Using the Silhouette Portrait 3 Pixscan Mat to Cut Stickers

Hi Everyone!

This week I want to share another favorite accessory for my Silhouette Portrait 3, the Pixscan mat! It’s super helpful for cutting stickers or things you may have already printed and now you want to cut them.

First, if you haven’t done so already, you will need to calibrate whatever camera you care going to use. I’m going to be using my iPhone X.

Open Silhouette studio. I currently have not mat selected. I’m going to the little PIX icon on the toolbar to the right of Silhouette Studio.

Click on “Show Calibration Test Card.” A page full of little black dots will pop up.

Now we need to print this sheet with all the little black dots. I click on the little printer icon in the toolbar across the top.

My print screen pops up and I’m going to click Print.

Then I’m going to select the printer that I will be using to print my stickers which is my Epson P600 and I print out the sheet full of dots on an 8.5” x 11” plain sheet of paper.

Next I need to take a photo of the dotted sheet with my phone or whatever camera you are using. I placed the dotted sheet on the floor (you need to use a flat surface), and tried my best to get all the dots without and background or edges of the paper showing. DO NOT use zoom.

Then I airdrop the photo from my phone to my laptop. If you can’t airdrop, you can email it to yourself as well. You need to somehow save the photo onto your computer so you can upload it to Silhouette Studio.

Back in Silhouette Studio in the Pix Scan dialogs box make sure the camera icon is selected. Below that, there is a Plus (+). Click on the (+), and find the photo that you just saved to your computer. Mine is saved to my Downloads folder.

Silhouette Studio automatically reads all the information attached to photo and it adds my iPhone X to the list of cameras.

Now it’s time to get our mat ready! Unfortunately the Pix Scan mat for the Portrait 3 is a little too small to fit a full sheet of 8.5” x 11” sticker paper, the max area is 7.6” x 11.7”. Make sure to plan your project accordingly! I already had my print outs, so I just cut them into two parts to fit on the mat.

Place whatever you are cutting on the mat, make sure you are NOT covering any of the little black boxes around the edge of the mat. The software will need to read those when you’re importing your picture.

Then you need to photograph the ENTIRE mat with the same camera that you calibrated. Make sure the mat is on a flat surface and there is even lighting. Don’t use zoom!

After you get your photo, you need to upload the photo to your computer. I use airdrop, but you could email it to yourself as well.

In the Pix Scan dialog box in Silhouette Studio, select “Import Pix Scan Image From File.” Locate your file wherever you have it saved on your computer, mine is in my Downloads folder again.

Silhouette studio is then going to place the photo that you just took and place it on the Pix Scan mat in the software.

Now we need to create our cut lines and there are a few ways to do that. I already have cut lines I created in Illustrator, I could import them as an SVG since I have the Business version of Silhouette Studio.

If you do not have the business version of Silhouette Studio, you can also draw the cut lines freehand in Silhouette Studio or you can use the Trace function.

I’m going to use the Trace function for these stickers since they’re irregular shapes. I will make a separate post later on how to use the trace tool.

I’m finished making my cut lines, and now it’s time to send to my machine! But first, I’m going to save my file so I can use these cut lines again on the second piece of sticker paper.

I go to the SEND tab in Silhouette Studio and since we’re just cutting, I’ll keep it on the Simple screen.

I load my mat into my machine, make sure the side with the arrow get’s fed through the machine first.

Press send, and now I have some cute little kitty stickers!

The accuracy of the Pix Scan Mat is so much better than the Cricut Snap Mat feature. I also really like that I can create and save my cut lines directly in Silhouette Studio. When I go to cut the the 2nd piece of this sticker sheet I can use the same cutline for the same kitties.

Silhouette Portrait 3 Matless Drawing & Cutting

Hi Everyone! This week I’m going to combine two of my favorite functions on my Silhouette Portrait 3, matless drawing and matless cutting. I’m going to be using some heavy cardstock and my gold Sakura Gelly Roll Pen to make some little Thank You tags.

I already set up my file to be matless and made sure all of my artwork is within the red boundary. I made the little tag shapes in Silhouette Studio and I am using my Thank You script that you may have seen me use before in some of my foil tests. The Thank You and the border will be drawn with my gold pen and then the tags will be cut out after the drawing portion.

