Contour Outlines for Stickers

Contour Outlines

For complex shapes, this tutorial teaches you how to generate a border for your sticker instead of tracing it yourself with the Pen Tool. This creates an outline that is a consistent width all around your image.
We'll then explore how to troubleshoot and refine your path for a smoother, faster cut when printing.
Finally, if you don't have time to turn your image into a PNG, we'll give an option for generating a border from a JPEG via image tracing.
(This tutorial assumes you've read the "Basic Shape Cuts" sticker instructions to familiarize yourself with the process.)

Sticker/Poster Quickstart Guide

Square or rectangular stickers, no illustrator required. Also covers printing instructions.

Click me to learn more!

Basic Shape Cuts

Geometric (circles & polygons) or hand-traced (pen tool) stickers.

Click me to learn more!

This Tutorial

Generated Bubble Outline (following contours of image) stickers.

BEFORE YOU START— make sure that:

If you HAVE a transparent PNG image already: Follow this tutorial (the start of it) as normal

If you have a NON-transparent image (JPEG, or your image has an undesirable background), either:

Remove the background- follow our tutorial (includes manual as well as automatic methods); or
Generate contour from silhouette- scroll down to "Alternate Method: Outline from Vector Silhouette". Works best when the subject has a high contrast from the background (ideally on a pure white or solid color background).

Is My PNG Okay To Use?

Your image must be a transparent PNG. There cannot be background, or the software won't be able to trace the outline.
a. There is a method to create a border from a JPEG at the bottom of this tutorial, but it will have trouble working on any image that doesn't have a solid-color background. We recommend using the primary PNG-based method.

Ensure there are no stray pixels, artifacting, et cetera! Although this tutorial has methods to fix the resulting errors, it's best to not have them in the first place.

To learn how to remove backgrounds and/or create a transparent PNG, please follow this guide.

Formatting in Illustrator

If you already have a clean, transparent PNG, you can start in Adobe Illustrator.

If you don't remember how, refer to the Basic Shape Cuts guide for more instructions on setting up. In brief:

File > Place your image.
Embed your image (in the properties tab).
Crop your image (optional, but this can make moving your image easier by trimming the bounds).

STEP 1: Appearance Tab

Open the Appearance menu under Window > Appearance. (We will not use the one under the Properties sidebar, as it does not have all the necessary capability.)

We will mostly be dealing with the STROKE property, which is the outline of your sticker- the cut path.

STEP 2: Add a Stroke

In the bottom left, select the outline box image ( ☐ ) to add a Stroke.

THE STROKE WILL NOT IMMEDIATELY SHOW! THIS IS OKAY!

STEP 3: FX > PATH > OUTLINE OBJECT

To make the Stroke show, select fx_ at the bottom, then Path > Outline Object.

This will generate the actual, visible outline around the edges of your PNG. Be sure to set the fill to empty!

STEP 4: FX > PATH > OFFSET PATH

Offset the stroke to give your image a border. It will initially look jagged, don't worry. Adjust offset until you have suitable space.

The offset is optional if you want to cut right at the edge of your image.

STEP 5: JOINS: MITER --> JOINS: ROUND

Change [Joins: Miter] to [Joins: Round] to soften the edges of the stroke. The miter limit is not used for Round, so don't change it.

STEP 6: Set Cut Contour

Select cut contour by clicking on the stroke color box, then clicking the Swatch Libraries Menu (books) in the bottom left corner.

Next select the Roland Versaworks swatch library. If you don't see this, go back to the Basic Shapes guide and import the swatch.

Select the Magenta color, aka Cut Contour.

If you've selected the correct color, you should see the small white triangle in the corner of the magenta stroke color.

If you do not see this, then do not proceed to cut out your stickers. Retry the last few steps or ask a staff member for help.

Ready to Cut!

If everything looks good, then size your image, crop your artboard, and save your file as a PDF. You can then bring it to the computer connected to the vinyl printer-cutter and follow the instructions on the quick start guide to print it out!

If you're seeing issues with your outline, particularly overlapping paths, scroll down to Troubleshooting for help on how to fix them.

TroubleShooting

Uh Oh!

This is what happens when you have floating pixels! You CANNOT cut your sticker like this; the multiple cut paths will ruin your sticker. But don't worry: there's a few ways to fix it!

Erase extra pixels & redo the process. This can be achieved in any basic art program that handles transparency (such as Photoshop, but not MSPaint). Import your image and use the Erase tool to clean up the edges. Be sure to turn off the background layer and save as a PNG when you're done!
Add a border in Photoshop. See the "Remove Background" tutorial for more detail.
Merge or Delete extra paths. This method will separate each cut path onto its own layer, where you can then merge as you please or remove unwanted paths. This method is detailed below.

3. editing multiple generated cutpaths

We'll use this bird PNG as an example. Look how messy it is! We'll need to do some serious cleanup to salvage it.

Once you've generated your outline, click on Object > Expand Appearance.
This will separate every path into an individual layer.

2. The Ungroup option will appear. This should put all the traced paths under the top layer (as in the bottom right image in the next step), but if not, continue to step 3-5.
Having these cut paths in a group inside the layer will prevent you from directly clicking on/selecting them!

3. Open the layer by clicking on the arrow to the left of the name.

4. Hold SHIFT and select all cutpath layers. You may need to scroll. Now drag them above the group- the thin blue line indicates where in the hierarchy they will be relocated to.

