Scanning & Using the Silhouette for Cutting Metal Clay By Janet Alexander

Transcription

1 Scanning & Using the Silhouette for Cutting Metal Clay By Janet Alexander This tutorial explains the Silhouette tools used for changing a scanned drawing, how to trace the drawing, and then cut the clay. At the end of this tutorial are important facts for setting the machine for cutting clay and how to factor in the clay s shrinkage percentages. Working with the Silhouette Studio Drawing Tools The tools along the left side of the screen are for drawing except for the last two groups. Tip: Hover the mouse over the tool icon to view the name of the tool. A drawn line is called a path. A path has points (small dots) on it that can be changed. A drawn shape are paths that are grouped together. They can be un-grouped so that you can edit the path or points in it. The Select tool selects the shape putting a box around the shape. The small square boxes on the selected shape are handles. Pulling these changes the size of the shape. The small green dot allows you to rotate the shape. The Edit Points tool allows you to select a red dot on the shape or line. After selecting the dot the menu on the right side of the screen allows you to do something to that dot. The dot is a point on a line. It can be removed, changed to a curve, cut, smooth, corner, or break path making the path into two pieces. Notice the dot has two handles coming out from it, pulling and moving each handle changes the line s shape. The Line tool only draws straight lines. These lines can be drawn at an angle, horizontal, or vertical. If you want a line perfectly horizontal or vertical then click the line tool, click in the drawing space and hold down the Shift key while drawing the line. The Rectangle tool draws rectangles. Holding the Shift key while drawing makes it a perfect square. The Rounded Corner Rectangle tool does the same thing as the Rectangle tool but with round corners. The Ellipse tool draws ovals. Holding the Shift key while drawing makes it a perfect circle. The Polygon tool draws straight line shapes and won t stop drawing until you click on the first dot (point) or double click the last point. To start a shape click the tool click inside the drawing area, it places a point, and then click for each turn (point) you want the shape to take. When it gets back to the first point it automatically wants to connect to it. The draw Curve tool draws curved lines just like the Polygon tool. Click in the drawing area to start (set a point.) Double-click to end or click on the first point. 1

2 The draw Freehand tool allows you to click and drag to draw a line. As you drag it places points on the line which later can be changed, moved, or deleted by using the Edit Points tool. The Text tool allows you to type letters on the drawing pad. The letters can be changed in the Text menu on the right side of the screen when the Text tool is active. The Eraser tool allows you to erase point and parts of a path or line. The Knife tool allows you to cut a line (path) into two pieces. If cutting a shape, you must cut through the whole shape. Otherwise the knife tool creates indents in the path lines inside the shape. The Show Drawing Area button. If you cannot see the drawing area click this button. The Library button. Opens the library where preset designs are stored. You can also save your designs to the library. Keyboard Short Cuts Keyboard short cuts allow you to complete tasks very quickly. Here are ones you will use most often. [Ctrl + A] [Ctrl + Z] [Ctrl + S] [Ctrl + N] [Ctrl + C] [Ctrl + V] Selects everything on the drawing pad. Undo your last task. Save your work. Open new file. Copy the selected item. Paste copied item. Working with the Silhouette Studio Editing Tools The editing tools allow you to change shapes or paths, copy, and cut the shapes on the machine. There are several ways to view these tools. The buttons along the top right of the screen and the small tabs on the bottom left are the editing tools. The tab buttons change according to what is selected on the drawing pad. They are essentially short-cuts to editing your shape or path. As always, hover the mouse over each icon to have the tool tip tell you about the tool. Clicking the Home button (small house) opens all the tools in the menu on the right side of the screen. They are the same as the buttons to the right of the Home button. The buttons listed below are used for cutting metal clay on the Silhouette machine. The Cut Style icon opens the Cut menu. This menu allows you to choose how the design is cut. Including inside lines, outside lines, and no cut. 2

3 The Move icon opens the Move menu. It offers ways of moving selected lines and shapes in increments. The Rotate icon opens the Rotate menu. It offers ways of rotating selected lines and shapes in increments. The Scale icon opens the Scale menu which allows you to scale your design up or down with precision. The Align icon opens the Align menu which allows you to align shapes and lines. The Replicate icon opens the Replicate menu and will be one of your favorite tools! It allows you to duplicate a shape or line to the right, left, top, bottom or make a mirror image of your line or shape. It also duplicates and rotates your selected item. The Modify icon opens the Modify menu which allows you to combine shapes and modify how they are combined by adding to the shape or subtracting from a shape. The Offset icon open the Offset menu that allows you to create a copy of your shape either outside the shape or inside the shape. It also allows you to choose the distance of offset. The Trace icon opens the Trace menu. It offers options for tracing drawings imported into the program. Click the Select Trace button and then click and drag a box around the area you want traced. You can adjust the box size by clicking and dragging the square handles. The yellow lines are the traced lines created by the program. Select the trace type, outer edge, both outer and inner areas, or trace and remove. Trace and remove makes the two traced lines separate whereas trace keeps them grouped together. The Cut Setting menu is the most important menu for cutting metal clay. Select the type as Custom Media. Set the Speed to 10. Set the thickness to 33. Choose Blade. If you are doubtful about if the blade will cut through a 4 card thick clay, then select Double Cut. This has the machine cut twice on all lines. Select the blade height per the chart at the end of this tutorial. Then make sure to physically change the blade height on the machine matching the one set in the software. Turn on the machine, load the mat (choose Load Mat) on the machine. Then select Cut on the software screen. If you start to cut and have an error message that it can t find the registration marks then go to this button to open the Registration Menu. Un-check Show Reg Marks. Then choose Cut in the Cut Settings menu. Opens the Grid menu. The grid can be very helpful when drawing lines and planning on using the Mirror Replicate function. Make sure the edge points line up on the same horizontal or vertical grid lines. Then when using the mirror function they will complete a shape without making a gap in the drawing. You will still have to select the two lines using the Select tool, select Compound path, and then the Edit Points tool to select the overlapping points to make the lines solid. 3