I press SEND and I’m going to draw and cut by Line color, instead of simple I’m going to select LINE at the top of the send panel. I’m using Heavy Cardstock so I select Heavy Coverstock for my material for both line colors.

I’m going to draw with the gold pen first, so for the yellow lines I select SKETCH as my action. I’m going to leave the settings as the default, they work pretty well as is. I load my cardstock without a mat and gold pen with the pen adapter and I press SEND at the bottom of the screen.

When the machine is done drawing, DO NOT unload the mat. I swap out the pen adapter for my auto-blade.

My machine recognizes the auto-blade and I select the Pop-Out Cut Action.

The default pop out cut settings weren’t working great for this cardstock. After a little trial and error, I figured out the settings that worked well and I saved the material setting so I can use them again in the future.

When the machine is done cutting, the tags will still be slightly attached to cardstock. I carefully pop them out and I use the tip of a pen to pop out the little holes in the tags.

And now you have a bunch of little tags you can tie to favors for birthdays, weddings, bridal showers, baby showers, etc.

Silhouette Portrait 3 Drawing by Line Color

Hi Everyone! This week I’m going to share another favorite feature of my Silhouette Portrait 3, being able to draw by line color. Yes, I can do this with my Cricut Maker, but with my Portrait 3 I can essentially choose the order of the colors that I want my machine to draw. It’s not as simple to do with my Maker.

I’m going to test another skull SVG that I created in Illustrator. In Illustrator, I already applied different colors to the lines I’m going to draw and saved my file as an SVG. Note: I am using the Business Edition of Silhouette Studio so I can import and export SVG files.

I’m going to use the matless feature again and draw this floral skull on some black cardstock using my metallic Sakura Gelly Roll pens.

I select SEND in Silhouette Studio. Instead of simple, I’m going to choose LINE. As you an see all of the colors are selected. I’m going to pick Heavy Coverstock for my material and Sketch for my Action.

Then, I’m going to uncheck all of the colors except for the color I will be drawing with first.

Next I will load my pen adapter with the first color I will be drawing with and load my cardstock into my machine.

My first layer is done, next I want to draw the blue scroll work. All I have to do is uncheck the line color I just drew, and check the box for the blue lines for the scroll work. I load my blue pen and press SEND.

Hint: Don’t forget to uncheck the colors you have completed, otherwise it will draw over that same area with the next color you have loaded!

After the blue lines are done I want to draw the little green leaves. So I uncheck the blue lines & select the green for leaves. Load my green pen and press SEND.

I go through the same process until I have completed all the colors. I love that I don’t have to go in the order of colors dictated by the machine!

The most tedious part of the process is swapping out the pen every time I switch a color, but I really enjoy the end result and being able to select the order of the colors that my machine will use to draw.

Cricut Design Space vs Silhouette Studio - Curved Text

Hi Everyone! This week I’m going to compare how to curve text in Cricut Design Space versus Silhouette Studio.

Let get started!

Cricut Design Space

Truth be told, I usually don’t make any of my text directly in Design Space, it’s such a headache! Curving text in Cricut Design Space is pretty easy, but VERY primitive and limited. I typically make my text and do any curving or warping effects in Illustrator, then upload my file as an SVG into Design Space.

But I’m going to go ahead and demo making the text only in Design Space so you can see for yourself. First, I’ll start by typing my text. I’m going to do something pretty simple like “Happy Birthday.” The font I’m using is called Alek Bold, it’s one of my system fonts. I refuse to pay for Cricut fonts.

Once I’ve typed my words and selected my font, I will adjust the kerning (Letter Space) so my letters are touching. For some reason by default Design Space really likes to S P R E A D out the letters.

I bring my letters closer together to they’re actually touching like they’re supposed to. But now my space in between Happy and Birthday is gone! Even if I add extra spaces in the text box, nothing!! Super annoying, but moving on.

With my text still selected, I will click on “Curve” in the toolbar across the top. I move the slider to the right to get a nice curve.

My letters get spread out on the curve so I need to adjust my kerning (letter spacing) again. Still no space between Happy & Birthday :(

I also wish I could move my letters along the curve so my H and Y at the ends are level with each other.

You can play around with the slider to get convex or concave curves or you do a complete circle (the letter spacing looks even more ridiculous). And that’s about all you can do with curved text in Design Space. So far, I’m still very underwhelmed with the feature and will continue creating my type in Illustrator or Silhouette Studio.

