Machine Drawn Greeting Card
Today we’re going to create a machine drawn greeting card using the Silhouette Cameo, a pen adapter, and a gel pen on cardstock.
Download and open the template
Download MachineDrawingCardTemplate.svg to the Desktop from the bottom of this page.
Right-click on the file and select Inkscape to open the file in Inkscape, or drag the file to the Inkscape icon.
Find one image
Go to http://images.google.com or http://openclipart.org and search for an image to use.
If using Google, add terms like SVG, vector, or silhouette to your search for better results.
Click on an image, select View Image.
Right-Click the image and save to Desktop.
If using openclipart, click on an image to get to the file page.
Right-Click on the green BIG IMAGE (PNG) button and save to Desktop.
Embed the image
Click File > Import. Select your image, click Open. In the pop-up menu, leave the settings as is, and click OK.
If you image is very large or small, hold down (CTRL) to constrain proportions, Click-Drag a corner handle to resize it.
Click-drag your image to position it comfortably in the rectangular workspace. Leave room around the edges for step 9.
Trace the image
- Click your image to Select it, click Path > Trace bitmap
- Select Grays under Multiple scans.
- Change Scans to 2*, select Remove background.
- Click Update under the image to preview.
- Click OK to generate the trace, click x to close the menu.
*Additional scans may be necessary for more complex designs. If you use 3+ scans, check the note at the bottom of the next section.
Keep the trace, delete the bitmap
The traced copy is on top of the original. Click-drag one off to the side.
Select the original, hit Delete or Backspace on the keyboard to delete it.
Can't tell which is which?
Double-click an image.
If nothing happens, it’s the original.
If a bunch of gray shapes appear, you’ve activated the nodes editing tool. Nodes are where line segments join together to create the paths that the machine will follow to draw your final design.
Once finished, click the white arrow in the lefthand menu to return to Selection tool.
-OR-
Select an image, check the Inkscape status bar at the bottom of the screen. Keep the one that displays Path.
For traces with mutliple scans/layers
Click-drag your design off to the side to separate your objects. Determine which image is the the original, delete it. Selected the remaining traced stack and click Object > Ungroup or hit (CTRL + SHIFT + G) to ungroup. Click-drag the objects to separate them. Keep the cleanest trace, delete the extras.
Change Fill and Color Stroke settings
With you object selected, Click Object > Fill and Stroke.
In the Fill tab, select No paint.
In the Stoke paint tab, select Flat color.
Your object will appear as a series of outlines now.
Break Apart the paths
We want to edit the outermost edge of the design separately from the rest of the other paths.
With the object selected, click Path > Break Apart.
Each path is now an individual object.
Modify Steps settings
Click Edit > Preferences or hit (CTRL + SHIFT + P).
Click Behavior > Steps.
Change Inset/Outset by: to 0.0700 in.
Click the red x to close the window.
Duplicate and Outset outlines
Without keyboard shortcuts
1. Right-Click on the outermost path, select Duplicate.
2. Click Path > Outset
To add a series of outlines, alternate between steps 1 and 2.
With keyboard shortcuts
1. Select your outermost path.
2. Hit (CTRL + D) to duplicate the path.
3. Hit (CTRL + ) ) to Outset the path.
To add a series of outlines, alternate between steps 2 and 3. Your outermost path should already be selected after you duplicate/outset it!
Duplicate and Outset about 5 times. The design must stay within the template workspace for it to be machine ready.
If your design doesn't fit in the workspace
Hit (CTRL + Z) a few times to Undo the the extra outlines. If you go back too far, hit (CTRL + SHIFT + Z) to Redo. Select your full image, Group it (CTRL + G), and rescale it with the corner handles. Once there's enough room, Ungroup everything (CTRL + SHIFT + G), and repeat step 9. This extra work preserves the 0.07" distance between the outset outlines, otherwise your design would get crowded.
Combine separate outlines into single object
Click-drag a selection box around everything or hit (CTRL + A) to select all.
Click Path > Combine.
Save as SVG and DXF
Save as SVG to edit and use again later, and save as a DXF for the Cameo Cutter.
In the DXF menu, make sure to uncheck the LWPOLYLINE box.
Staff Notes
The file can be prepared for the machine in two ways.
If using the Inkscape SVG method (recommended)
Select the combined object and go into node editing.
Select all nodes, click insert nodes 2-4 times
Careful, adding too many nodes may crash the file!
With all selected, click Make selected segments lines
Save file as DXF w/ LWPOLYLINE unchecked.
If using Silhouette Studio DXF method
Select your object, click Edit Points in the left-hand menu (same spot as the nodes tool in Inkscape).
Click Simplify at the bottom of the right-hand menu 2-3 times.
Hold down Shift and click any red dots that remain.
If you click anywhere outside of the path, the tool will turn of entirely, and you will have to repeat the first step.
Click Delete Point in the right-hand menu.
Don't attempt to delete points any other way.
Red lines extending from a red dot may appear, it is fine to delete those.
If a red line appears that is unattached to a red node, deselect the piece and start over.
Once all red dots are gone, return to preparing the file in the usual way.
Remaining dots will generate an error once the file is sent to Cameo and the window will freeze.