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!