How to cut a Lettering Delights SVG with the free Silhouette Studio program.

 

If you have downloaded yesterday's Lettering Delights' Easter Beasties SVG file but you do not have Make-the-Cut, this is how you can cut that SVG out with your Silhouette SD electronic cutter using Inkscape and the Silhouette Studio program.

Video:

Write-Up:

1. Download and Install the free Inkscape program here: http://inkscape.org/download/?lang=en

2. Start Inkscape and open the SVG file

3. Separate the layers

 4. Because there are white layers which cannot be seen when they are separated, go to View>Display Mode>Outline to show the outlines of the layers.

5. Rearrange the layers so that they do not overlap.

6. Save the file in the .dxf format

7. Select the 2nd option: "use LWPOLYLINE type of line output."

8. Start Silhouette Studio. Open the .dxf from Step 7

9. Cut.

In the video tutorial, I only show how to cut the monster because I had already cut out the bag separately.

I Ungroup the layers before cutting just to show that it can be done. That's meant for when you only want to delete some layers and cut out the rest.

Also, if you want to cut out a larger size bag and monster, resize the whole thing in Inkscape first before separating the layers and proceed with Step 4 onwards.

When assembling all the cut out pieces, this is the layering order:

By using googly eyes for my bag, the top black layer was no longer necessary so I deleted the layer and further simplified the file. You do not have to do this because the original svg is fine. I am just adding this as an option and if you prefer the look of googly eyes.

The forgotten Silhouette video

I had posted this video on Facebook back in March and I just realized that I had forgotten to put it up here. I have added the video to Part 1 of my Silhouette SD review. For those of you who did not see this posted on my Facebook page, this short video compares the size of the Silhouette with the Cricut Expression.

The Silhouette SD Review (part 5): My Conclusion

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UPDATE: Please note that there is now a MTC-Silhouette Plug-in available that has made cutting to the Silhouette a lot easier. For more information, please read this post: Silhouette SD Plug-in Now Available!

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So it has been about three weeks since I first started playing with my Silhouette and I think it's about time I tell you what I really think about it. 

Before I proceed, let me say that everyone has different considerations when it comes to shopping for a new electronic cutter. What I use my machine for, may not be what you are looking for in your cutter. Bear in mind that I am primarily a card-maker and my requirement for a cutter is simple: I need it to work with Make-the-Cut and Lettering Delights and I need for it to cut well. By that, I mean I need the cutouts to look like what I see on my computer monitor. If I see a circle on the MTC Virtual Mat, I would like for my cutout to look as round as that circle on the computer monitor. Having said that, these are my personal observations.

(Note: I have included a scale rating from 1 to 10, where 1 is the Poorest score and 10 is the Highest.)

1. Perfect Print-and-Cut (Rating: 8 out of 10)

The print and cut feature of the Silhouette SD cutter has got to be the best excuse to get this cutter. As a complete newbie to the Silhouette SD cutter and the free accompanying Silhouette Studio software, I found it ridiculously easy to work with that feature. The accuracy of the cut blew me away. The reason why I did not give this a 10/10 rating is because I had to use the included software, Silhouette Studio, to make this feature work. The whole point of me buying a new cutter is so that I can use Make-the-Cut with it. I wasn't thrilled that I had to use a different program for the print-and-cut but since the Silhouette Studio was so easy to use, I will only take off two points. :)

2. Cutting Accuracy (Rating: 9 out of 10)

The cuts made by the Silhouette cutter were very precise. I was so thrilled to see the circle cuts looking perfectly round. I took one point off the rating because the machine does not make a clean corner when the cutout is small. It doesn't bother me but I took a point off anyway.

Silhouette cut is on the left, Cricut cut is on the right. Note the slanted eyes and crooked smile.

3. Design (Rating: 8 out of 10)

I love how light and small this cutter is. You can easily bring it to a crop since it's only 4Lbs. It doesn't take up much room and I love that there are only 5 buttons on the machine. I took 2 points off the rating because I don't like the blade caps. It is troublesome to have to switch caps so I just keep the pink cap on the blade and just adjust the Controller Thickness. Besides, having these little caps lying around is inconvenient. Since only one cap is on the blade at any one time, I had to find a safe spot of the other two caps. I've lost and found them twice already in three weeks!

