Making a trapezoidal shape for vinyl cutting

Hello Everyone,

I am the newest of the newbies here, trying to use Corel Draw to make the artwork for my Roland Stika vinyl cutter. 

My first project is very simple - a trapedzoid with 1/8" thick solid lines.  I can draw it using a variety of methods (Bezier, freehand, welding corners), but there is always some little flaw that affects the final drawing - for example, combining the freehand lines left a  cutout step at the outside each corner, where I am thinking the center of the line intersected the center of the other line.

For this project, I need crisp inside and outside intersections.  If anyone can point me in the right direction I would sure appreciate it!  I have played around with the program for a couple of days and I am feel like I am missing something very fundamental.

Thanks in advance for your time

Kurt

 

 

  • Hi.

    Make a rectangle, and convert to curves. Click on an outer node with the shape tool. Start dragging, then hold ctrl to keep it aligned.

    Then add a .125 contour to the final shape.

    -John

    • Thank you very much!  I was able to create the shape I needed with your instructions.  For future reference, is  there a way to precisely locate the four corner using coordinates, or can you only drag to form the shape?

      Thank you very kindly for your help!

       

      Kurt