You need to tell the Silhouette software that you are cutting without the mat, as your choice has several implications. In this case, we’re going to actually choose None. We’ll talk about that here and in the next post in this series. (To start with the first post in this series, go here.)
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Tip #2: Select None on cutting mat
In your Page Setup panel, in your selection for Cutting Mat, you would normally have Cameo chosen. There are also other available mat choices like Portrait mat (which, if you didn’t know, you can use on your Cameo), Stamp mat, etc. At the very top of the list is an option called None. That’s what you need to choose when cutting without the mat.
With a Cameo 3 and Portrait 2, the software reads which mat choice you have. It then communicates that to the machine. When you start the job, the machine will decide, based on this choice in your file set up, where it needs to start the cut. You can see how if it starts in the wrong place, you’re going to have issues.
This isn’t the case on a Cameo 1 or 2, Portrait 1 or the old SD machines. On those, you press a different button when loading to pull the mat or material in a different amount. We’ll go over that later in the series. (I’m taking you through the process in the order you would use when working on your project). If you have the super old Original machine, you load with a crank handle, so again, we’ll go over that later in the series.
You cannot cut without the mat on a Curio machine, as it’s a completely different animal.
Notice that when you select None on cutting mat, your drawing area looks different. The mat is no longer showing. You may notice some other changes, but we’ll talk about those later.
In my next post in this series, I’ll teach you about how your usable area is different when cutting without the mat.
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