Silhouette Studio

I’m going to try Happy Birthday in the same font in Silhouette Studio. I don’t have to adjust the kerning in Silhouette Studio yet, it uses the default for the font, yay!!

Silhouette Studio has a really cool feature called Text to Path that I’m going to use to curve my type.

First I’m going to draw a circle.

Then I’m going to Double Click on my text so a little 4-pointed arrow shows up.

I’m going to click on the 4 -pointed arrow and drag my text over the outline of the circle. My text will snap to the circle starts following the curve!!

I can click and drag my text to slide my letters along the circle so I can get the placement I want.

Now I’m going to adjust my kerning (character spacing) a little bit, but I still have have the space between Happy & Birthday and my letters are touching!

I can also use the little slider to make my text move above the baseline of my shape. Again, I may need to do a little adjusting to the kerning.

Or I can move my text to the bottom of the circle.

And again, use the little vertical slider to move it further out from the circle.

The Text to path also works on a regular path. I can draw a wavy line and the text will follow the line!

Once again, Silhouette Studio is so much more powerful than Cricut Design Space!

Cricut Design Space vs Silhouette Studio - Filled Letters

The offset feature in Cricut Design Space finally offers a way to fill in letters directly in Design Space. Although, this is far from my favorite method for filling in letters, it’s another useful technique to have in your arsenal.

Cricut Design Space - Filled Letters using Offset method

This took a bit of trial and error to get an end result I was satisfied with, nothing is ever as simple as it seems with Cricut Design Space, LOL!

I typed the word “love” first. I’m using one of my system fonts - Very Berry. Of course the letter spacing (kerning) is absurd, so I have to adjust that first.

Then in order to get the offset to behave how I want, I need to “flatten” my text layer so it becomes a “Print then Cut” layer.

Then, with my flattened layer selected, I click on the offset button in the top tool bar. I type in -0.014 inches, that’s basically equivalent to a 1pt offset in Illustrator, which is how close I like to keep my lines if I’m going for a solid filled text. Note: You have to type -0.014 in the box, it’s such a small measurement you cannot use the slider.

Next, so I can actually see my offset lines, I change my offset layer to a “Draw” operation and change the line color to something bright and contrasting against the flattened black layer.

I select the offset layer I just created and then click the offset button again. It’s already set to the -0.014 inches, so I click apply. I change my line color again so I can see it against the flattened black layer.

I keep repeating the same offset until I get my letters filled as much as I can.

Once it’s all filled in with the offset lines, I select my original Flattened layer and “Unflatten” it. Then I “weld” the letters together.

Note: You CANNOT weld the letters together at the very beginning, the inner loops of the letters will not be offset properly.

I also tried the process with an SVG file that I imported from Illustrator. I prefer creating my words in Illustrator first, it’s much easier to adjust the kerning and use any special glyphs.

I upload my SVG as usual and change my Linetype from “Basic Cut” a “Draw” linetype.

Then I applied the -0.014 inch offset to the offset over and over again until my word was filled as much as possible.

After I show you the Silhouette Studio method we will test all the different fills on my Cricut Maker Machine.

Silhouette Studio - Filled Letters

Silhouette Studio has an awesome Line Effects tool that you can use to fill words.

I open my same SVG file that I created in Illustrator and click on the Line Effects tool on the right tool bar.

I’m going to copy and paste my word so I can use one to draw an outline completely around the word, I think that gives it a cleaner look.

There are a few different line types you can use for fills. The first one I’m going to pick is the just the straight lines. It’s simple and it’s one of my favorites.

It starts off looking horizontal and pretty spaced out.

I type my 0.014 inches in the spacing box and -45 degrees in the angle to get the close diagonal lines I’m going for.

I use the Align tool in the toolbar across the top to line up my fill lines with the outline.

Next, I duplicate both layers and then I pick the crosshatch fill. I’m going to keep my spacing at 0.014 inches and a -45 degree angle.

I duplicate my words again and I pick the concentric circles, this gives the same look as the offset in Cricut Design Space. I keep my spacing at 0.014 inches.

The last one I’m going to try is the spiral. It already has an outline so I can delete one of my layers. I keep my spacing at 0.014 inches and my angle at -45 degrees.

Since I have the Business editon of Silhouette Studio, I can save my file as an SVG so I can import it into Cricut Design Space.

