MickRalph

One of the first Toddlers I read contained an article by John Charman on Charford and that inspired an enduring love of the ex-LSWR lines. However, I shifted my interest back from the Southern to the LSWR period. A later article on timetables for Charford, together with articles on the layout and stock working on Portreath, gave me an interest in proper operation of lay outs, such that after retirement I have qualified as a signalman at the Bluebell Railway. Looking at an index of Toddler articles, I must have been only 8 at the time of the original article, as it appeared in April 1955(!), so perhaps it was the later on in December 1959 (I am in holiday and don't have access to my store of old RMs). John Charman wrote many other inspiring articles on building Charford (originally built in a caravan!) as listed in this RMWeb post. Mick t

I was very disappointed when reading the other thread last night between midnight and 1:00am to find that I couldn't go from page 5 to page 6 and then all pages disappeared. I agree that it was well conducted up to the point I reached in the thread and the mod had indicated that he was aware of the good-natured banter of the thread. Mick

David - back in March/April there was discussion about files being imported into SS with the wrong dimensions. Look at this post. In a later response I wrote: "In case anyone else decides to buy Silhouette Studio Designer Edition or has a similar issue when exporting from Inkscape to the standard Studio, you can avoid having to change the settings for each document by changing the "document properties" of the default.svg file (in the "templates" sub-folder of the "share" sub-folder within the "Inkscape" folder). This is the file which opens when you start a new document. The only way I could alter the default file in Windows 10 (it won't let me save files in c-drive folders) was to open a new document, amend the properties to have the "general" default units as mm and the "custom size" default units as px; save this file as "default.svg" somewhere else; and then move this file to replace the original default.svg file (closing Inkscape first, so that the file isn't still open). Now when you open a new file it will have the correct properties to import into Studio correctly. I hope this is of help to someone. Mick". This worked for Ozthedog and I think he, you and I may be the only people using SSDE - at least I haven't seen any other references to it. Mick

You need to ensure that in Silhouette the "Edit/preferences/import options/when importing SVG" is set to "As-is". Mick

Ken's suggestion would be fine for external rectangles, but won't work where the rectangle is inside other shapes (eg windows in the panel overlay for pre-grouping coaches). I think that the suggestions from Ron and davetheroad, for creating the dummy lines in completely different colours to be cut between the horizontal and vertical ones, is probably the best solution. It would be necessary to make sure that there is consistency in the colour scheme for any design, in that no vertical line should be in the colour for vertical lines. Mick

It has just occurred to me that the blade will still be (say) vertical after cutting the last of the vertical lines, so that it will have to turn to horizontal at the start of the first of the horizontal lines; this will make that particular corner a bit jagged. If I could work out how to make sure that it became the first cut, it could be advantageous to cut a simple horizontal line first to orientate the blade before it cuts the required lines. I think, though, that working out how to get this line to cut first may be too difficult to make it worth doing. I think that the lines are generally cut in the order they were created (their "z-order"), though there are various options in Studio for the cutting order - no sort(ie z-order); mazimise speed; minimize roller movement; or sort interior contours first. When cutting small items with small strips between holes, or even cutting coach panelling, the latter option (which is selectable separately from the others) is probably a good one in order to cut the smallest holes first before cutting out the complete item. I have found in the past that complete small items (eg hand-wheels) can get detached from the backing sheet before the internal holes have completely cut through (perhaps because of the order the lines are cut). On balance, I think I can live with the issue of a single curved cut at the start of a new colour, as it really only shows up at high magnification. I will, however, try out the internal contours cut option for the future. Mick

In case anyone else decides to buy Silhouette Studio Designer Edition or has a similar issue when exporting from Inkscape to the standard Studio, you can avoid having to change the settings for each document by changing the "document properties" of the default.svg file (in the "templates" sub-folder of the "share" sub-folder within the "Inkscape" folder). This is the file which opens when you start a new document. The only way I could alter the default file in Windows 10 (it won't let me save files in c-drive folders) was to open a new document, amend the properties to have the "general" default units as mm and the "custom size" default units as px; save this file as "default.svg" somewhere else; and then move this file to replace the original default.svg file (closing Inkscape first, so that the file isn't still open). Now when you open a new file it will have the correct properties to import into Studio correctly. I hope this is of help to someone. Mick

