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Image effects panel for better printing

August 13, 2021 By Cindy Eckhoff Leave a Comment

image effects icon in Silhouette

Image effects panel -- have you heard of that one? Many Silhouette users haven't. But it can be a HUGE help if you are printing from Silhouette Studio. You can use the tools in it to adjust colors in both printable patterns and photos. Let's go … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Designing, Print and Cut Tagged With: black and white, brightness, color, colorize, contrast, Fill, gamma, gray shade, hue, image effects, inversion, photo, Print and Cut, saturation, sepia, tint

Tuesday quick tip: How to change the default fill and line color

May 25, 2021 By Cindy Eckhoff Leave a Comment

When you create a shape or text in Silhouette Studio, by default it has a red line color and no fill color. Let's say you know that filled shapes are easier to grab with your mouse, so you always work with filled shapes as I recommend. Or maybe you … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Silhouette Studio Software Tagged With: color, default, Fill, line, preferences

What in the world??? When the shape won’t let you change its fill color

September 15, 2020 By Cindy Eckhoff Leave a Comment

I LOVE LOVE LOVE mystery/detective shows, particularly British ones. And I really enjoy doing puzzles and playing games where I have to solve a problem. Lots of folks do. But very few of us like to have to solve a mystery when working with … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Designing, Silhouette Studio Software, Tips Tagged With: color, detach lines, Fill, line, modify, open path

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

How’d they do that? Spaced puzzle pieces

February 24, 2020 By Cindy Eckhoff Leave a Comment

I've been meaning to write this post for a few weeks, ever since I saw a logo design for a message series at our church. The series is called "Life in Pieces," with the word "pieces" looking like a puzzle. There's a bit of separation between the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Designing, Silhouette Studio Software Tagged With: closed path, crop, Fill, modify, offset, open paths, point editing, puzzle

Can you turn a print and cut design into a regular cut?

January 9, 2020 By Cindy Eckhoff Leave a Comment

You can almost always take a regular cut shape and turn it into a print and cut design. But the opposite is not always true. Some print and cut images from the Silhouette Design Store (←this is an affiliate link, meaning if you click on it and buy … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Designing, Print and Cut Tagged With: color, Fill, image effects, Print and Cut, silhouette design store

How’d they do that? Adding spacing between elements

January 7, 2020 By Cindy Eckhoff Leave a Comment

spacing gap knockout

Today's tutorial is helpful for those of us, me definitely included, who have trouble lining things up perfectly. By creating an intentional spacing gap between different elements, you give yourself some wiggle room. This is helpful for any material, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Designing Tagged With: Compound Path, Fill, htv, knockout, modify, offset, outline, spacing, subtract, subtract all, Text, transparency, vinyl

Custom Color Palettes in Silhouette Studio Version 4.3

November 19, 2019 By Cindy Eckhoff Leave a Comment

silhouette custom color palette

Have you ever wanted to be able to save custom colors in Silhouette Studio -- make your own custom color palette? Then today is your lucky day! Note: This post may contain affiliate links. That means if you click the link and purchase something, I … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Silhouette Studio Software Tagged With: color, custom, Fill, palette

Drawing filled shapes or text: 2 ways to select attributes beforehand

November 28, 2018 By Cindy Eckhoff Leave a Comment

I don't know about you, but I always work with filled shapes. Unfilled shapes are harder to move around, you can't easily see front to back order, and you don't know if you have groupings or compound paths (which makes a HUGE difference when you use … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Silhouette Studio Software, Tips Tagged With: attributes, color, default, Fill, filled, font, line color, preferences, Text

Cutting Checklist

September 14, 2018 By Cindy Eckhoff Leave a Comment

This post is part of my Checklists series. Each post in the series is a set of brief reminders to help you remember the sequence of steps to use as you work on a project. With each checklist, I provide links to more information about the topics. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Cutting, Tips Tagged With: action, advance cut mode, blade, checklist, color, cut, cut style, cutting, Fill, force, line, line segment overcut, mat, material, passes, pause, resume, settings, simple cut mode, speed

How to more easily visualize your design and finished project

July 9, 2018 By Cindy Eckhoff Leave a Comment

silhouette visualize project

Today I want to share with you some tips on how you can better visualize the outcome of a design. You can use these methods to get a more realistic preview your project, create mockups, or to predict the outcome before you use any Modify options. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Designing, Silhouette Studio Software Tagged With: background, Fill, line color, mock up, pattern, raster, visualize

Photo crop in Silhouette Studio: how and why to do it

July 6, 2018 By Cindy Eckhoff Leave a Comment

trace and detach

I’ve been working on a gift for some dear friends who moved away and are now returning to our home turf.  I’m creating the design in Silhouette Studio and saving it as a JPEG so that I can get it printed professionally on a coffee mug. Today, I want … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Designing, Silhouette Studio Software Tagged With: crop, draw curved shape, draw freehand, draw smooth freehand, edit points, Fill, jpeg, magnet trace, modify, photo, photo crop, photo editing, point editing, raster, trace, trace and detach

Point Editing: taming all those little black dots (Lesson 7)

June 29, 2018 By Cindy Eckhoff Leave a Comment

silhouette edit points for trace

Here we are in our final lesson on Point Editing. If you need to start at the beginning of this series, go here. In today’s lesson I’m going to give you a few tips on working with points on text, show you how to edit points to help when you’re … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Designing, Silhouette Studio Software Tagged With: closed, convert to path, crop, curve, curved, Drawing Tools, edit points, Fill, freehand, magnet trace, modify, open, path, point editing, points, polygon, raster, simplify, smooth freehand, subtract, Text, trace, trace and detach, tracing

Point Editing: taming all those little black dots (Lesson 6 Part 1)

June 15, 2018 By Cindy Eckhoff Leave a Comment

silhouette point editing breaking paths

Today we're digging even deeper into the world of Point Editing in Silhouette Studio. We're going to look at the concept of breaking and joining paths. We'll talk about when you need to use these techniques, plus what open shapes are and how to close … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Designing, Silhouette Studio Software Tagged With: break, close, closed, Compound Path, edit points, Fill, grouping, join, open, paths, point editing, points, red dots

Pattern fill pizzazz: 7 ways to put your own graphic into any shape (misc. info)

May 4, 2018 By Cindy Eckhoff Leave a Comment

silhouette pattern fill

We've learned the 7 different ways to put a raster image into any shape, but we aren't done yet. (To start with lesson #1 in this series, go here.) There are some critical tidbits of info you'll need to know in order to use these methods successfully … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Designing, Silhouette Studio Software Tagged With: cut, cut style, Fill, folder, import, library, merging, no cut, pattern, pattern fill, raster

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