I’m open my SVG in Cricut Design Space. I need to change the linetype to “Draw.” For some reason my SVG is twice the size it was in Silhouette Studio, so I’m going to scale it back down to size.

Here’s a comparison of the offset from Design Space and the Concentric circle fill in Silhouette Studio.

Time to test the different fills! I’m going to use my We R Memory Keepers foil quill, medium tip on cardstock with my Cricut Maker.

Here are the different results, my favorite is still the diagonal line fill at 45 degrees. The crosshatch and spirals both have some interesting textures. The offset is still not my favorite, the lines start to create weird little areas at some of the intersections.

Which fill style is your favorite?

Cricut Design Space vs Silhouette Studio - Rounded Corners

With the new offset tool in Cricut Design Space, you can make rounded corners on shapes, FINALLY!!! This will be super helpful with simple things like gift tags that I usually have to create in Illustrator first, then upload into Design Space. Here’s how making rounded corners in Cricut Design Space compares to Silhouette Studio.

Cricut Design Space Rounded Corners

I’m going to start off with a simple 5x7 rectangle. I select the Square from the Shapes menu on the left side panel.

To make it a rectangle i’m going to click the little lock so it is unlocked and type 7 inches for the width and 5 inches for the height (or vice versa) in the tool bar across the top.

Now that I have my rectangle, I select it and then click the Offset button in the toolbar across the top.

I’m going to start with a 1/4” inch rounded corner. You can type 0.25” into the box or use the slider to adjust the measurement. Then click Apply.

You can hide (click the eyeball in the layers) or delete the original rectangle once you are finished with it.

The offset makes the rectangle a little bigger, so I can adjust the size again by having my new rounded rectangle shape selected and typing my 5 x7 dimensions in the width and height spaces in the tool bar across the top.

I can use that same original rectangle shape to try different sizes of rounded corners. Here are a few of the different corner dimensions that I tried in the Offset Dialog box.

I tried the same technique with a star shape too, now you can have nicely rounded corners instead of sharp points.

Silhouette Studio Rounded Corners

So Silhouette Studio is already way ahead of Cricut Design Space, there’s a rounded rectangle shape tool in Studio. I can select it from the rectangle shape on the tool bar on the left or press Shift + R on my keyboard. (I love keyboard shortcuts).

Then I can type my dimensions into the Width and Height boxes in the toolbar across the top.

One thing I love is that I can drag these little dots to adjust my rounded corners. I adjust the one corner and it automatically does the other corners.

I tried a star shape too. The star tool in Silhouette Studio is pretty awesome. I can use the little slider in the middle to adjust how many points I want and I can move the little red dot to adjust the depth of the points.

There are A LOT of different shape tools in Silhouette Studio if you click on the star shape on the left side tool bar. There’s even a kind of rounded star shape, but it’s a little weird for what I’m trying to do. So the best method I have found so far, is again using the offset function. I can type in my offset side or use the slider to adjust and I select the rounded corner style.

So Silhouette Studio wins this one again in my book. They have had the rounded corner feature for a while and It’s so much easier to make adjustments to my shapes in Silhouette Studio. It’s nice that Cricut Design Space has finally (sort of) added the rounded corner feature, but their software is still very limited when it comes to editing shapes.

Cricut Design Space vs Silhouette Studio - Offset Feature

Cricut users have been asking for an offset feature for years and Cricut finally announced offset is available in Design Space.

Here’s a quick little comparison of the offset feature in Cricut Design Space vs in Silhouette Design Studio.

Offset in Cricut Design Space

For the offset feature in Cricut Design Space I’m using the most current version to date 6.6.112. According to the Offset pop up window this feature is still in Beta.

Some things to take note of for using offset in Design Space:

• You MUST be in the NEW Canvas Style, it is not available in the Classic Canvas setting. So that’s a bummer when you have to switch your project to Classic Canvas when the New Canvas is being glitchy (which seems to happen pretty frequently in past versions of Design Space, we’ll see how the newest update has improved).

• It is currently only available in the Desktop version of Design Space. That’s a real bummer for the sticker makers who want to do everything on their iPad or Android Tablet.

To start, I uploaded a PNG file of a watercolor design I made using Procreate. One of the things I love about watercolor are the rough little edges. But I don’t necessarily want the rough edges on my cut line. Let’s see how the Cricut offset feature does with those rough edges.