4. Ease of Use with MTC (Rating: 6 out of 10)

I really wish that I can give this a higher rating. I do. I like this little cutter a lot and while I can use it with MTC, I have to mention that it is not recognized as a native plotter in MTC. Although you can cut through MTC with the printer driver, I have to re-configure the print settings every time I open a new MTC session. I also find it challenging to figure out where the cut-zone is. Because there is no Silhouette Virtual Mat in MTC, I find myself guessing where the machine will actually cut the paper. I ended up making most of my cuts on regular printer paper first just to see where the cuts will be. Once I know where the machine makes the actual cuts, I will, without removing the mat, place my color cardstock on it and send the commend to cut again.

5. Cutting Versatility (Rating: 6 out of 10)

This machine cuts vinyl very well and is also able to cut 80lb cover weight cardstock cleanly. Since that is the typical type of paper that I use for my cards, I am happy at what it can cut. However, I had to knock off 2 points in the ratings because it cannot cut chipboard- a material that I do cut occasionally. I deducted another 2 points because it cannot cut wider than 8". While I do not scrapbook nor cut many images larger than 4.25" x 5.5", I like to cut out the different layers in one pass by putting all the required colored cardstock onto a 12"x 12" mat. With the Silhouette's relatively smaller mat, I found myself having to cut the different layers separately instead of all in one pass.

6. Noise Level (Rating: 5 out of 10)

Said it simply, this cutter is pretty loud. ;-)

7.  Availability of Consumables (Rating: 4 out of 10)

This cutter is not available in any of the major craft stores in my area and so are the consumables. I did find many online stores that sells the accessories but I had to pay for shipping and taxes and still have to wait for it to get delivered. No instant gratification. I'm a cheapo and so I also wished I could find the cutter and accessories in Joann's or Michael's just so that I can use a 40% coupon on it. :P

8. Silhouette Online Store (Rating: 5 out of 10)

I like what I see in the Silhouette Online Store, especially the 3D items. Too bad it is too hard to try to use the .studio images outside of Silhouette Studio program. I would definitely have given this a higher rating if I could use those images in MTC.

***

This marks the conclusion of my Silhouette SD cutter series of reviews. I am still learning about the cutter and the Silhouette Studio software and I'm sure that I will be posting more about this cutter in the near future. To read about my other posts about the Silhouette SD cutter, just click on any of these links:

Cutter 1 of 3: The Silhouette SD (part 1)
The Silhouette SD Review (part 2): Print-and-Cut
The Silhouette SD Review (part3): Cutting with MTC

The Silhouette SD Review (part 4): Cutting Different Weight Papers

More Silhouette Reviews by other owners.

Spring Break is officially over and the kids go back to school today. Perhaps it is time I break open the box containing the Gazelle...

The Silhouette SD Review (part 4): Cutting Different-Weight Papers

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UPDATE: Please note that there is now a MTC-Silhouette Plug-in available that has made cutting to the Silhouette a lot easier than described in this post. For more information, please read this post: Silhouette SD Plug-in Now Available!

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Further to my post on cutting with the Silhouette SD and Make-the-Cut, I have learnt from Julie's MTC_Tuts yahoo group that two further steps will enhance the cutting experience with the Silhouette.

1. In MTC, Select>Print Option and check the box next to Print Wireframe Only.

2. Also, if you find that the Silhouette roll your cutting mat back and forth a few times before it actually starts to cut, you may want to download and install the Controller application.

- Go to http://www.craftrobostore.com/craftrobodownloads.html and download and install the Craft ROBO Controller version 5.01 to your computer.

- In MTC, before you send the command to Print (so that the Sihouette can cut), do this:

• Select File>Print, and choose the Graphtec CC330L as your printer. 
• Click on Properties and Check "Use Carrier Sheet" and Uncheck "Eject Medium" and Uncheck "Prevent Overruns".
• Change your Design Orientation so that it "prints" (i.e. "cuts") in Landscape.

• Next, click on the "Controller..." button and Uncheck the box next to "Track Enhancing". 

• Click "Close".

Before you click okay to print/cut, make sure to change the color of the cutlines by selecting Cutline Settings Tab, and click on "Modify Color"

Next change the color from grey to BLACK and click "OK".

 Now you are ready to cut.

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For this cut test, I used a bird image from Lettering Delights' How Tweet It Is. The image has both curves and corners and I thought that it would be a good test image for the cutter.

I tested the cutter on a few popular brands of papers including Stampin' Up, Michael's Recollection Brand, Neenah Paper, Bazzill, and Chipboard. Here are the results:

1. Stampin' Up!, 80lb Cover.

The Silhouette Cutter has no problem cutting the Stampin' Up! cardstock (80 lbs, Cover). I used the default Controller settings and found that the cutter cut best with the pink cap on.

