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Can't use my Vinyl Cutter with Affinity


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Hello, I use affinity designer. I also have a vinyl cutter. Silhouette Cameo 3.
How can I create a file that the cutter also recognizes?
I did not make it.
Silhouette Software does not recognize anything.
Is there a trick? Can I cut directly from Affinity? or in which format do I have to convert the file to be able to cut? Thanks in advance.

Sorry for my poor English ;-)

Hope u understand my Problem
Greetings Christine

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Hi Christine,

No, not possible to cut straight from the program, you’ll need to export from Affinity Designer as an SVG for the Silhouette program to recognise it and I believe only the Designer version lets you import the SVG format, if your images are png they will need to be converted to vector first or bring the images straight into the Silhouette software and trace them.

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What version of the Silhouette software do you have? As I mentioned if it’s not the designer version or business it won’t allow the import of the SVG and it needs to be an SVG for the cutter to regonise the design to cut, if you do have the designer version it should just be simple process of dragging and dropping the SVG into the work space.

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Hi pontiac1960 :)

Unfortunately Affinity can't currently export directly to the DXF format that most cutters use, but it's something we may add in the future.

For the time being, you can export as SVG (or any other vector format) then use conversion software to convert the file to the DXF format. The other option is to use a rasterised image and the auto trace function mentioned in @MickRose's response, but in silhouette's own words this is not a guaranteed method.

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As also mentioned you can always utilise the trace feature in the program if you only have a png image to work with and don’t have the designer software, I bought the designer version myself as I was using Serif’s old CraftArtist2 program to use with my Silhouette.

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If you are just cutting (not print & cutting) you could probably buy cutting software that will connect to the cutter and then you would import eps or pdf or whatever vector you were to export from Designer. But even the cheapest isn't that cheap.

Windows 10 Pro, I5 3.3G PC 16G RAM

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To convert from SVG to DXF , I would try the free program Inkscape

would be worth a try,

Cheers

Affinity Photo 2.5:         Affinity Photo 1.10.6: 

Affinity Designer 2.5:    Affinity Designer 1.10.6:

Affinity Publisher 2.5:   Affinity Publisher 1.10.6:    

Windows 11 Pro  (Version 24H2 Build (26100.2454)

 

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Thanks a lot , I can't find Auto Tracer on silhouette Studio.... I will look for the Designer Version. 

Think it is the best option for me , because want to cut often sticker.

I don't like the Silhouette Software hope the designer Edition is better!

Thanks a lot 

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  • 1 year later...

Interesting topic. I too have an old Graphtec craft robo vinyl cutter and it work with affinity designer and publisher just fine.  It annoys me a bit that driver for windows 10 is not the best and windows sometimes doesn't detect the cutter. Well it is a 9 years old and it need a replacement.

So I have a question for all Silhouette cutter user. Can you cut with an affinity software? Does the software offer silhouette cameo as an option to print? If it does the probably can be used. with the affinity software just need to be tweaked a bit :)

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@romeno

I use the cameo silhoutte to cut designs made with designer, but i can not print directly from designer.

I export the design as svg (at 72 dpi and "set viewbox" unchecked) and import in the silhoutte software this works ok.

intel core i5,  16GB 128Gb ssd win10 Pro Huion new 1060plus.

philips 272p 2560x1440px on intel HD2500 onboard graphics

Razer Tartarus Chroma

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That's right, for direct cutting you would need to buy the connect pluging from cameo, and this plugin does not support designer.

intel core i5,  16GB 128Gb ssd win10 Pro Huion new 1060plus.

philips 272p 2560x1440px on intel HD2500 onboard graphics

Razer Tartarus Chroma

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On 12/6/2019 at 7:55 AM, romeno said:

Oh crap. Is there any other vinyl cutter in similar price range that works with affinity designer? I won't switch to illustrator.

Note that dutchshader did not say they couldn't work with the cutter; just that they can't print directly to it. Export to SVG and then import the SVG into the Silhouette software.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
    Laptop 2: Windows 11 Pro 24H2,  16GB memory, Snapdragon(R) X Elite - X1E80100 - Qualcomm(R) Oryon(TM) 12 Core CPU 4.01 GHz, Qualcomm(R) Adreno(TM) X1-85 GPU
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 18.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sequoia 15.0.1

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Silhouette Studio Basic (Free) cannot import SVG/PDF: Silhouette Studio Comparison Chart You have to buy Silhouette Designer or greater to get the SVG/PDF import privilege.

iMac 27" 2019 Sequoia 15.0 (24A335), iMac 27" Affinity Designer, Photo & Publisher V1 & V2, Adobe, Inkscape, Vectorstyler, Blender, C4D, Sketchup + more... XP-Pen Artist-22E, - iPad Pro 12.9  
B| (Please refrain from licking the screen while using this forum)

Affinity Help - Affinity Desktop Tutorials - Feedback - FAQ - most asked questions

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