A Guide to using the Silhouette Cameo Cutter

[MickRalph]

I couldn't get "Trace" to give accurate lines, whereas when I use Inkscape to draw over a scanned image from Gordon Weddell's LSWR carriages books, I can follow very closely the lines from the drawing.  Mind you, the accuracy of Inkscape shows up any deficiencies in the drawing.

 

Mick Ralph

[MickRalph]

I have just opened Silhouette Studio and it told me that a security update is available to deal with a vulnerability in the way that the program deals with credit card payments (eg buying from the Silhouette Design Store or in transferring information when upgrading the software with a license key.

 

We are required by credit card processing companies to ensure proper data encryption. Otherwise, they do not allow us to accept payment and subsequently we would no longer be able to offer access to the Silhouette Design Store.

However, it is not just credit card information that is potentially vulnerable and in need of protection. It also includes things like your username and password each time you log in. For users who may share the same password for other websites and accounts, this unlocks the door for a hacker to gain access to other accounts that they use apart from the Silhouette Design Store.

What does this mean for anyone using an older software version?

Older versions of the software will continue to function properly for all areas aside from a) being able to access and download content from the Silhouette Design Store, and B) the ability to apply new license keys to upgrade the software

NOTE: This does not affect license keys that have already been applied. It only prevents license keys from being able to be sucessfully applied or re-applied going forward if the latest software update is not applied.

 

Mick Ralph

Edited June 26, 2015 by MickRalph

[jonhall]

I couldn't get "Trace" to give accurate lines, whereas when I use Inkscape to draw over a scanned image from Gordon Weddell's LSWR carriages books, I can follow very closely the lines from the drawing.  Mind you, the accuracy of Inkscape shows up any deficiencies in the drawing.

 

Mick Ralph

 

Mick, I agree, but I realised that my cargowaggon example might have given a too optimistic impression. I suspect that it works well because it is a computer generated pdf that has never been a hard copy - the white bits are perfectly white and the black perfectly black, and all lines both a consistent thickness, and straight, whereas the scanned from a hand drawn drawing application is probably closer to what most of us want to do.

 

Manually tracing over the top of the imported drawing is of course perfectly possible in Silhouette Studio as well.

 

Jon

[JCL]

I did have a go at the trace function at the beginning with regards to crossing gates (it's somewhere in this thread), but I quickly gave up because I found that it was quicker to import an image and draw over it manually than to correct tracing mistakes. It does take time to become proficient, depending on your computer skills, but it is time well worth investing. My thought is to start with something that doesn't involve too many curves - a building or similar, and then go onto something more complex after that so you don't become frustrated.

[sleeper]

I'm having quite a few problems at present with my Inkscape SVG files once converted to DXF, they are,

 

1/ any rectangles with rounded edges that were formed in the original and saved as an SVG file then saved as a DXF file, come out as square edged rectangles when opened  with the Silhouette software

 

2/ When reopening DXF files for minor alterations and the component parts are de-grouped, and then zoomed it's apparent that some of the lines have increased or decreased in length, so leaving gaps or overlapping. The dimensions in the boxes are constantly altering despite being locked

  

3/ When opening a DXF file in Silhouette the image is massively overscale so much so that it is difficult to find. This problem seems worse in V3 than it did in V2, it was always outside the page but now it's rediculous.

 

Any comments/advice would be gratefully received

 

Roly

[sleeper]

To save confusion I've kept this query separate from the 3 above.

 

In Inkscape how do I form an all in one rectangle with  rounded corners but one end sloped? Like the shape of a side window on a car, or many diesel locos.

 

Thanks

 

Roly

[BG John]

To save confusion I've kept this query separate from the 3 above.

 

In Inkscape how do I form an all in one rectangle with  rounded corners but one end sloped? Like the shape of a side window on a car, or many diesel locos.

 

Thanks

 

Roly

You mean something like this?

