All of my cutting file shares are free. Please do not redistribute or sell what I freely share. These cutting file shares are for personal use only.

Please be fair and give credit where credit is due, in turn, I will always make an effort to give credit to my resources and link them appropriately. Thank you for your consideration.

Monday, August 18, 2014

Silhouette PixScan Camera Calibration Video Tutorial

Good day everyone. I know some have had problems figuring out how to calibrate their cameras for the new PixScan. I was asked to make a video tutorial and would have enjoyed making one for everyone, but my computer has been behaving like a beaslty thing and won't let me render a video for YouTube.

The great news is; I found this lovely video tutorial on YouTube. Anice lady named Mary made this and I think it will be very helpful in explaining the PixScan camera calibration.

Here is the link: Silhouette PixScan Camera Calibration Video Tutorial 

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Studio 3.1.417 - How To Resolve Print and Cut Issues

Everyone pretty much knows that the Print and Cut feature is one of my all time favorite feature of the Silhouette cutting machines and Studio software. After installing the newest update I've noticed my regular (not talking PixScan here...lol) have been off. Being the perfectionist I am and also being used to getting such "perfect" Print and Cuts in the past; I don't like seeing white edges. I know others have noticed their PnC's have been a bit off too, and some more than others. Below are the steps to resolve this issue. I hope this is helpful for any of you who may be having some Print and Cut problems.

Calibrating Instructions 

1. Close Silhouette Studio

2. Clear preferences ( If you don't know how to do this; please follow the instructions below)

3. Open Silhouette Studio

4. Go to the “Send to Silhouette” screen

5. Right-click and select “Calibration”

6. Print out a calibration page and put it on your regular mat

7. Move the blade with the arrows over to be near the cross mark and press the button to “Calibrate”

8. Assuming it is spot on, leave it alone

9. Exit out and try your print and cut job again

Sometimes pushing through a single calibration test tells the machine that it is actually calibrated and corrects any concern. It’s like the machine is confused until the software tells it that it is supposed to be calibrated and the machine falls back in line.


Clearing the Preferences Instructions

Please note, removing your Preferences folder will remove any saved preferences, including custom material types that you may have created. To clear your Preferences folder, please navigate to and remove the following highlighted folder:
PC – C: > Users > my_user_name > AppData > Roaming > com.aspexsoftware.Silhouette_Studio
Mac – Macintosh HD > Users > my_user_name > Library > Preferences > com.aspexsoftware.Silhouette_Studio
NOTE: If the above folder cannot be found on Mac, you may press SHIFT CMD which reveals a small window where you can type the name of a folder to locate it. If the above folder cannot be found on Windows XP, go to your Control Panel to select "Files & Folders" to select the View tab and select Show hidden folders. If the above folder cannot be found on a Windows Vista7, or 8, go to the Control Panel to search for the term "Hidden Folder" in order to select the option to Show hidden folders.

Friday, August 8, 2014

Marcy's Baby In A Crib

I was so happy and excited to receive pictures and even a little video of Marcy's "Baby In A Crib". She did an absolute fabulous job on this. She personalized it to the tee! Her son and his wife will expect a baby boy in October. Marcy, personalized it using a teddy bear and quilt that will match her soon to arrive grandson's room. The other little thing that made me melt is when I saw the "Pat the Bunny" book in the crib. This adorable little book has been the all time favorite of all my grandchildren and youngest daughter. How clever Ms.Marcy! I honestly wanted to give her a real standing ovation for her creativity.

Thank you Marcy for sharing these photos and ideas. You made this card so very special and personalized; I know it will forever be cherished.

If any of you would like to send me pictures of your "Baby In A Crib" creations, I would love to share them on this page of my blog. You can always email me by clicking on the "Email Me" link on the right hand side of my blog page.

These photos are so inspiring. I hope you all enjoy them as much as I did.





Here is the video Marcy sent. This was so sweet of her to do this!

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Updated Review on PixScan

I don't know where to begin. I'll start with the scanner problem. I just wrote Silhouette to let them know that I still cannot get the scanner to work correctly and have exhausted all of my intellectual resources to try and figure it out. I've tried every bit of advice they have given me plus some ideas of my own. Sometimes, we just don't get the things we think we should get easily. I know others have done this with ease.

Let's move onto the camera. At first, I had a time getting just the right picture to calibrate my camera. Once, I learned the exact type of picture it will take it was easy as pie. Today, I calibrated my other computer, took pictures of some printed images I had never cut  out. I had printed them for some project I never did get around to finishing. I made sure to get them in lighting near a window and was careful not to cast a big shadow. PixScan can be "Pixy/ Picky" about big ol' shadows...lol. Today, I took a picture of an image 12 times. This totally frustrated me and I just gave up for a moment. Well, shortly afterward I decided to try again. I made sure to take at least 3 pictures of these images to make sure I got a good shot. Well, low and behold; PixScan accepted the first photo I took. Good lighting is the key. Near a window is best as long as you don't cast shadows over the image.