I have just cut some parts for an 0-6-0 tank engine of the Tramways of the Correze. I have cut the parts in 10 thou, cutting two of each shape to be laminated together. I have just finished taking them off the sheet. I am planning to post some photos here and to start my own thread on the building of the loco, but we are in France and have some decorating jobs to do before we go back to England on Wednesday. Mick

In post 1289, ozthedog (keith) wrote: I responded that I had not had the problem with drawings being resized when imported into Silhouette Designer Edition, and checked with my most recent cutting that the drawing was the same size. However - disaster!! Having completed the drawing plan for a loco from the Tramways of the Correze, I imported it into DE; it looked a bit small on the page, but I did not check it and printed the design on 10th plasticard. When I then measured the cut items, I found that they were about 80% of the correct size! After much head-scratching and comparing properties of the recent Inkscape files for LSWR dining saloons (which had come out the right size) with those of the TC loco, I found that for the saloons, the "Page" tab of "File>Document Properties" had the default units as mm, but the custom size units was set to px. Setting the custom size unit to px in the loco plan (see attached diagram - sorry about the poor quality - first time I have exported a png from Inkscape) resulted in the drawing being imported as the correct size in Silhouette Studio Designer Edition. A similar solution may help with resizing problems when exporting from Inkscape as dxf files - this may have been why I changed the properties for the saloons. I will email Silhouette support to enquire whether this is a bug. Mick

Keith, I have had the Designer Edition for about a year now, but haven't seen anyone else indicating that they have it. You got a good price, as mine cost £29 (and still does) from Yolo. There is no separate manual for DE, as the standard manual (accessible from the "help" tab) includes instructions applicable to DE. "Return to origin" appears to be the default option. One issue with DE is that i you can only cut by layer or by colour. Thus if you have multiple layers (eg lines for a 10 thou cut on one layer and lines for a 20 thou cut on another), then selecting by layer cuts all lines on that layer and doesn't allow you to turn off cut/score of different line colours. The way round this is to create the full drawing and then to save separate SVG files in Inkscape for the 10 thou and 20 thou drawings. I am now worried about your comment on resized imports, as I hadn't noticed this - perhaps my carriages are all slightly short! I am just off to France for three weeks and am taking the cutter with me and hope to finish drawing and cutting parts for a loco from the Tramways of the Correze metre gauge line. I am planning to see whether I can score some nickel silver to make the same parts for a metal version of the loco. I will take some careful measurements of the DE output to see whether I am getting a different sized import than the size in Inkscape. Edit - I have just measured the lengths of the most recent coach sides I have cut (for a couple of LSWR dining carriages and some 48ft coaches and thay have come out the right size. Mick

Daisy, My Portrait, purchased over a year ago, was supplied with a a transformer including the lead to plug into the machine and two leads to plug into the transformer. One has a 2-pin European plug, which I use when I am in France, and the other has the standard UK 3-pin plug. As John says, I think you should contact the company you bought it from. Mick

I would certainly upgrade; there are some useful enhancements, not least a tool to measure distances. I use this a lot to ensure that objects are the right size and in the correct place. I don't get any warnings when downloading from the Inkscape downloads page. Mick

The is a very long thread on a French forum about using cutters with card. There are some stunning models being created. The thread is here. I have tried cutting cereal packet card, but don't have enough experience to suggest the most suitable card. I would think that the same card that people use for other hand-cut modelling is best - you could try looking in the card modelling forum on RMweb. With regard to creating drawings and using the "trace" function, I couldn't get that to work well enough. Inkscape is free and is really easy to learn (I had no previous experience). Mike Trice's Inkscape tutorial here is a great introduction and there are a couple of other useful guides on the forum, for example here Mick Ralph

Rob, Is it a constant factor by which you have to resize after importing the svg file into Studio? There was some discussion earlier in the thread about resizing problems, though I haven't checked back to see what was the issue, or the resolution of the problem. Mick

