Adobe Illustrator / RDWorks Plugin?

[Matthew Fogle]

Hello, figured I'd ask the question if anyone has tried to utilize the RDWorks plugin with Illustrator? I notice when installing it's an option, figured I'd ask before diving in. I suspect I might be on my own, but never hurts to ask right?!

[Gene Uselman]

The forum as attacked and most old files were deleted, I don't actually use the plugin so I know little about it. This is most of what I was able to rebuild for the FAQ file- at best it is a tricky install not without problems- I use a graphics program similar to AI and simply save to an .ai file in a folder that I open in RDworks on the laser. I find the .ai files are often handy to have on other projects. RDw displays the graphics in the .ai file to make it easier to sort thru them. Gene

[Pete Cyr]

I have not. But primarily because AI imports seemlessly into RDWORKS - I have never found the need for the plugin.
However, depending on your workflow it may save a few step when working in AI.

[Dave Vigness]

Don't know about the Adobe plug in, but I like the Corel plug in. One click and it opens in RDWorks. No hunting and opening. 3 out of 4 computers the plug in installed seamlessly. On the 4th i had to go path hunting, but it's an unusual setup so I wasn't surprised.

[Zach Wright]

Matthew,

Did you ever get this figured out? I also use adobe Illustrator and am getting an "error loading plugins rdplug.aip" message. I'm not really sure what the plugin actually does for AI or if it is really that necessary. In college I used a universal laser which "printed" to the universal program from illustrator.

Can anyone help with getting rid of the "rdplug.aip" error message? I can always just delete the files and not use the plugin. Maybe it isn't worth trying to get working if the plugin doesn't really do much for going from AI to rdworks anyway? Any support would be greatly appreciated.

[Lightburn Admin]

I don't think this works in RDWorks (it might) but with LightBurn, you can copy from Illustrator and Paste in LightBurn, and we have a macro for Corel, like RDW does.

[Zach Wright]

I don't think this works in RDWorks (it might) but with LightBurn, you can copy from Illustrator and Paste in LightBurn, and we have a macro for Corel, like RDW does.

Thanks! I recently downloaded LightBurn and have been giving it a try. It definitely seems to be more user friendly than RDWorks and seems to integrate much better with Illustrator. I'm not very familiar with Corel, I've only used it a handful of times at work and it was.... a challenge to say the least, so I think I will be upgrading to LightBurn pretty soon in order to keep using Illustrator as my editing software.

[Dave Vigness]

Yeah, RDWorks leaves a lot to be desired right now. They are supposed to be in the middle of a major rewrite, and I got a copy of a beta that actually has a semi functional camera feature. It looks promising, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Riido Oun]

Hi, i managed to get bridge working between rdworks and illustrator 2017(not tested with newer versions). Its little bit weird sometimes but it works.

1. Download thunderlaser version of RDWORKS. It includes plugin for illustrator.
https://www.thunderlaser.com/laser-download

2. You can install it twice for plugin and independent version.(if you only install plugin, then you can only launch rdworks via illustrator...i think)
For plugin, choose illustrator and check the Plug Laserworks box.

After install there should be file named rdplug in adobe plugins/tools folder. (C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator CC 2017\Plug-ins\Tools)

3. Start the illustrator - its important to run it as admin. Now you should see a new little icon.


4. You can make different layers. Its important to use RGB colors - only this way rdworks recognize them as different layers.
5. Select your work and click on this new green icon. If everything is okay - the rdworks should launch.


This is how i got this working. Maybe someone will find better tricks for this plugin. English is not my main, so sorry for that.

[Dave Vigness]

You can install only plug in, you just have to make your own short cut. I did both for Corel so I have two RDWorks icons on my task bar.