 Even thought these were pretty clean images without a lot of other things around them, I found it difficult to get that just right auto trace so I did an internal offset, then I also did some node editing to get the cleanest cut lines I could get. The cuts were decent, but I always seem to expect perfection. I'm a bit too picky from time to time.

At this point, I don't think I'm going to be using PixScan for images since most of my images are digital and I love the Print and Cut features of Silhouette Studio V3 software. I think Studio V3 ...ROCKS!. I'll stick with scrap pieces of paper, vinyl, and fabric because I have lots of scraps and what a nice way to use them.

If I ever get the scanner portion to work or get it figured out; I'll make sure to give a report. This is my honest review. All of you may have an easier time of the auto tracing than I did, but for me, PixScan is going to be my way of using all of my lovely scraps. The perfectionist in me wants to see now white on the edges of any graphic. From time to time, I got white edges with the regular Print and Cut. Of course, I am no pro at the new PixSCan and may be doing something wrong or I may even need to do some calibrating. PixScan is still so new to me and I have a few things to learn. Again, I have to say; I love, love the PixScan for taking pictures of the scraps and finally using all of the scrap stash I have.

For those of you having problems with the camera calibration; I'm sharing a photo of what your picture should look like. In the beginning I thought I had to capture the entire letter size paper. It's just necessary to keep the calibration sheet in good lighting, take a "bird's eye view" Picture and when you do this, make sure those tiny dots look lined up nicely. I hope this will be helpful.

Note: ***If you have a Canon, Powershot SX 120 Is you can use this image to calibrate your camera.





Here are some photos of the image Pixscan accepted and how nice the trace lines were on my images. I was so disappointed to see any white after I spent the time I did to make sure they were perfect. Don't despair, I'm sure it is just a matter of some calibrating that needs to be done and there are so many cool ways to use PixScan.





Tuesday, August 5, 2014

More About PixScan

The new PixScan software was released yesterday. If you haven't downloaded it yet you may want to get it now. Here is the link: Studio 3.1.417 PixScan

I've had the PixScan software and mat for at least three weeks. Since so much has been going on around here I haven't been able to dedicate as much time as I would have liked. I finally, buckled down and was determined to at least get my camera calibrated so I could try out the camera feature of PixScan. Once I realized what I was doing wrong when trying to calibrate my camera it was easy as can be. I was was taking the photo at too much of an angle. You need to take a photo of the calibration page (which is a bunch of black dots you'll print out on regular copy paper) from a "bird's eye view". Once I was able to get the right photo, it was like magic! The new software recognized my camera and even named it. All I had to do, was import the photo on the calibration page, click on the plus under the PixScan calibration area and there it was "Cannon, Powershot SX120". 

From here, I couldn't wait to try it out so I grabbed an old card that had a bunch of daisies on the front. I auto traced the center daisy and then auto traced the centers of the other daisies to use at a later time. Next, I opened up some shapes like stars and wheels, duplicated them and had drawn a square around the top portion of the solid blue and then chose this as my selected "Nesting" area, then chose "Use Selected" to use the square I had drawn as the area I wanted the shapes to fit into. I then clicked on the "Nest" and again, like magic they all nested perfectly into the area of blue I had drawn the square. I then deleted the square to make sure it wouldn't cut. I just wanted the stars and wheel shapes to cut. 

This week I will be having a phone conversation with a representative of Silhouette. He will be walking me through the steps of using the scanner. For some reason, I just can't figure this out. I've been close, but just cannot figure out how to "stitch" the image of the mat. Like most, I only have a regular flatbed scanner which does scan the size of the Cameo PixScan mat. 

Since I am in no way affiliated with Silhouette, I don't receive discounts, payment, or any other perks I am allowed to give my honest opinions. I can honestly say, Silhouette is not like some other companies whom pay for positive feedback and reviews from blogs, YouTube and other media sources. Nor do they ever have any plans of doing such a thing. When I told them the only thing I want to be able to do is give my honest opinion on anything I test they told me this is what they wanted and I am entitled to do so. Right now, I'm not on board with the scanning feature, but hopefully after the walk through I'll get the technique down and will be able to report back with some nice results. 

I did want to let everyone know the PixScan mats are only for the Portrait and Cameo cutting machines. I've noticed a drop in price on the Cameo cutting machines and believe there is a new cutting machine on its way. This is just speculative. Silhouette will not speak of this to me. Of course, I asked....lol. 