 

As a totally new user, I thought I'd take up the challenge! An expert may know better though! This is what I did:

1) Draw rectangle

2) Round corners

3) From menu, select Path > Stroke to Path

4) Click Node Edit icon in left toolbar

5) Click and drag round the nodes at both ends of the top right hand curve to select them

6) Click on the nodes on the top line only that you've just selected, until they turn red

7) Drag them to the left. Holding down Ctrl key keeps it horizontal, unless you move some way up or down

Edited June 27, 2015 by BG John

[MickRalph]

I'm having quite a few problems at present with my Inkscape SVG files once converted to DXF, they are,

 

1/ any rectangles with rounded edges that were formed in the original and saved as an SVG file then saved as a DXF file, come out as square edged rectangles when opened  with the Silhouette software

 

2/ When reopening DXF files for minor alterations and the component parts are de-grouped, and then zoomed it's apparent that some of the lines have increased or decreased in length, so leaving gaps or overlapping. The dimensions in the boxes are constantly altering despite being locked

  

3/ When opening a DXF file in Silhouette the image is massively overscale so much so that it is difficult to find. This problem seems worse in V3 than it did in V2, it was always outside the page but now it's rediculous.

 

Any comments/advice would be gratefully received

 

Roly

Roly - I had the same problem as point 1 and covered the issue in this post.  Briefly, I think you need to convert the rounded corner rectangles to path ("oject to path") and then, contrary to the suggestion in that post, ensure that use polyline is selected in the saving options panel.

 

For point 3, try "edit/preferences" then under "import options", in "when importing DXF", ensure that "centred" is selected rather than "as is".

 

I haven't experienced point 2, so I regret I can't help on this.

 

Mick

Edited June 27, 2015 by MickRalph

[BG John]

I've just scanned and imported what might be my first project when my Portrait arrives. I'm having a go at a private owner wagon in 7mm, so if it doesn't work out as planned, no one can prove I got it wrong! They can only argue about whether a dumb buffered wagon that was designed in 1875 would have been in the hands of a fictitious Sussex coal merchant in 1910!

 

To make extra sure I got it as accurate as possible, I scanned the drawing into GIMP at 1200dpi, which is probably overkill. The drawing is actually approx. 6.4mm scale, and there is about a 1mm error in the height of it. Probably nothing compared to the inaccuracy the men with saws and hammers who built the thing (if it was built!) achieved, but an interesting exercise! I saved it as a PNG file, and imported into a new layer in Inkscape.

 

I'd drawn two rectangles in a Guide layer. One was the width and height of the body, and the other the wheelbase and height from rail level to the bottom of the body. I got the dimensions by dividing the inch part of the drawing dimension by 12, adding the number of feet, then multiplying by 7 eg 12' 11": ((11/12) + 12) * 7 = 90.42mm. It turned out that there's about a 0.5mm gap between these two rectangles, which I'm sure is the error in the drawing, not by me, as I checked it thoroughly (I think!!). So my scaling of the image is maybe very slightly out, accounted for by the thickness and very slight imperfection of the scanned lines. Probably far too pedantic, but worthwhile while learning how to do it.

 

I found the drawing wasn't quite square, so rotated it by 0.2 degrees using Object > Transform > Rotate. That lined it up just about spot on.

 

What I found though, was that although I thought I'd locked the aspect ratio of the image, it was only resizing in one direction. This threw me the first few times I tried it, as I thought the aspect ratio was changing, and either the drawing was rubbish, or something had gone wrong with the scanning or import! It's a good thing I was lining it up with both horizontal and vertical guides. When I realised, I stretched it both ways until it fitted.

 

I've been trying this on a new file, and it appears that dragging a corner maintains the aspect ratio, while dragging a side doesn't, unless the Ctrl key is held down, even when the aspect ratio is locked. That's fine when you know, but might catch someone out who doesn't, and they could end up with a distorted image without realising. Am I right, or have I missed something?