Hello Rob, I have the Designer Edition of Silhouette Studio, as I had some difficulties with opening a DXF file correctly in Studio. I have no problem in opening the SVG file in Studio DE. The only issue with the sizing of the design is to ensure that Edit > Preferences > Import Options > When Importing SVG is set to "As-Is". I don't thing there is anything to set in Inkscape to ensure correct sizing of the design when imported into Studio DE. Although DE allows you to import SVG with layers and to cut by layers or by colour, I have found that it is necessary to save separate files for each layer, as DE either cuts all lines in a selected layer, regardless of colour, or all lines of a selected colour across all layers. I can't get to grips with using Studio for editing a design, so, like Sleeper, I go back to the original file, edit it in Inkscape and then reopen it in DE. I have been experimenting with the Gerrman program CutWizard, which is added as an extension to Inkscape and thus cuts direct from Inkscape. This program costs about the same as DE, but there is a 14 day free trial, and the latest version (available from www.hobbyplotter.de/download/downloads/index.php?id=337) now allows cutting by line-colour rather than by line-fill as previously. There are a couple of issues which I haven't resolved yet, so I would be interested to hear how anyone else gets on with the program. One issue is that it seems to me that you need to use pixels as the default template measurement, but more importantly, sometimes the extension seems to "see" a shape which has been deleted, so that the design is then wrong. I haven't worked out the circumstances in which this happens. The extension offers the same functionality as DE in setting different parameters for different colours of cut-lines. Using this extension would resolve the issue above, as you simply close the extension, re-edit the design and then run the extension again, but having bough DE, I think I will stick with it. Mick

Sadly, "Brighton Road" has been dismantled; details of this layout and others by Barry Luck (including "Plumpton Green" - the new one on the exhibition circuit) can be found on Barry's website at www.lbscrmodels.co.uk Mick Ralph

To add a pause between colours, right click on a colour and there is a pop-up "Add Pause". If the colours aren't in the right order (eg scribing colours and cutting colours are mixed), you can re-order them by clicking on a colour and dragging it up or down the list. Mick

It is not difficult, but it is not quick, as it needs each shape to be dealt with separately. For a rectangle, with either square or rounded corners, highlight the shape and use "Path > Object to Path" (shift+crtl+C). This changes the shape to a path and clicking on "Edit by Nodes" (F2; or the second icon down) you can see you now have a node at each change of direction. Now click Ctrl+A, which selects and highlights all the nodes; select the fourth icon along the top (break path at selected nodes); and then "Path > Break Apart" (shift+ctrl+K). By selecting the pointer (first icon on the down row at the left, you will see that you have now four separate lines (or eight separate lines for a rounded-corner rectangle). By selecting (say) the vertical lines, the line colour can be altered. This has to be done for each shape, but of course you can select all the lines from a shape and duplicate the shape (deleting those similar shapes which haven't yet been altered). Your window-frames (?) are probably already paths; if so you can skip the "object to path" step. I hope this makes sense and helps. Mick

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

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

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

Thanks Jon for drawing attention to the Pixscan utility. I had missed mention of this in Silhouette Studio. I will have to get a mat and experiment. Mick

If anyone wants to try making the crates for themselves, Crafty Computer Papers has a special offer over Easter of 20% off all sales, so 3 sheets of the wood veneer cost £11.59 including postage. Mick Ralph

As far as I can see, the preferences are used to set the line colour and fill either from the last ellipse (or similarly the last rectangle) drawn or a specified setting. The shape (ellipse, sector or arc) is remembered from the last drawn (and a rectangle has either square or rounded corners accorfing to the last object drawn). Mick

I was just going to post the same information. Having changed the shape to an ellipse, the program remembers this shape and the next shape will also be an ellipse. If having drawn it you need it to be an arc or a segment, you have to edit the nodes as above. Strangely, the same effect is in version 48.5, though I can't remember whether it was there before I installed v91. Don't forget that to get a circle you need to press the "ctrl" key when drawing the shape. If you forget, you can change the ellipse to a circle by unlocking the padlock (in the selection pointer mode), making the height and width the same and then relocking the padlock to preserve the proportions when resizing. Mick