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What in the world??? Shape won’t fill with color (or doesn’t act right when it does)

September 11, 2020 By Cindy Eckhoff Leave a Comment

Have you ever encountered a real head-scratcher in Silhouette Studio? That's what this series is about -- explaining those and showing you how to fix them. Today, I'll show you why sometimes you just can't get a shape to fill with color. Or, you do, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Silhouette Studio Software, Tips Tagged With: closed, color, drawing, Fill, open, point editing, points

Tracing tips & tricks — #3 What’s in the Trace panel

September 10, 2020 By Cindy Eckhoff Leave a Comment

This is part 3 of the series on tracing -- creating cut files from things like photos and clip art. Be sure to read Lesson 1 on why and what to trace and Lesson 2 about choosing images before you read this one, as I will refer frequently to the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Designing, Silhouette Studio Software Tagged With: panel, trace, tracing

Tracing Tips & Tricks — #2 Image Selection

September 8, 2020 By Cindy Eckhoff 6 Comments

In this series (lesson 1 is here), I'm showing you how to take a clip art type image and turn it into a cut file for your Silhouette. This gives you a tremendous amount of designing flexibility. Lesson 2 is about graphic styles and how to choose … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Designing, Silhouette Studio Software Tagged With: raster, resolution, trace, tracing

Tracing Tips & Tricks — #1 Where to Start

September 4, 2020 By Cindy Eckhoff 4 Comments

Silhouette tracing

Today I'm beginning a series that's LONG overdue. It's about tracing -- how to turn an image such as clip art or a photo into a cut file. I've taught this as a class at the All Things Silhouette Conferences for years and am finally starting to do it … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Designing, Silhouette Studio Software Tagged With: clip art, images, jpg, photo, png, raster, trace, tracing, vector

What in the world??? — No points to edit on a design

September 1, 2020 By Cindy Eckhoff Leave a Comment

In this series, we're uncovering the mysteries of the universe. Well, at least the Silhouette universe. I'm covering topics that can really stump you no matter how long you've been using Silhouette machines. Today, we're going to talk about what's … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Silhouette Studio Software, Tips Tagged With: Compound Path, edit, group, point editing, points, Text, ungroup

What in the world??? — Text doesn’t cut the right size

August 12, 2020 By Cindy Eckhoff Leave a Comment

silhouette text myth letter size

In this series, I'm covering topics that stump new users (and even old pros like me). They're the things that drive you BATTY unless you understand them. The good news is that in almost every case, there's a quick fix. Today, I'm explaining why you … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Designing, Silhouette Studio Software, Tips Tagged With: font, size, Text, words

Frugal Friday: using last week’s free shape with a new design

August 7, 2020 By Cindy Eckhoff Leave a Comment

I hope you got last week's free shape, as it has SO many uses. I mentioned in this post that you can use the butterfly by itself. But even though the box is shaped like a butterfly, there's a way to use it for an unlimited number of designs by … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Designing, Silhouette Studio Software, Tips Tagged With: 3d, box, cardstock, design, free shape, modify

What in the world??? — Random blue line

July 31, 2020 By Cindy Eckhoff Leave a Comment

silhouette guidelines

In this series, I'm covering things that stump beginners (and even veterans) in Silhouette Studio. Today, I'll tell you about those odd blue lines that may show up on your Design area and seem to appear out of nowhere. Those are called guidelines. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Silhouette Studio Software Tagged With: blue line, grid, guidelines, ruler

Tuesday quick tip: Designing larger than the mat

July 28, 2020 By Cindy Eckhoff Leave a Comment

One of THE best things about using a Silhouette machine instead of any other brand is the ability to design and cut projects that are larger than the mat. Couple that with the powerful software and you have quite a few tools at your fingertips. But … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Designing, Silhouette Studio Software Tagged With: big, large, mat, page size

What in the world??? — Designs jerk around the page

July 24, 2020 By Cindy Eckhoff Leave a Comment

silhouette snap

Have you ever had something that had you completely stumped in Silhouette Studio? And you couldn't figure out what in the world was going on or how to stop it? That's what this series is all about -- explaining all those crazy things. Today we're … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Silhouette Studio Software Tagged With: grid, jerk, move, snap

Total Transformation: How to use the tools in the transform panel — Lesson 5 Shear

July 21, 2020 By Cindy Eckhoff Leave a Comment

Here's our 5th and final tab to explore in the Transform panel -- Shear. If you haven't read my posts about the Align, Scale, Rotate and Move tabs, I recommend reading those. There's more in them than most people realize. The tools can save you a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Designing, Silhouette Studio Software Tagged With: italic, shear, skew, slant, tilt, transform

What in the world??? — Little black dots on the design

July 1, 2020 By Cindy Eckhoff Leave a Comment

Today's topic is something that TOTALLY stumped me as a beginner. I would be working in the software and suddenly there were little black dots all over my design. Here's an example-- Note: This post contains affiliate links. That means if you … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Silhouette Studio Software, Tips Tagged With: dots, edit, points, vector

Total Transformation: how to use the tools in the Transform panel — Lesson 4 Move

June 29, 2020 By Cindy Eckhoff Leave a Comment

This is part 4 in this series on using the tools in the Transform panel. We've already covered Align, Scale and Rotate. Today's lesson is on the 4th tab -- Move. You can just click and drag your shapes around the page, but there are times you need to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Silhouette Studio Software Tagged With: location, move, transform

Total Transformation: how to use the tools in the Transform panel — Lesson 3 Rotate

June 25, 2020 By Cindy Eckhoff Leave a Comment

In this series, I'm showing you how to use all the tools in the Transform panel. We've already covered the Align and Scale tabs. Today, we'll learn about the 3rd tab -- Rotate. You can rotate any image by selecting it and dragging the green rotation … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Silhouette Studio Software Tagged With: rotate, rotation

Top 10 Silhouette Studio keyboard shortcuts

June 19, 2020 By Cindy Eckhoff Leave a Comment

In Silhouette Studio, as in many other programs, there's often multiple ways to do the same thing. We each have a tendency to find a favorite way -- keyboard shortcuts, drop down menus, right click menus, tool icons. I tend to use the first and last … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Silhouette Studio Software, Tips Tagged With: hot keys, keyboard, shortcut

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