[MikeOxon]

I'm having quite a few problems at present with my Inkscape SVG files once converted to DXF, they are,

 

1/ any rectangles with rounded edges that were formed in the original and saved as an SVG file then saved as a DXF file, come out as square edged rectangles when opened  with the Silhouette software

 

2/ When reopening DXF files for minor alterations and the component parts are de-grouped, and then zoomed it's apparent that some of the lines have increased or decreased in length, so leaving gaps or overlapping. The dimensions in the boxes are constantly altering despite being locked

  

3/ When opening a DXF file in Silhouette the image is massively overscale so much so that it is difficult to find. This problem seems worse in V3 than it did in V2, it was always outside the page but now it's rediculous.

 

Any comments/advice would be gratefully received

 

Roly

I used to have the square corners problem when importing DXF files from AutoSketch.  It was solved by installing the latest version of the Studio software, so check whether you need to update your software.

 

I've not experienced problem 2 but check whether you have any 'snap to grid' options enabled

 

Make sure you set the import options for DXF ( as mentioned in other posts)

[sleeper]

Thanks guys for your replies, there is certainly a lot in them to be digested, it would seem I'm not alone in my experiences. One thing that is obvious to me is I need to gain a lot more experience in computer design than that which I have at present.

For instance I can't seem to get my head around the term 'path', to me that word means something you walk along, but in computer speak it seems to indicate something different, quite what I'm not too sure of.

I might just mention for the benefit of others reading through this now rather lengthy post that in BGJohn's rescaling formula above, I was at first confused by the  *   before the 7 until I worked it out with a calculator and realised it means  x  (multiply).

I've had a long tiring day in the hot sun today at a motor racing event here in France so after a good nights sleep I expect the proffered advice above will make much more sense to me.

 

thanks again guys

 

Roly 

Edited June 28, 2015 by sleeper

[BG John]

I might just mention for the benefit of others reading through this now rather lengthy post that in BGJohn's rescaling formula above, I was at first confused by the  *   before the 7 until I worked it out with a calculator and realised it means  x  (multiply).

I've got a spreadsheet to do it for me now . I've started again with this drawing, and the first thing I did was set out guidelines for all the marked dimensions. Then I imported the scanned drawing, and I'm still fiddling around trying to work out why it doesn't quite fit. There seem to be some errors in the drawing, so I expect there will be in lots of the drawings we use. I'd like to get really proficient with this stage, so I can eventually churn out models in no time. Too many years without doing any modelling to catch up!!!!!

[sleeper]

I think a lot of the 'scale' drawings were done by hand and as such have 'human errors' built in so the accuracy of the computer exploits these errors, similarly images can be distorted by the camera lens which again the computer finds out.

[BG John]

I think a lot of the 'scale' drawings were done by hand and as such have 'human errors' built in so the accuracy of the computer exploits these errors, similarly images can be distorted by the camera lens which again the computer finds out.

I think that's going to be one of the challenges! Deciding how much to "improve" on the work of well known railway experts, who are/were far better draughtsman than I'll ever be.

 

My Portrait arrived this morning. I was hoping it would be another day or two so I could get some other things out of the way first! Now I've either got to start playing with it, or try to avoid staring at the box in eager anticipation!!!

[richbrummitt]

I've been trying this on a new file, and it appears that dragging a corner maintains the aspect ratio, while dragging a side doesn't, unless the Ctrl key is held down, even when the aspect ratio is locked. That's fine when you know, but might catch someone out who doesn't, and they could end up with a distorted image without realising. Am I right, or have I missed something?

 

Dragging a corner won't always maintain the aspect ratio, depending on circumstances. It seems you have selected that the aspect ratio remains locked though, so it should be maintained. 

 

Dragging from the centre of a side is giving you the intended operation which, whilst you have found it inconvenient, maintains some flexibility. Hopefully you can see that it makes some sense that you might select the centre of an object's side if you wished to amend the side, rather than the corner to amend both sides at once?

