Magnetic Photo Frame
Today you will create a file for a magnetic photo frame in Inkscape, cut the design out of cardstock and magnet material with a Silhouette Cameo, and assemble it by hand before you leave.
Tips
Keyboard shortcuts: Undo (Ctrl+Z), Select All (Ctrl+A), Copy (Ctrl+C), Paste (Ctrl+V)
The electronic cutting machine cuts a design out of one sheet of loaded material at a time. It does not print.
Feel free to talk with or assist your neighbor in this informal learning environment
1. Prepare your Page
A 4” x 4” template is located at the bottom of the course page for quick use with future projects.
In this class session, we’re going to learn how to set up our Page (workspace) to create that template.
Open Inkscape, click File > Document Properties.
In the Page tab, change Default Units to in.
Under Custom size, change Units to in. Change Width to 4, change Height to 4.
Click to the X in the top right corner to close the window, notice that your Page is square.
Click Object > Fill and Stroke.
Hit 5 on your keyboard to zoom in on the Page. You can also use the (+) and (-) keys to zoom in and out.
2. Choose your frame shape
Use the Rectangle, Ellipse, or Star shape tool for your overall border.
To draw a shape, click its shape tool.
If you want a shape with even sides, hold down CTRL to constrain proportions.
Click within your Page border, hold down the mouse button, drag your cursor away – we call this click-drag.
Release your mouse (and CTRL) to finalize the shape.
We will resize our shapes in step 4, so worry more about getting the shape you want over filling the Page now.
If you want to delete something, go to Select, click your shape to select it, hit DELETE on the keyboard.
Each tool has different settings that appear in Tool Controls when that tool is active. With a selected object, these values and modes can be adjusted to change your overall shape.
With Rectangle, H and W refer to the edge lengths, which you set when you click-dragged out a rectangle or square. Change the Rx and Ry values to round corners – in step 3 we’ll learn another method for rounding corners.
Use the Ellipse tool to make circles and ovals. The settings in Tool Controls are for arcs and segments (they resemble pie chart sections), which we won’t need today.
If using the Star tool, click one of the first two buttons to make your shape a polygon with straight edges or a star with arms that radiate out. Corners determines the number of edges or arms – For the sake of time, limit your number of corners to 8 or less. Spoke ratio is only activated when you’re in star mode, it will shorten or elongate the arms. Rounded will round all corners or twist the arms into loops – please keep your shape simple. Ignore Randomize. Click the paintbrush at the end of the bar to Reset the tool.
3. Resize Stroke, (Optional) Change Join settings
Make sure your shape is selected. To select something, click Select, click the edge of the shape.
In the Fill and Stroke menu, in the Fill tab, click the for No Paint. Your shape should disappear.
In the Stroke style tab, change the Width to 0.500 in to give the frame a ½” border.
Immediately below Width is Join. The default setting is Miter, but feel free to use Round or Bevel to refine your corners.
If you made rounding adjustments earlier, changing the Join settings won’t do much.
4. Resize Shape to Fill Page
In Tool Controls for Select, click Scale the Stroke Width by the Same Proportion to preserve your ½” border.
With your object selected, hold down CTRL, click-drag a corner handle to make your shape fill the Page.
The entire shape must fit within the Page. If it’s too large, staff will resize it, which could change your design.
To reposition your shape, hover over an edge (the cursor will look like a hand), click-drag it to a new location.
5. Stroke to Path, Reset Stroke Width
At this point, while your shape appears to have a beefy border, it’s all one fat stroke with a single path through the center.
If we sent it to a machine, it would see and cut a single line.
With your shape selected, click Path > Stroke to Path to generate paths along both the inside and outside of your stroke.
With the shape still selected, in the Fill and Stroke menu, in the Fill tab, click No Paint
In the Stroke tab, click Flat color - once visible again, the strokes will be huge, briefly
In the Stroke style tab, change the Width to 0.003 in - this is the setting we use for the laser, but it’s also a good stroke weight to help imagine how the design will be interpreted by the e-cutter.
6. (Optional) Add Embellishments to Frame
Use the Rectangle, Ellipse, or Star shape tools to add shapes that overlap the frame.
Shapes can extend beyond the frame or cut into the picture hole, but the full design must still fit within the Page.
Use up to 5 shapes - the more you add to the frame, the less space for a picture!
7. (Optional) Union Embellishments to Frame
In Select, click-drag a selection box around everything or hit (CTRL + A) to Select All.
Click Path > Union.
8. Save as SVG and DXF
Click File> Save As
Select Desktop as the save location, change the file name to your name.
Save as SVG (Scalable Vector Graphic) to edit and use again later.
Save as DXF (Desktop Cutting Plotter) for the Cameo Cutter. In the pop‐up dialog, uncheck LWPOLYLINE box!
Once saved, staff will add your name to a queue and call you over to a machine one at a time to cut your pieces!
9. Survey
We'll direct you to the survey which helps us improve our workshops and learn about makerspaces in libraries.
Thanks for visiting!