The default offset appears to be 0.25 inches. There are some obvious little bumps and some weird little jagged spots. I don’t see any kind of smoothing option, maybe something they could consider adding in the future.

Next I’m going to try to make the offset a little narrower, I’m going to use 0.125 inches (That’s 1/8 of an inch). I’m going to use the slider to adjust the measurement. There’s still quite a bit of bumpiness and some more jagged areas on the offset line.

I can use the Contour function to get rid of the cut inside the “L” loop. In order to be able to use the Contour function I have to change my offset from “Print & Cut” to “Basic Cut.”

I’m also going to try an even smaller offset, 1/16 inch. I can use the slider, but it becomes more difficult to get the exact value for 1/16. It ends of being easier to just type it in the box 0.0625.

Again, I change the “Print then Cut” offset to a “Basic cut” so I can use Contour to remove the cut from inside the L loop and E loop.

Save your file and let’s get ready to test our offset cuts!

Don’t forget to flatten your artwork and the offset together!

I’m going to do a test Print then Cut. I’m using plain copy paper for my test so I don’t waste my sticker paper.

The little jagged pieces are definitely there, they don’t look as terrible once I pull the piece off the mat. But I would never sell a sticker with this kind of rough cut edge. Yes, I even used a brand new blade for this cut!

I tried this little guy too. He’s a PNG I imported from procreate. The offset is 1/16 inch. There’s a weird little cut area by his ear. I changed the line to a Basic cut line and there’s no option to use the contour feature, so I can’t even get rid of the line! I didn’t even bother printing and cutting him. I’m better off adding an offset to him via Illustrator like in my previous posts.

The offset probably works great for images with smooth edges and vectors, but that’s not always the kind of artwork I’m using. Nice try Cricut, maybe try adding a smoothing option to the offset dialog box.

Offset in Silhouette Studio

Right out of the gate Silhouette Design Studio blows away Cricut Design Space. Am I being biased? Probably. But in the short time I’ve been using Silhouette Design Studio, it has been soooo much easier for me to achieve the offsets and cut lines that I want. Another Bonus that a lot of the Illustrator keyboard shortcuts also work in Silhouette Studio. Cmd + /- to zoom in and out, Alt + Drag to copy and paste, Spacebar to pan around my canvas. I’m loving Silhouette Studio so far!

I opened the same Love PNG file in Silhouette Studio. It does make my PNG gigantic initially, but it’s not a problem to shrink it down to size.

I tried the same offset measurements that I used in Cricut Design Space. I started out with a 0.25 inch Offset. You will need to select if you want an internal or external offset instead of Cricut’s slider bar. The offset is already so much smoother than the Cricut version, no little jagged bits!

Next I tried the offset at 1/8 inch (0.125). Again, waaaaaay smoother than the Cricut version.

Finally I tried a 1/16th (0.0625) offset. Still much, much better than the Cricut version. I can even refine the edge more by smoothing, adjusting or deleting anchor points on my offset path in the Silhouette software.

If I don’t want to cut the loops inside some of the letters I can easily select them and press “Delete”

I even tested this little guy again, 1000x better than Cricut’s offset.

I can also refine the edges of his offset even more by using the Smooth tool, or deleting anchor points, or adjusting the anchor points.

I don’t have a Silhouette machine yet to test the cut on one of their machines. But I do have the Business Edition upgrade so I can save my file as a PNG and upload it to Cricut Design Space to test the cut.

I have to save this file with the offset as a PNG because an SVG with this type of watercolor artwork does not import correctly into Design Space.

Make sure the Offset stroke lines are set to white or no stroke so they don’t appear in the PNG file.

I select save as PNG to my hard d rive, check the transparent background box and make my DPI 300.

Then I upload my file into Cricut Design Space as a Print then Cut image. I do have to resize again, for some reason PNGs are huge in both Design Space and Studio

Look how much smoother and more refined the offset cuts are! I can’t wait to get my Silhouette machine to test how it cuts!

No little jagged edges!

Sorry for the curling, these a just plain paper that I peeled off my blue mat.

It’s Silhouette Studio for the win! The offset lines in Silhouette Studio already start out much smoother than in Cricut Design Space and I can always smooth them out even more or make adjustments to the offset lines in Silhouette Studio.