2. Michael's Recollection Brand

This paper is less heavy than Stampin' Up! but I tried to play around with the Controller settings. The cutter was able to cut the paper easily even at a Controller Thickness of 15 and with the Yellow Cap on.

3. Neenah Paper, 80 lb, cover,, Ultra Bright White.

I love using this cardstock as my card base because it has a really nice weight. The Neenah Papers are also popular amongst those who like to color their stamped images with Copics. Since I have a ream of it, I thought I would try cutting it with the Silhouette SD too.

I made all the cuts with one pass but the image was most cleanly cut out when I used the Pink Cap with a Thickness setting of 33.

4. Bazzill Basics Paper Premium Cardstock.

Many of you have requested that I cut the Bazzill cardstock and I am happy to tell you that the Silhouette SD cuts this cardstock easily.

I had set the Controller Thickness at the maximum of 33 and put the Pink cap on the blade. In one pass the bird was almost cleanly cut out of the cardstock except of one tiny corner of the tail (see left-side bird). That wouldn't normally bother me but for the sake of the test, I went ahead and cut out a second bird at the same settings but with two passes and the bird was cut out cleanly.

5. Chipboard

I knew that the Silhouette SD can't cut chipboard but I had to give it a shot anyway. I had set the Controller Thickness at the max of 33 and put the Pink Cap on the blade. Even though the cutter only made a score line on the chipboard with one pass, a part of me was hoping that the bird image would get cut out with multiple passes.

Sadly, that did not happen even with 11 passes because I think that the blade just wasn't long enough when the cap is on it. I could peel a thin birdie out of the chipboard but that was as much as I could get out of it.

Additional notes:

Karolyn (on Facebook) had asked if the Silhouette SD cutter is able to cut through Papertrey Ink's 110lb cardstock. I don't use nor have any of that cardstock with me but I tried to cut a sheet of Conqueror 118lbs Cover in Diamond White. Once again, I put the pink cap on the blade and set the Controller Thickness to the max of 33. I was not able to get a clean cut with the first or second passes and the third pass yielded a semi-decent cut. I started to wonder if I had ruined my blade by trying multiple passes on the chipboard or whether this Conqueror paper is too thick. It is after all, quite a bit heavier than Papertrey Ink's paper. In any case, I have turned to my friend, Gale, for help to test the cutter. I will be back to update this post once I know the results of her test cut.

Edit to add:
Karolyn has reported back in the comments below that Papertrey Ink cardstock do cut with the Silhouette but it requires 2 passes for a good, clean cut. Thanks, Karolyn! :-)

The Silhouette SD Review (part3): Cutting with MTC

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UPDATE: Please note that there is now a MTC-Silhouette Plug-in available that has made cutting to the Silhouette a lot more easier than described in this post. For more information, please read this post: Silhouette SD Plug-in Now Available!

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My post yesterday seemed to have stirred up even more questions about the Silhouette SD. I can't answer every question in detail right now because I am still trying out this machine but in a nutshell, I used the Silhouette Studio to do the Print-and-Cut (PNC) yesterday because that was supposedly the best way to do PNC with the cutter. I am still going to continue using Make-the-Cut to do my projects, especially when Silhouette Studio is unable to open SVGs. There is a round-about way of getting the SVG file into the Silhouette Studio and it involves converting the SVG file into a DXF file in a program like Inkscape, and then opening that DXF file in Silhouette Studio (see scrappydew's tutorial here).  The whole point of me looking for a new cutter is so that I can use Make-the-Cut. However, if I decide to keep this cutter, I will use Silhouette Studio for Print-and-Cut and Make-the-Cut for everything else. By the way, my card yesterday was made with a Lettering Delights' GRAPHIC set and not SVG.

By referring to this tutorial, I managed to setup my Make-the-Cut to cut to the Silhouette, but not before spending too much time trying to figure out why the Silhouette wasn't cutting. It turned out that I did not set the correct printer port when I was adding the Graphtec CC330L driver. My video tutorial below will walk you through the steps of adding the driver and setting up Make-the-Cut so that it cuts to the Silhouette SD.

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Additional tips: (added 4/17)
If you can't find the Graphtec CC330L driver in your computer, go to this link to get it.  

Also, there are 2 additional steps that may enhance your cutting experience. Please refer to this post before cutting to your Silhouette SD cutter from the Make-the-Cut program.

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Tammy, a blog reader, had asked that I cut out a frame from Lettering Delights' Provencial Princess SVG set, to see how it looks like when cut out with the Silhoutte SD.  

