Cricut software comparison

I have seen so many questions and there is so much information to slog through, that I put together a chart with as many relevant parameters as I could think of. This is based on a really quick look at the Make-the-Cut demo and my accumulated, but not necessarily perfect, knowledge of the other products. In other words, there might be some errors. I anticipate frequent updates in the near term so please send others to this page instead of sharing the file. Thanks for your cooperation.

Download a PDF of the chart here

Make-the-Cut makes unexpected debut

I was going to be excited to report that SCAL2 for Mac was out in a form I would now call stable. I’ve been cutting with it for a week or so with no issues and looking forward to doing a full review once the Christmas rush was over… and then, without even a whispered rumor in advance, a SCAL competitor emerges.

The first version of Make-the-Cut software (for Windows only) has been released by an independent developer. First reactions are positive, at least at the introductory price of $78. Andy has taken pains to address the most painful aspects of SCAL and it is obvious from just a couple of screen shots that the interface is more polished than its predecessors. Will be interesting to see where things head with this in the coming weeks as lots of people find Black Friday Cricuts under their trees.

Pen fonts for your cutter

Now that we all have clever ways to use various pens and markers with our Cricuts, the problem remains that computer fonts aren’t made to write with pens using strokes like a person writes. Instead, TrueType fonts are defined by closed outlines so that there is open space in the center, and this becomes more pronounced the larger the font is rendered. This is great for cutting, but usually doesn’t give us the look we are after with pens and markers.

There is some indication that SCAL2 will cut with open paths, but it is unclear as to exactly how we can take advantage of that. In the meantime, I’ve tracked down 3 free fonts, that while not the best looking, do a great job of creating a single line look at a wide range of sizes. The sample was done with a gel pen holder from Amy Chomas. The numbers you see on the sample are the default size in SCAL1.

Bauhaus Engraved (last link on page)

Stymie Hairline (look above the capital E for the hidden link)

Agrafa Hairline (free registration required)

Hinge technique for cutting printouts

Shown here with the Cricut machine by itself, here’s a technique that is also helpful with Cricut Design Studio, the Gypsy or with Sure Cuts A Lot. Use this when you need to see in advance exactly where the Cricut is going to cut in relation to the mat. This is especially helpful when cutting around printouts, cropping photographs and any other applications where you want the printing to be perfectly centered or otherwise positioned within the cut.

Some Tough Gypsy Questions Answered

Headed to the CHA Consumer Show in Orlando today armed with a list of questions about the Gypsy and determined to get some answers that haven’t been covered in the intro video (called a “test drive” but is not interactive) or the FAQs. The Provo Craft booth was right in front so after voting for the gold and black Gypsy cover (go Yella Jackets) I was able to corner Major Madon (Project Manager for Gypsy) manning a Gypsy demo station.
The demo Gypsy was running beta software and didn’t have all the features operational yet. Madon explained that the programming is still being finished up. So I wasn’t able to get a feel for what it will really be like, although the screen resolution was quite crisp and easy to see. Selecting individual images was very difficult, just like in CDS. This will hopefully be resolved before official release.
Here, in paraphrase, are the questions I asked, and Mr. Madon’s answers…

Q: Is there a video out port or capability
A: No

Q: Well, then, for those that teach or make tutorial videos, how about an emulator?
A: Provo Craft has an emulator, but there are no current plans to release it. He seemed to think that was a good idea and said he would propose that to the team when he got back.

Q:Ports in detail?
A: Mini USB to connect to Cricut (comes with 5 ft cable)
and a 26-pin proprietary port for cartridges (short adapter cable included)

Q:Battery type and life (total life, not per charge)?
A:Rechargeable Lithium Ion, not replaceable, lasts “years”
AC adapter/charger comes with it, car adapter optional

Q: Does Gypsy have the Hide Contour feature?
A: No

Q: Are CDS files interchangeable with Gypsy files in both directions?
A: Yes

Q: How will features that are missing from one or the other going to be handled? Such as grouping available on Gypsy, not on CDS; Hide contour available on CDS, not on Gypsy.
A: Don’t know, confident it won’t be a big issue.

Q: The Gypsy can only shadow images if that is a feature of the cartridge, correct?
A: Yes

Q: Does the “flip” command work logically or do you still have to type words backwards and then flip?
A: It works logically, flipping the entire word.

Q:Will the photo app mentioned in the FAQs be free?
A:Yes

Q:How much storage does the Gypsy have?
A: 4GB, enough for hundreds of cartridges and tens of thousands of cut files (assuming no photos)

Q: Were some of the most complex CDS designs tested to see if the Gypsy is up to the task of demanding designers.
A: “I assume so.”

Q: Can you share Gypsy designs with others?
A: Yes, but not without a PC and CDS

Q: Can you download CDS designs and use them on the Gypsy?
A: Yes, but not without a PC and CDS

Q: So the Gypsy is not really Mac-compatible?
A: It is platform independent (it can be used without a computer) but no, it is not Mac-compatible (in context with the above 2 questions).

Q: Like CDS, Gypsy comes loaded with the entire cartridge library. How will updates be accomplished when new cartridges are released?
A: Through a web-based application that can be run on a PC or a Mac.

