Let's talk about software. Graphic software. Again.

Ok, let's talk about software again. I recently bought a Huion Kamvas pro 16 artist tablet. I'm aiming to start putting some more of my work into production and maybe, eventually, get out of having to work for other people.  I've had designs that other people have enjoyed in the past, sold a few things ETC ETC. 

Ideally I'd like a one stop shop suite or piece of software that I can do some graphic artistry, and make files that can then be imported to a vinyl cutter or some other plotting type device should I desire. Can photoshop do this? Is there something else I need? 

Photoshop is great for digital painting and Illustrator it's sister/brother does vector graphics/illustrations really well.

Check out Adobe creative cloud which should give you the option to trial both for a month.

The cutters and plotters are going to want to work off of vector graphics. Photoshop is going to output files that are better suited for color laser printers and high end ink jets.

If you want to cut stuff in vinyl you need a vector design program. Illustrator is Adobes vector program, but I learned CorelDRAW while working in the sign business. Either of these are super capable, Corel is much cheaper and generally less respected but I never found anything that other people did in Illustrator that I couldn't do just as easily in Coreldraw. To me it was much easier to lean than AI as well and didn't have the adobe smug attitude. 
 

photoshop is an image based software- great for photo editing and print but not what you need for cut vinyl

there are other vector softwares out there too. Not sure how any of these run on tablets. 

FWIW, I've done vector graphic work and exported directly to a plotter program, but the nesting/path creation sucked.  I ended up just exporting as an image and letting the cutting software trace that.

Vector graphics have their uses, but I don't know that I would get hung up on that until it becomes an issue.

No idea what level of business you are looking at, but if anything major/full time, then definitely Adobe CC is the answer here.

If you look for my recent thread on this topic, I found a nice piece of software that looks very versatile, handling vector and raster graphics on separate layers. Sorry, I'm on my phone or I would find it for you. It's only about $50 and I haven't bought it yet but I plan to. 
 

In reply to Duke :

Will do. 

I use GIMP for raster graphics and Inkscape for vector graphics, total software budget $0. When I'm making something needed as a vector graphic from scratch, I'll often do as much work on it as possible as a raster graphic and then import it into Inkscape and let it auto-trace, it works well for anything that only needs to exist as 1 layer.

In reply to GameboyRMH :

I was referred to inkscape. Will DL gimp. Looking forward to playing with them. 

ultraclyde (Forum Supporter) said:

If you want to cut stuff in vinyl you need a vector design program. Illustrator is Adobes vector program, but I learned CorelDRAW while working in the sign business. Either of these are super capable, Corel is much cheaper and generally less respected but I never found anything that other people did in Illustrator that I couldn't do just as easily in Coreldraw. To me it was much easier to lean than AI as well and didn't have the adobe smug attitude. 
 

photoshop is an image based software- great for photo editing and print but not what you need for cut vinyl

there are other vector softwares out there too. Not sure how any of these run on tablets. 

These are also the two programs I had experience with when I needed to do the same.

Also, if you're familiar with any of the free CAD programs, those will also get you what you need.

Mndsm said:

In reply to GameboyRMH :

I was referred to inkscape. Will DL gimp. Looking forward to playing with them. 

I couldn't get Inkscape to run on my Mac.

This is what I'm planning on buying:  Affinity Designer