5. All your paths should now be directly below the original layer-- "Layer 6" in our case.
Tip! you may want to "Lock" your actual image layer so you don't accidentally move it. Click on the empty box by the eye icon to lock your layer (the icon will appear).

Option 1: Unite

Select ALL paths over your image, then use the Unite function in the Pathfinder section of your Properties tab (next to Layers). If this menu isn't showing, simply open it from the Windows menu at the top.

The Unite function merges all paths into one, creating a composite outline out of all the parts. Instead of being deleted, all overlapping borders are combined.

This is a good option if you have several "islands" of pixels that need to be combined into one sticker- for example, if you have a logo where every character of text generated its own outline path, and you need it solid.

Option 2: Delete Extra Paths

Because we expanded our original path, all the "extras" have become their own paths. This means you can select and delete them as you wish. This is a good option if the excess paths are redundant or grabbing stray pixels. Be careful not to select your true outline path!

You can mix these two techniques by deleting any paths that drastically change the outline shape, such as adding huge empty blobs along the edge, then uniting the rest.

4. Streamlining cutpaths

Okay, you've gotten rid of all the extra paths, but look at all those Anchor Points! Yikes! This could cause some printing issues.

The machine will try to touch every anchor point on your path. Which means if there's a hundred points on your path, the machine is going to to make a bunch of tiny corrections to touch all of them- which not only takes much more time to cut, but also makes a fuzzy edge that will separate messily and potentially tear before it's even done printing!

Let's learn how to fix this.

Tip: It can be helpful to put on the Direct Select tool before doing this so you can see the anchor points.

Simplify Path

Simplifying your path has two benefits: it gives your sticker a cleaner edge, and will also cut much faster on the machine!

To do this, select your path, then access the Path>Simplify option from the Object Menu. We recommend staying under a 20-30 anchor point range- this isn't a hard limit, but you'll find fewer points along curves will look better.

(Of course, every sticker is different, so use your own judgement)

Tip: Use the Pen Tool and Anchor Point Tool skills you learned in the Basic Shape Tutorial to further refine your path!

(We used them to get rid of the wonkiness along the belly.)

2. Release Compound Objects ("Nested" or "Conjoined" Paths)

You may have noticed that a few of the generated paths couldn't be directly selected, deleted, or united. This is because they're a Compound Path: when we generated the initial outline, then offset the path, it may not have been wide enough to fill all gaps. That's why there's a small path between the leg and the tail of this example bird.

To fix this, we're going to essentially repeat the "Expand Appearance" step, but with a slight difference. With your Compound Path selected, go to the Properties tab and click Release from Quick Actions.

You should see in the layers that the compound path has been separated into its multiple component paths. You can delete or unite these like normal paths.

Alternate Method:
Outline from Vector Silhouette

Image Trace

Image Trace is an automatic process that converts an image into a vector, or series thereof.

Unlike most images, vectors are not actually made of pixels- they are a series of "anchorpoints" with relative distances between each other. This is useful because it means they can be scaled up to any size without losing quality. For our purposes, it lets Illustrator interact with them in fun ways.

For this tutorial, we'll be using the "Silhouette" preset, but we encourage you to explore the different modes on your own time. This technique is also used for making custom embroidery patterns, so it's a good one to familiarize yourself with!

Duplicate your original image before starting! You will need a copy of it for the final sticker!

Image Trace - Settings

Once you've picked a preset, you should see a kind of "checklist" icon appear in the Image Trace slot. This will let you control the conversion with more precision.

You can mouse over the sliders to get a blurb about what they do, but here's some more detail for you:

MODE: Switch between Color, Grayscale, and Black & White. The Color and Grayscale modes will introduce another slider to control how many different colors/values will be generated. Leave this as Black & White.
All other values can be edited to your preference.
Threshold: Determines how dark a pixel must be in order to convert to black. This slider has the greatest effect on all image traces.
Paths: Literally how many paths are in the final trace. Affects how smooth edges are and to a lesser degree, level of detail.
Corners: How pointy it is! "Less" corners will round things out, somewhat reducing detail but also keeping poorly-pixelized images looking smooth.
Noise: This is the second-most important slider. Noise controls level of detail specifically- a low number will include many small details in the vector, whereas a high number will decimate / simplify detail. Adjust this to your preference.
Ignore White: Check this box! This will literally "ignore" white-- all white areas will become transparent. This is crucial to remove the background from your image-- you want to generate an outline from your silhouette, NOT the huge chunk of white behind it.

Once you're satisfied with your silhouette, use the Expand action to once again unpack each vector path.

You can edit these as you may see fit using the techniques described in the preceding section.

Next, follow the instructions as usual to generate an outline around your silhouettes. Again, you may want to edit these with the techniques in the troubleshooting section.

Object > Expand appearance once more to separate the Cut Stroke from the silhouette.
Hide the silhouette by clicking the eye icon on the layer.

3. Bring your original image into the layer.

4. (optional if necessary) crop your image so that excess portions aren't on the artboard (Such as cropping the extra birds off in this example)

You should end up with something like this! Be sure the silhouette isn't showing, or you'll get black spots on your sticker. What you see is what you'll get!

Ready to Cut... Again!

Congratulations!

If everything looks good, then crop your artboard and save your file as a pdf. You can then bring it to the computer connected to the vinyl printer-cutter and follow the instructions on the quick start guide to print it out!

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