Overview
SignMaster Cut is modeled on a standard Graphics User Interface (GUI) that is intuitive and therefore relatively easy to follow. However, being such a large application with a lot of commands there are a number of basics you should become familiar with if you want to get the best possible results form using SignMaster Cut. The following is a general outline of how and where the major elements of the program are and work, which should be read in conjunction with the other pages of this topic. We then encourage you to watch the following tutorial to get a solid grounding in SignMaster Cut.

Commands
SignMaster Cut's tools (commands) are completely dynamic which means they appear and remove (switch on/off) depending on what you are doing in the program at any given point in time i.e. the tools are context sensitive (they automatically react to the current context). Some of the more advanced tools may be hidden from view to avoid overwhelming users with too many tools being available at the same time. To reveal these tools, see Advanced tools below.

Menus and Modules
Both the program's menus and modules (dialog boxes) which open and close as you require them such as the Vectorizer (tracing module) or the Mask Editor (background removal module) also use dynamic tools and features and will change depending on the current task being undertaken.

When you go into another mode or do something new take a moment to look at the 2nd row of tools which will have completely changed and offer you a selection of commands relevant to what you are specifically doing.

Once clicked the Advanced tools become available. To hide the Advanced tools click the Reveal/Hide Advanced Tools button again.

Reveal all Advanced Tools
If you prefer to have access to all the advanced tools and features while SignMaster Cut is running, click the Window menu → Workspace → Reveal all Advanced Tools

Permanent Access to Advanced Tools
If you prefer to have permanent access to all the advanced tools and features click the Tools menu → Settings expand Display Settings and turn Advanced Tools to On.

Menus
Most commands and links to the program's modules can be found in the menus along the top edge of the Application window. Many of these commands are hidden in flyouts to simplify each menu as it rolls down. You are encouraged to to create an object such as a shape or insert an image and scroll through the menus to become familiar with some of the many tools and features provided in SignMaster Cut. As mentioned above, many of these commands will only appear or be clickable when they are relevant which depends on what you are doing in the program at any given point in time.





Tooltips/Hints



Tooltips or Hints appear over commands when you hover the mouse over them and provide specific information about that tool. Edit/Input boxes also reveal the current measurement in millimeters, inches, feet and yards for your convenience.


Edit Fields/Input Boxes



Along with the Context Toolbars SignMaster Cut's Edit/Input Boxes i.e. where you type values in are also dynamic as these let you type in arithmetic operators such as + (add) – (minus) * (multiply) and / (divide) - as shown directly above. So if you had a situation where you wanted to set a measurement of say 10 inches to become one third you would simply type 10/3 and press Enter and the program will automatically set the result to 3.333 inches.

You can also combine metric with imperial within the formula and use parentheses i.e. () to do more complex calculations such as: ((10in + 100mm)/4)*3 which happens to equal 10.453 inches or 265.50 mm.

Flyouts



Many important commands are hidden in flyouts to save space and improve ergonomics. A flyout is indicated by a small triangle on the right-side of the command. To engage a flyout hover your mouse over the button in question and press and hold down the left mouse button for a moment and the tool will flyout revealing more commands and potentially more flyouts.





Dockers



The Object Manager and Property Inspector along with all the Tool Panels the Fast Hints and Page Thumbnails are hidden in the Dockers to save space and improve ergonomics. These tools and commands provide invaluable assistance when using SignMaster Cut and can also be controlled from the Tools menu.

Tool Panels and Thumbnail Viewer for Pages and Objects



SignMaster Cut comes with a large set of tool panels located on the right-side of the program along with a powerful thumbnail viewer for pages, objects and symbols.

Colorbar

The SignMaster Cut Colorbar has been designed to provide you with a large selection of Colors-On-The-Fly rather than having to pop-out additional palettes or modules since selecting and changing colors is so integral to using a graphics program. When an Object is selected you can left-click on any Color Swatch to change its Fill to the selected Color or right-click to add or change the Pen Style with that Color. When you click on Color Libraries and select a Named Color Palette the Palette will appear below SignMaster Cut's System Colors. You can also view the selected colors or colors-in-use in the Document.

Pan and Zoom Tools

SignMaster Cut has a special Pan Area as shown directly above, that allows you to Pan around the Document by clicking and holding down the left mouse button without having to change the mode you are currently in. The program also has a full compliment of zoom tools from the flyout on the left-side, fixed in the bottom-left (Zoom-In, Zoom-Out and to Selected) and on the bottom-right side (Zoom-to-All).

Heads Up

SignMaster Cut comes with a Heads Up display which is a series of dynamic buttons which appear and remove (switch on/off) depending on what you are doing in the program at any given point in time. These buttons generally open the Tool Panels on the right-hand side of the program revealing more advanced tools and features.

View/Show/Display and Hide

SignMaster Cut provides a number of show (view/display) and hide commands which are located in the View Tool Panel which can be accessed from the base of the Zoom Tools and shown in the Pan and Zoom Tools above.

SignMaster Cut Terminology
The SignMaster Cut - Application Window
SignMaster Cut DesignCenter™
Right-Click Menus
User Settings