I imported the file at 72 DPI (Use Actual checked) and did not change the dimensions. The frame measures 3.1948" x 3.9123" and this is how is looks like when cut by the Silhouette SD:

I used the Kraft cardstock that I bought from Michaels' (recollections brand, 65lb) with the PINK blade cap and I found that there were several places where the cut wasn't all the way through. I had to do some creative weeding in order to get to this:

Despite that the machine can't cut very deep, I was happy with how nicely the cut out turned out.

Next, I cut the same design in the same size through my Cricut Expression. I set Pressure at maximum and the Blade Depth at 5, and this is the cut made by the Cricut Expression:

I have to admit that it was easier to weed out the unwanted parts from the Cricut cut out even though the Silhouette's cutting mat was a lot more sticky. However, the cuts made by the Cricut left a lot to be desired. Just take a look at the two cutouts when they are put aside each other.

Look at the distorted cuts from the Cricut Expression on the  right side:

Once again, the frame on the right was cut by Cricut.

Notice that the cut out made by the Cricut was pretty distorted compared to the cutout made by the Silhouette. 

I am still testing the Silhouette and today I am going to be using the Silhouette to cut out some different weight paper. I'll tell you all about it in my next review post. ;-)


Edit:  Both frames were cut from Make-the-Cut. One using the Silhouette SD cutter, and the other using the Cricut Expression.

The Silhouette SD Review (part 2): Print-and-Cut

The one thing that I noticed when I was researching the Silhouette SD was the large number of reviews that mentioned how well it can do Print-and-Cut through the Silhouette Studio software. I was intrigued. Amongst the three cutters that I bought to review, the Silhouette SD is the cheapest ($189 at Overstock.com, and $199 on Amazon.com) but it also has the most positive reviews for Print-and-Cut. That was a major factor that made me decide to buy this cutter.

Even before the machine was delivered, I knew that the first thing that I will have to cut it is a print-and-cut piece. Once taken out of the box, I hooked up all the necessary cables, popped in the Silhouette Studio CD into the CD drive of my laptop and followed the instructions to install the program and register the machine.

That part was easy.

As soon as the program launched and the virtual mat appeared before me, I realized that I missed MTC. :-( All the icons looked so unfamiliar! I took a moment to shake that thought off and forged forward.

Silhouette Studio

  

(Note that the machine can only cut to a width of 8", which means that if you need to cut wider widths, this machine might not be for you.)

I clicked on a few buttons to figure out what they were for and most of the tools were pretty easy to figure out. There are a few tools that I was particularly excited about including a Line tool which I can use to cut a line which at this time, MTC is still unable to do (it cuts a skinny rectangle instead of a line).

After a few minutes of mindless clicking, I headed to youtube and found this video tutorial on print-and-cut. It was very helpful but I found that it had left out some useful tips which would have helped a newbie like me even more.

So here is my video tutorial for the new Silhouette Studio user. Let me show you how I did my print-and-cut with the Silhouette SD:

The doll image that I used is from Lettering Delights' Let's Play graphic set. I printed it on Georgia-Pacific white cardstock (110lb, 150 sheets, available at Walmart for $6.xx) and cut at 3.5" using the YELLOW blade cap. I couldn't have been more impressed with how precised the cut was.

Next, I cut a second doll a half-inch shorter at 3" tall.

I decided to go one step further, I got the machine to cut the inside smaller pieces for layering.

Look at the eyes! They are miniscule! And ROUND! Like circles are supposed to be. ;)

Print and cut with the Silhouette Studio was so straightforward I almost cried at the simplicity of it. I did not spend $500 dollars for a machine that takes up a lot of room and limits what I print to what is available on cartridges. I did not have to do a trial and error placement of paper and no funky adjustments of anything or whatsoever.. This was a FIRST cut on my FIRST try. Print-and Cut with this machine was so easy I felt ridiculous. 

Here is the finished card that I made by printing and cutting through the Silhouette Studio software. The graphics are from Lettering Delights' Let's Play graphic set, the background papers are from the Let's Play Background Paper Pack, and the font used is SNF Playground.

This may only be the first card that I've made with this cutter but I already know that this one's a keeper. I love the compact size and the light-weight. I love how little room it takes compared to the Cricut Expression. I love that there are very few buttons and no cartridges or overlays and most of all I love how it prints and cut. Unless the Gazelle, or the Lynx can do a better print-and-cut job, at this point I'm pretty sure this baby is staying.

(Note that the machine can only cut to a width of 8", which means that if you need to cut wider widths, this machine might not be for you.)

I am still testing the cuts made by this machine and tomorrow I will show you some non-print-and-cut cutouts made by the Silhouette SD.