a few answers about print & cut

Hey all! I see there's been a few questions regarding Print & Cut. Let's see if I can answer them, with the help of my sidekicks in ye ol' customer service department (thanks guys!).

I have a Mac. Will Silhouette work for me?

Yes! But you need to run the Parallels program that runs Windows to do it. Once you are running Windows on your Mac, then you can download and use the Robo Master software and access the images from the Online Store. You can also use the Silhouette with Adobe Illustrator, but you wouldn't be able to use the Robo Master software or access the shapes from the store.

This was Helen's comment she wrote about using Mac:

If you have a Mac, you have to get Parallels and then run Windows XP on the Parallels and the silhouette software on the windows xp. I heard that one lady got the Parallels for $69 and the Windows xp on ebay for $65. This is the only thing that she uses the windows for on her mac, but then the silhouette software works like a champ and she can download all the wonderful QK shapes.

You can also find some additional information here.

What type of printing media should you use to print your P&Cs?

You can use cardstock (or printer paper), however, I find that using photo paper or presentation paper will give you a much richer color. When you print on cardstock, the color absorbs into it making it a little duller in color. It's fine, but the photo paper or presentation paper (which is like cardstock) will make it look much better. This has nothing to do with the P&C feature, but rather, it's just the way printers and printing media work.

Is there a tutorial on grouping and ungrouping?

A simple walk-through can be found here. More detailed information can be found here.

Does where you place your paper on the cutting mat have anything to do with how P&C will work?

Yes. You must place your printed paper on the cutting mat and feed the 1st and 2nd registration marks into the Silhouette first (it also says Feed This Side First). It is also very important to make sure the registration marks are between the white pinch rollers on the Silhouette. They must be centered inside the rollers.

You can check out further information on proper placement here.

Does removing the two narrow strips of yellow backing make a difference on your mat?

I've always taken mine off. I find that my machine does cut into that area at times, so I'd rather not have it there, especially because it doesn't make a difference for me in how it rolls through the machine.

The customer service dudes say that the strips are there to provide a smooth, non-sticky track for the rollers to roll on during the cutting process during those times when smaller materials are used--in other words, when the rollers are not rolling onto the 8 1/2" wide material. The thought is that having the rollers move over the sticky surface may impair the exact registration of the tool's cutting performance. Removing the side strips is not recommended, but from experience, it will not harm anything and usually will not affect the cutting performance.

Does this work on the Wishblade?

Unfortunately we do not have the answer to this. You would need to contact Wishblade for more details.

Can you change the color of the P&Cs?

The answer is no. However, there will be alternate color choices on some things here in the future.

Editing the colors is a feature that we've received a few inquiries about. We are aware that some people may want to alter the colors. However, at this time, it's not a feature of the software. 

Does P&C work on the original Silhouette?

Yes! It works on both machines.

Does it matter which mat style I'm using?

No. The optical eye in the machine reads the registration marks on the printed paper, so the mat shouldn't matter.

Once you've purchased a P&C and it's downloaded into your library, how can you tell which ones are P&Cs? The "P" is no longer by the image now.

I would suggest creating a folder for just your Print and Cut images. Select all the P&Cs you've downloaded and drag them into this new folder. That way, you'll have all those images available to you at the click of a button rather than searching for them through your entire library. I would also suggest doing this at the time of purchase.

Also, when you choose an image to place into your document, it will be apparent at that point as to which is which since the P&C images will be in color and a regular cut image will be in outline only.

Can we easily design our own P&C images? Is there a tutorial for this?

You can find a tutorial on making your own P&C images here.

Will the monograms be available in the Online Store or only through Portfolio CDs?

The monograms will be available only in the Online Store. They weren't there at the time of the original post because it was a sneak peek. :)

I see there are a few other questions regarding P&C not cutting correctly, or something like that. If you're struggling with using the P&C feature, you can go here for a full tutorial and here for troubleshooting. Or, you can contact customer support at sillhouette@quickutz.com

I have found these tutorials on silhouettemachine.com to be very helpful!

I will check back from time to time to see if there are more questions to answer.

Have fun!

Comments

[Melanie K.]

I did find that the designs that were cut last (they were positioned on one end) seemed out of register (example 'the story of us' tag cut outside the red a little; the 'runjumpplay' tag had the gray color on the bottom and one side). Is there a way to compensate for this?

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I am new to this system. For the present time I am interested in stencils only. If I wanted to make a stencil from a solid design. If there a way to do this. Example: solid heart design, but I want a stencil for the outline of the heart? I want these for glass etching. The text part is easy, it is the images, I may have trouble with

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How can I print about 12 powerpoint slides on one piece of paper??
I need to print out 50 slides and I dont want each slide on a piece of paper. I once saw someone with about 12 or more little slides on one piece of paper.. How can I do this?

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That has to be the cutest freakin' thing I've ever seen. Love the yarn colors you used too. Definitely going to make one for myself! Thanks for the tutorial!

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Ihave a new machine , still can't get the drift of print and cut no matter what I do , also it says on the adverts that you can cut thin foam, whuich would be great , if so is there any special foam to be used and how do I get it? thanks

[Laurie Folino]

Another great tut! Thank you! I am a MAC too. So glad I found your blog.

Laurie

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