Smart Silhouette

  • Home
  • About
  • Tutorials List
  • Contact

When not to use a compound path

May 20, 2020 By Cindy Eckhoff Leave a Comment

If you've read many of my tutorials, you know I love compound paths. Maybe it's because when I explain them, I use a donut as an illustration. LOL! Understanding compound paths and how they differ from groupings is KEY to designing and altering … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Designing, Silhouette Studio Software Tagged With: Compound Path, designing, grouping, modify, subtract, weld

Dispelling Text Myths in Silhouette Studio: 30 misconceptions about words, letters and fonts (Part 6)

August 31, 2018 By Cindy Eckhoff Leave a Comment

broken fonts in silhouette

Here we are in our last post about misunderstanding folks have when working with wording in Silhouette Studio. If you need to start back at the beginning, you can find Part 1 here. Today's 5 myths cover some miscellaneous topics about working with a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Silhouette Studio Software Tagged With: Compound Path, cursive, font, fonts, grouping, letters, myths, offset, print, spell, spellcheck, spellchecking, spelling, Text, weld, word, words

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

Everything you ever wanted to know about the Version 4 Send Area: #5 — Action by: Line, Fill or Layer

March 2, 2018 By Cindy Eckhoff Leave a Comment

silhouette cut by fill color

Now that you know the basics of the Send area, it's time to get into advanced options with Action by: Line, Fill or Layer (Advanced Cut Mode in version 3). In these modes, you choose your cut settings for each shape based on its line color, its fill … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Cutting, Silhouette Studio Software Tagged With: action, action by, auto weld, color, Compound Path, cut, cut preview, cut settings, cut view, Designer Edition, Fill, Fill Color, gradient, grouping, layer, layers, line, line color, no cut, pattern, send, Sketch, Sketch pen, tool, weld

Pancakes and Donuts: the key to understanding the difference between a grouping and a compound path

February 27, 2018 By Cindy Eckhoff Leave a Comment

silhouette pancakes and donuts

To truly understand using and creating designs in Silhouette Studio software, you need to have a good understanding of Groupings and Compound Paths -- how they are the same, how they are different and how they respond differently to modifications. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Designing, Silhouette Studio Software Tagged With: Compound Path, convert to path, craftsy, donuts, Fill, font, grouping, modify, pancakes, pattern, point editing, Print and Cut, scale, Text, trace, tracing, ungroup

Successful Beginner Projects: #4 Christmas Tree Gift Tag

November 10, 2017 By Cindy Eckhoff Leave a Comment

silhouette tag

We’re going to create another gift tag today. I mean, I can never have too many Christmas gift tags in my house come holiday time ????. In this project, we’ll learn to draw another type of shape, use control points, resize disproportionately, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Materials, Projects Tagged With: Align, cardstock, christmas, Compound Path, control point, cut, cut edge, cut settings, gift, grouping, rounded rectangle, tag, transform

Software basics (version 4) — Lesson 12: Adding shapes to the page and basic manipulation

September 22, 2017 By Cindy Eckhoff Leave a Comment

silhouette add shape

You’ve got your free shapes in your library and you’ve learned how to get around in the Silhouette Studio software. Let’s learn how you put those images on the page and start working with them. (If you need to start with Lesson 1 of the Software … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Silhouette Studio Software Tagged With: Basic, beginner, color, Compound Path, cut line, Fill, grouping, order, resize, scale, select, ungroup

Why I never weld cursive text (& why you shouldn’t either)

June 24, 2017 By Cindy Eckhoff 4 Comments

Did that title surprise you? It sounds insane, right? I mean, we hear all the time from other users that if we don't weld text the letters won't all be connected and you'll get little tiny pieces at the overlaps. It's true that you need to do … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Cutting, Silhouette Studio Software Tagged With: autoweld, Compound Path, cursive, cut edge, donuts, grouping, pancakes, script, Text, weld

Quick Search

Newsletter

Sign up to receive email updates and to hear what's new with me.

Connect

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Recent Posts

  • Tuesday quick tip: matching rotated angles
  • Draw something! How to use the Silhouette Studio Drawing tools: Lesson 3 — Draw an Arc
  • Draw something! How to use the Silhouette drawing tools: Lesson 2 — Draw a non-regular shape
  • Draw Something! How to use the Silhouette drawing tools — Lesson 1: Draw a line
  • Tuesday quick tip: How to strikethrough text

Recent Comments

  • Cindy Eckhoff on Attention Windows computer users with an older Silhouette machine
  • Benny on Attention Windows computer users with an older Silhouette machine
  • Cindy Eckhoff on Lantern shadow box
  • Randi Hetland on Lantern shadow box
  • Cindy Eckhoff on Silhouette America to discontinue the Curio
Click the image link above and use code 10OFF to get 10% off regular priced items (bundles and promo items not included).

Check out Amazon for lots of great Silhouette products

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases

Copyright © 2023 · Smart Silhouette.

Web Design by Hire Jordan Smith