For those who don't believe Silhouette places their consumers first I would like to make a few comments. Over time I have corresponded with Silhouette contacts. I have asked and even nagged about having certain features. I asked for layers, the ability to bring in PDF files and auto trace them. I've also asked for a cutting machine that will have the ability to cut heavier materials easily and so much more. There are many things I have requested along with other Silhouette users. I have to give a round of applause to the Silhouette America company. They have delivered to us, their valued customers, so many nice things. I also asked to have the ability to save files as .svg files. No, we don't have this ability yet, but I know they listen and if they don't add this ability it's because of good reasons I may not understand. Some have set out to nit pick the company and their efforts completely apart. They obviously do not know nor have they learned the things I have learned about how much they value their customers and their customers opinions. Yes, there was an error made when the first release of Studio V3 came out, but they left us options to use V2 and continued to work hard and pay a lot to get the software perfected. They were simply trying to keep us, the consumers happy by introducing new software we wanted. I love the cut by color, line color, and layer features. 

This may sound off the wall and paranoid and is not the thoughts of any Silhouette America employee. This is all me. I have wondered from time to time when I've read negative things about Silhouette; if  these people are plants to sabotage the good name of Silhouette and all of the tireless efforts they have made to bring us the best. Every day, Silhouette employees work hard, throw around new concepts and ideas to bring us better and better.They are not perfect, they will make mistakes, but they are the most consumer friendly company I've ever dealt with. Even before I ever knew one person at this company I was able to get superior customer service and technical support. Silhouette technical support has been my teacher and never did they get tired of hearing from me. Again, I applause this company, their employees, technical support and customer service.  

Oh, while I was carrying on I forgot to mention another belief I have. Seeing the price of the Cameo going down, the new "Business Edition" of the software I really think there is a new Silhouette in the making. Again, I have not and probably will not be told one way or the other, but I do believe....lol time for me to start saving some crafting dollars. You all know I'll have to have one...lol.

Now that I have this off my chest....lol. I want to show a picture of how the "daisy card" image came into PixScan. This was easy, I just did a screen shot. I'll try and get the other pictures shared when I get the time. We are doing some kitchen remodeling and things are topsy turvy.

   

Friday, August 1, 2014

Testing Silhouette PixScan

By now I'm sure many of you have read or heard of the new PixScan software. I've been testing the new PixScan software with the new PixScan mat. This new software will be a free software upgrade, but will require a Studio 3 upgrade to use the PixScan software.

Using the PixScan cutting mat will save room on your paper and you can Print and Cut a larger paper size because you will no longer have to do a Print and cut by print from your printer. Anything you place on the mat in the black line cut area can be scanned or photographed, brought into Studio where you will add the cut line/ auto trace. After this, you simply place it like you would your regular cutting mats and watch your Portrait or Cameo electronic eye as it easily reads the registration marks on the PixScan mat.

While I was testing the new PixScan mat and software I ran into a lot of problems, but I did this test as a "blind" tester. This means I was sent the mat and the download link for the software upgrade, was given some basics and asked to be sort of a guinea pig to see what I would do with the mat and software. I was so busy testing the scanning portion of the PixScan, I never got around to trying the camera feature. This is something I'm anxious to get the time to try.

I have to fess up; I'm a baby...lol. After trying multiple things with the scanning portion of the PixScan mat and software I had a phone conversation with Silhouette to whine to them and tell them I wasn't impressed and why. Silhouette thanked me and apologized to me at the same time. They understood how difficult it might be for one to go in "blind" and test it with successful results. Well, the bad news is; I received a PDF with instructions. They were still pretty basic and I had even tried doing things the way the instructions advised. Once again, I didn't get great results. By this time Silhouette should be used to me so I whined about it again. Silhouette America is going to make a video tutorial. Thank goodness! I'm such a visual learner and know this will help. In the mean time, I'm holding back on a review until I'm able to test it the right way and hopefully can figure it out with the video. I know I'm doing something wrong, but Silhouette and I can't figure out what I'm doing. I sent them my last test cut images and it turned out perfect on their side. .

Okay, I have to add this to my already long blog. I felt like I was pretty savvy when it came to figuring out new gadgets, software, and other fun stuff. Right now, I'm still in the "blind" about the PixScan software and mat and feeling a little dumb. I believe in Silhouette products and the company so I will wait for the video and report back after I'm able to use this like it should be used. I know the concept has many possibilities and how awesome is it going to be not to have to print those registration marks and using up paper space.

If you haven't heard about the new PixScan software and Mat; you can find more information here:

Silhouette America PixScan