Q: There has been much confusion over the price of the Gypsy. Can you clarify.
A: The MSRP is $299.

Q:Can you confirm or deny that the Gypsy is based on the Nintendo DS platform?
A:No.

Also, a flyer at the show stated that Gypsies would first be available a Michael’s stores on October 4th. A huge notebook with all the cuts from the 2 Gypsy cartridges was also on hand.

I really appreciated Major Madon’s patience with my barrage of questions. I enjoyed talking to him engineer to engineer, and appreciated his candor.

Tracing a simple template – Paint Bucket Mini Tutorial

Want a quick and easy way to autotrace a simple line art shape in Inkscape without the pesky double line problem? Well, once you have your defaults set, all it takes is one click with the paint bucket tool.

The steps above work for any fairly crisp line art you can open or import into Inkscape. Zoom in so that the shape you want to vectorize fits on the screen and is as large as possible without the “jaggies.” Clicking the plus and minus keys is helpful for finding the right zoom level. Then simply follow the steps on the screen shot above, which is from this file if you want to follow along. (Note: I set my paint bucket fill to none and its stroke to hot pink for high visibility, but remember, colors, line styles, etc. don’t matter to SCAL.)
Some other notes:

• If nothing happens when the paint bucket is clicked, try again and see if the infobar gives you an error message.
• If you do not see an outline appear, but a dotted rectangle appears around the shape, you need to set the stroke (outline color/thickness/transparency) so it is visible. This can be done with the Object>Fill and Stroke pallette.
• You can also switch to outline mode to see your new vector View>Display mode>Outline. The red X is your original image, which doesn’t display in outline mode since it is a bitmap.
• If your template’s shape is not completely closed like the one above, use the “Close Gaps” adjustment to the right of the other settings before you click with the paint bucket.
• If your template’s lines are not crisp like the one above or it has many levels of gray, turn the threshold level up and try again. If you do not like the result, just backspace, change the threshold setting and try again.
• When you are done tracing, you may want to press control-L one or more times to simplify the trace before you cut it. Set the simplification threshold in your Inkscape Preferences>Misc to .0005 for best results.
• If your template consists of multiple shapes, you can hold down the shift key as you click the paint bucket to automatically union each piece to the last.

Craftypod rocks the Cricut

Take a look at what happens when Craftypod gets her hands on a Cricut for a few days. Wowzers!

Mini-Books from Playing Cards

Decorating Fabric with Cricut Markers

Jewelry from File Folders

For the record, I was smart enough to buy some of these file folders a while back because I realized that (on clearance) they were cheaper than double sided card stock for my Cricut projects. Did I do anything with them? Um, no.

New free dingbat font for die cutters

I am proud to introduce 09 KutUps, a shapes font made especially for SCAL and other cutting machines that can cut truetype fonts. From the ground up this font was designed with SCAL in mind. Every shape has been optimized for cutting and even the font name and configuration have been chosen to make it easy to use with SCAL.

I have been the recipient of much generosity recently. For example, in 2008 I spent a month’s worth of nights in the Ronald McDonald House near where my son was hospitalized. If you enjoy using this font, I hope you will be generous the next time this fine organization asks for your support. Download the font here. Download the character map here. 09KutUps is free for personal and commercial use, but may not be sold or shared without my permission. Please also do me the courtesy of directing others to this blog post rather than to the mediafire link. And of course, I would love to hear your comments.

7/24/09 Update: This font has become very popular, and many of you have told me that you have honored my request that you make a donation to Ronald McDonald House Charities in return. Thank you so very much. My son had to be admitted to a hospital in another distant town for the last 2 weeks. Once again the Ronald McDonald House there provided support for our family.

Inkscape template for easy sizing

SCAL has a lot going for it, but one glaring flaw is how it handles the sizing of imported files. Basically you lose all your hard work at getting your Inkscape files at the right size and in proportion to one another when you go to import and have to find ways to correct for that once in SCAL. Hidden in these lengthy videos is a great tip for correcting this issue. I took the idea, refined it a little and made it into a 12 x 12 Inkscape template, which you can download here.

To use it, open the document in Inkscape (sorry, but it crashes Illustrator). Create your design to scale (leave a 1/4 inch margin to allow for the uncuttable area). You may add new layers but be sure to leave the original layer on at all times. Save as usual to Inkscape’s native svg format. Open a new document in SCAL. Set the default size to 12 inches (in the box on the Library Window). Placing the object at X:0, Y:0 is recommended but not required. Import your saved SVG.

The screen shots below show how using this template to create files for export to SCAL differs from a using a normal 12 x 12 document. When designing in Inkscape, both documents look like this:

In a normal document, the results of an import into SCAL…frustrating.

Using a true size template, the results are much more intuitive. Notice that it looks just like the outline in Inkscape.

Hope you enjoy using this template as much as I do. Thanks to Bob for the great idea.

How to decorate t-shirts with your Cricut – video

A 13 yo explains everything you need to know to make cute t-shirts with freezer paper, paint and your Cricut.

Some more of the freezer paper stencil shirts we’ve made