Edited June 29, 2015 by richbrummitt

[BG John]

Dragging a corner won't always maintain the aspect ratio, depending on circumstances. It seems you have selected that the aspect ratio remains locked though, so it should be maintained. 

 

Dragging from the centre of a side is giving you the intended operation which, whilst you have found it inconvenient, maintains some flexibility. Hopefully you can see that it makes some sense that you might select the centre of an object's side if you wished to amend the side, rather than the corner to amend both sides at once?

It's starting to make sense now! I've restarted this drawing, adding loads of guidelines first, then importing the drawing. It's not quite lining up yet, so I'll probably do a bit of stretching the sides until it does. That will partly compensate for what look like errors in the drawing.

[sleeper]

I tried out bg john's instructions for forming the 'window' shape and it worked perfectly thanks for that John.

As for the problem of  uploading DXF files into Silhouette studio I changed the import preferences to 'central' to no avail. BUT I found that if I minimised the page with the minus button the uploaded file came into view and then I simply dragged it by the collar into the box, a bit of kerfuffle but it provides a remedy.

 

Roly

[Roger.s]

I tried scribing bricks with my portrait cutter.

The result was raised edges to the mortar lines because, I think, to the scriber and/or cutter displacing the plastic but not removing any of it.

 

When scribing plasticard the old way by hand, I use a skrawker which removes a sliver of plastic and so I made a tool to do this.

I used a blunt cutter ~ the type that fit a CB09 holder ~ and ground a flat cutting face on it.  The cutting face needs to be wider than the metal behind it so that it cuts and does not push the plastic out of the scribed line. This is opposite to the cutters shape and so  the new cutting face is ground  from the back edge of the old cutter.

 

The new scrawker is on the left and normal cutter is on the right.

 

The difference in the brickwork  can be seen below. I applied a wash of diluted black ink to improve the contrast.

 

The artwork was drawn in Autocad and transferred to Studio as a DXF file. I made sure that all the horizontal lines were drawn it the same direction and put them in one layer and similarly for all the verticals, put in another layer. This results in the cutter only having to change direction once.

 

The bricks are 2mmFS so the mortar lines are 0.5mm apart and the bricks are 1.5 and 0.75 mm long.

 

Roger

 

Edited June 29, 2015 by Roger.s

[terry.ecmr]

A little help please.

 

When bought my Silhouette Cameo 9 months ago I found on this excellent thread info on how to change the default software measurements from inches to metric.

 

I changed my laptop recently and reloaded the Silhouette Software but it has reverted to imperial.

 

I've gone through page after page but can't find the instruction to convert to metric.

 

Can anybody help??

 

Many thanks

 

Terry

[ian_g_griffiths]

Terry,

 

Edit > Preferences and look in the General tab.

 

Ian

[terry.ecmr]

Many thanks Ian.

 

I knew somebody would have the answer.

 

Terry

[frankw]

Hi, An earlier poster experimented using one of my company's downloadable card kits to try on their cutter. It was suggested that  registration marks be provided on the sheets of the kit to aid cutting.

 

I am pleased to announce that starting with the recent launch of the Station Goods Yard Stables model, all our model sheets will contain registration marks:

 

Details of what is provided can be found here.

 

I hope that this will indeed help.

 

Any suggestions for improvements that can reasonably be included in future kits to aid automatic cutting are welcome.

 

Kind regards, Frank.

[frankw]

Regarding the above post - I have updated my free download Line Side Hut model to include the new registration marks - that is if anyone wants to have a play

 

Feedback would be welcome of course.

 

Cheers, Frank.

[frankw]

Lastly, I have created a "Cutting Template" for each sheet in the free download kit. The templates are in *.svg format, contain the same registration markings, are zipped up for convenience and can be downloaded by clicking HERE.

 

That is my lot until I get some feedback from you nice people who know so much more about automatic cutters than I do

 

Cheers!

[Smiffy2]

I shall give it a go as soon as I can, but I'm away for a couple of weeks. I think it's a brilliant idea.