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Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Tutorial: How to convert the Samantha Script font to use with Silhouette Studio

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UPDATE:
If you had previously purchased the Samantha Script font from Mighty Deals, please contact Laura Worthington for an updated version. The special characters (swashes) in the updated version will show up in the Character Map. You can Copy the special characters from the Character Map and Paste it into Silhouette Studio. That way, you can use the Samantha font in its entirety with your Silhouette software without having to use Adobe Illustrator first.

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Today's tutorial is a little different from what I usually post. For starters, this has nothing to do with any LD files (gasp!) and you will need Adobe Illustrator (AI) to follow. I hardly use AI (I design my cut files with MTC) but I saw a post this morning on one of my Facebook groups and am posting this tutorial as it is easier for me to explain with multiple pictures.

Samantha Script is a beautiful font that I have long admired and as soon as I saw that it was available for a sale price, I jumped on it and got the deal. {Tip: It is on sale HERE and you can use the coupon css-tricks to get an additional 10% off}.

Then I read that folks were having trouble using this font with their Silhouette Studio program. They can't bring the beautiful flourishes or swashes onto the virtual mat. I played around with the files and with a slight conversion in Adobe Illustrator, managed to cut the text out with my Silhouette Cameo, through Silhouette Studio Designer Edition.


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Disclaimer: I don't use Adobe Illustrator very often and if you find that you have an easier or better way to convert the Samantha Script font for use with the Silhouette Studio program, please let me know. I would love to learn the how-to from you.
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No pretty swashes if the font is used directly with Sil Studio


So much prettier now after converting in Adobe Illustrator


I am using Windows 7, with Adobe Illustrator CS3 (I know, I know, it's ancient!), and Silhouette Studio Designer Edition (v.2.7.4d).

I bought the complete Samantha Script Family but in this tutorial, I am using the Samantha Italic Pro which is included in the bundle.

Step 1:
In Adobe Illustrator, I use the usual Text tool to type in the word. I added the letters with the swash by using Type>Glyphs.


2: Next I created the outline... (Tip: see the tool bar on the left side of the picture below: I switched from using the Text Tool to using the Arrow so that the "Create Outlines" is not grayed out and can be selected.)


3: ...and saved the file with a .svg extension.


4: Using Silhouette Studio Designer Edition, I opened that .svg file from Step3 and brought it onto my virtual mat.


5: Right-click, and Ungroup the image


6: Open the Cut Style Window and turn on the cutting lines.


7: At this point, it would be a good idea to check if any of the letters cut into any other part of the word. If so, just do a Weld to "join" them all together.


8. To weld the letters together, just Ungroup the word again...


9: ...and Weld them together.


10: In case there are any parts of the words that cannot be welded, just Group them so that you can move the complete word together.



That's it! The word is now ready to be cut out.


Hope this tutorial helps!




18 comments :

  1. New to all this, only cut one thing so far! Thank you for the tutorial - I will give it a try!

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    Replies
    1. You're welcome! Hope that you'll find it useful. :)

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  2. What a beautiful font; even if you don't use the cameo to cut, it can also be printed. Thanks for the coupon!

    Hugs,

    Carmen

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    1. This font is beautiful and you are right, Carmen, it would look fabulous printed too! :)

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  3. Thanks so much! Any idea how one could actually create her own font to then convert to silhouette?

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  4. which settings did you use for this cut??I never managed to cut properly so intricate designs.....what am i doing wrong???
    Thank you!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This font may be easier to cut with vinyl as the swashes are pretty intricate. In the picture above, I used Michaels' Recollection papers, blade 3, Speed 3, Thickness 22. My blade and mat are a little old but if you are using a new blade or a new mat, you can probably reduce the setting for Thickness.

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  5. i've never used vinyl but i will try these settings with paper.Thank you very much!!!

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  6. WOW!!!! What a gorgeous font!! I LOVE it!!! I don't own Illustrator though...I looked up the price and can't afford it! So is this the only program that you can add glyphs to letters?

    Thank you for sharing this tutorial with us. Your steps are so detailed and easy to follow!
    ~Donna

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  7. Hi Jin, did you get the ornaments and catchwords with this deal as I can't seem to find them? Thanks, Lynn

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  8. hello only just seen this and wonder where you can get the samantha font now?

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  9. It looks like you can use Make-The-Cut to get to the special characters also....

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  10. Alt I S when you are in word and changing to Samantha Upright also shows the extras; slightly easier to read than using the character map route

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  11. Hi Jin

    I tried to cut letters using the samantha font in my cricut machine , however the swashes are really thin, is there any way to make it bold in cricut explore so that its a little thicker without having to increase the width and the height (i tried clicking on BOLD however it stays same)

    I usually use microsoft word to do the writing and then cut and paste in the cricut machine

    would really appreciate the help

    thanks a bunch
    Ruzana

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    Replies
    1. Hi Ruzana, the best way to fix the issue would be to make an offset. Correct me if I am mistaken but I think that the Cricut software cannot make offsets. If so, you may want to use the free Inkscape software to create an offset and save that as an svg to use with your Cricut software.

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  12. How much does it cost to get the adobe illustrator program or is it something that comes on the computer?

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