you do so much with so little effort!
You can perform the following text manipulations with one mouse operation: Scale, Extend, Condense, Adjust Letter Spacing, Rotate, Heighten, and Italicize. By holding down the Shift key, you may also perform the following: Arc Text, Adjust Word Spacing, and Adjust Line Spacing.
Additionally, you can easily access a pop-up menu, which provides even more options such as changing the copy or changing the font.
As you make changes graphically, the numeric Properties of the text are changed accordingly and displayed at the top of the screen. If you change the text numerically, the screen will immediately be updated.
One of the real time savers with Sign Wizard is the animated moving of text and graphics on the screen. This means that you can see exactly what you are doing at all times, instead of having the object disappear as you are trying to edit it. If you are adjusting the letter spacing, for example, the animated moving of the letters helps you to make it perfect.
Exercises
We are now ready to start the first exercise. In the toolbar along the left side of the screen, you will see the Direct Text Entry icon. Click on this icon with the left mouse button, then click again in the workspace. This will give you the blinking cursor for entering text directly on the screen.
Type the text "Sign Wizard" (without quotes) at the default height of 2 inches in the default font Helvetica Medium. When finished typing the text, click on the Layout Tool from the toolbar on the left of the screen.
You will now see the control points around the text, as shown on the previous page. We are going to look at each one, starting with Scale, the control point at the upper right of the text. Click and hold the left mouse button and drag this control point to the right, which will scale up our text to a larger size. Notice that this scaling is animated, so that you can see exactly what your text looks like. Scale the text graphically to about 3 inches in height, then go to the Text Height box at the top of the screen, enter 3 numerically, and then press Enter. This demonstrates how you can adjust the text graphically or numerically.
Now click and drag the middle control point on the right side, which is to Extend/Condense the text. Extend the text by about 10% and release the left mouse button. Now go to the Extend/Condense box, type 110% numerically, and press Enter.
The control point at the lower right of the text is to adjust the Letter Spacing. Click and drag this control point back and forth to the right and left, noticing how the movements of the letters are animated. Release the mouse button when the letter spacing is just about 5% greater than the default. Now enter 5% in the Letter Spacing box and press Enter.
To Rotate the text, the control point on the bottom middle of the lettering is used. Click and drag this point to the left and right to change the rotation, releasing the mouse button at any point you wish. The exact angle will be displayed in the Rotate box. Now we are going to Undo this action by pressing the Backspace key or selecting the Undo command from the Edit Menu. The text should now have 0 in the Rotate box.
Now we are going to Italicize the text using the top middle control point. Click and drag this control point to the right about 15 degrees and release the left mouse button. Now enter 15 in the Italicize box and press Enter.
We have now made five text manipulations, each with just one mouse operation. For exact numeric control, we have also entered numbers for each adjustment, but that is completely optional if it looks right to your design eye. The “Sign Wizard” text should now look like the following (this is saved as Demo1.lyt).
There are several additional changes you can make just as easily, such as changing the font, changing the text, and changing the case. With the text selected, go to the Font List in the upper left of the screen and click on the arrow on the right of the font name, currently Helvetica Medium. A short list of fonts that we have included with the demo will appear (the complete Sign Wizard Pro has 400 fonts). Click on Friz Quadrata to change the font.
Another way to make changes to the selected line of text is from the Text Menu. To change the case of the letters, go to the Text Menu and select Change Case, then scroll down and click on Small Caps. There are several other options for changing the case as well, as you can see in this menu.
The last change we are going to make to the text is to simply change the lettering. Now that we have set the font, letter spacing, italicizing, etc. to our liking, it is easy to edit the copy. Click again on the Direct Text Entry icon, and the flashing cursor will appear at the end of the text. Backspace three times then add a space and type “Pro” so that the text reads “SignWiz Pro” as below. This is saved as Demo2.lyt.
The exercises here are intended to show you some of the easy to use options for working with text, as well as the different ways to complete these functions. Many of the features in Sign Wizard can be accessed in multiple ways, giving you the most freedom to work efficiently according to your style.
There are additional text editing features that you may want to explore in this demo (using the Online Help if necessary), such as Vertical Text Alignment, Arc Text, Spell Checker, Break into Letters, Individual Letter Kerning, Mirror, and more. Here are a few examples:
Distortions and Shadows
Description
Now that we have covered the basic text editing features, it’s time to add some more interesting effects. Just as the text editing features are straightforward and easy to use, the distortions and shadows have Real- Time Animated Previews. This means that you can now get the shadow exactly how you want it before completing the operation. This is a tremendous benefit that saves you time in "trial and error" during the design process.
There are numerous distortions and shadows in Sign Wizard Pro, although we'll only cover a few of them here:
Sign Wizard Pro includes five major categories of Shadows, each with its own set of options. These are the basic Shadow (Drop and Relief), Extruded Shadow, Perspective Shadow, Cast Shadow, and Soft Shadow.
Weld provides the ability to merge text and/or graphics together into one, as in a line of text using a serif font or overlapping graphics.
Warp provides a virtually unlimited set of distortion capabilities; you can easily edit the vectors and points around a line of text or graphic.
Color Blend lets you create a range of color in an object, instead of just a single solid color.
Photomask places a bitmap image onto an object, such that the object is now colored with that bitmap image.
Exercises
For the next set of exercises, we are going to start with the “Sign Wiz Pro” text from the end of the last exercise. Open the file Demo2.lyt by going to the File Menu, and selecting Open. You will see the listing of files in the dialog box. Select Demo2.lyt by clicking on it, and then click on the Open button.
We are first going to look at the Shadows available in Sign Wizard Pro. The shadows have the option of real time previews, and you can create them graphically and/or numerically. Click on the text to select it, then go to the Tools Menu and select Shadow. Another menu will pop up, showing the five shadow options. Click on the first one, simply Shadow.
The shadow dialog box will pop up, showing different options and the numeric values. The text will now have a shadow already placed behind it as a preview.