4 Scanning and Importing Images The Silhouette s Studio software doesn t have scanning capability. You must have a drawing program like Photoshop or Paint. Paint is part of the Windows software allows for scanning and saving scans. Some scanners offers the capability for scanning and saving the scanned file to a folder. After scanning your drawing, you then can import the image into the Silhouette program in the listed steps below. It s best to have your drawing done in black ink on white paper. Save the picture as a JPG file and then use the Import function in the Silhouette software. The Steps 1. Open the Silhouette Studio program. 2. Click the File menu and choose Import to My Library. 3. Browse to the saved JPG file on your computer. Note: if you don t see your file listed in the folder, change the Files of Type search to JPG. 4. Select the file and click OK. 5. The Untitled window opens. Enter a description of the file. If you want you can re-name it as well. Click OK. The file is now saved in the Silhouette My Library folder in the My Own Designs folder. It can be accesses anytime from the program by clicking the Library icon located on the left side of the screen. 6. The My Own Designs folder is already open. Double click the file opening it in the drawing program. Tracing Scanned Images The Steps 1. Import the JPG file into the program. 2. Select Trace icon on the top toolbar opening the Tracing menu. 3. Select the Select Trace Area button in the Tracing menu. 4. Click and drag over the chosen design. 4

5 5. Select how you want the program to trace the design. Since this drawing has an inner area in the A, choose Inner Outer lines. After tracing the drawing you will notice that the Silhouette Studio software has drawn double lines. One on the outside of your ink line and one on the inside of your ink line. You will need to select the points on either the outside or inside and delete all of them to obtain one cutting path. 6. Select the Select tool. 7. Select the scanned design and key press the Delete key on your keyboard. This deletes the scanned drawing so you can view the red traced lines better. Note: It did not delete the file. It is still in the My Library folder. 8. If needed, remove extra lines you didn t want traced by selecting the point with the Edit Point tool and key pressing Delete. Note: after deleting the point the next point to the right is automatically selected. You can continue to delete point by just pressing the delete key. The path line is completely removed only after removing all points. 9. If needed, adjust the traced lines using the Edit Points tool. Select a dot on the path (line). The dot becomes selected and now shows its adjustment handles and the line is now darker red between two points. Adjusting the blue handle next to the dark red line adjusts that section of line, the line between the two points. Grab one blue dot on the end of the handle selecting it. Moving it out, making it longer, makes the line curve more. Pushing it in, makes a curve sharper. Moving it up or down changes the line s direction. Tip: Double clicking the tracing automatically opens the edit point tool. To make the line smoother, remove excess points! 10. If needed, adjust the size by a percentage allowing for the metal clay s percent of shrinkage. Select the Scale menu. The whole shape is now selected and the scale menu on the right side of the window displays. 5

6 In the text box under Custom enter the percentage needed for allowing the clays shrinkage. For example, if using PMC3 then enter 118. Click Apply. The graphic enlarges 118%. Note: Refer to the shrinkage chart at the end of this tutorial. When you select the tracing, using the Select tool, notice that the screen now displays the measurements of the whole piece. You can change the measuring standard by going to the File menu, choose Preferences. The Preferences window opens. Select Measurements and choose the preferred unit of length. Choose the type of measurement unit. In making jewelry, we use millimeters (mm). Cutting the Clay 1. Perform a test cut on thick paper. Adjust the cutting blade to #5. Turn the blue knob on the machine all the way to the left. Lift the blade assembly up out of the cradle [1a]. Change the blade s depth to #5. Slip the blade s bottom into the ratchet cap on the machine [1b]. Turn the blade in the ratchet cap until the number five is at the pointer on the cap [1c]. Remove the blade from the ratchet cap placing it back into the cradle. Note: the red line on the blade should be pointing at number 5 [1d]. Lock the blade in by turning the blue knob all the way to the right. Place a sheet of paper on the cutting mat at the top left corner of the grid on the mat. Turn on the machine and open the lid. Align the cutting mat s left corner with the line on the machine [1e] [1f]. Make sure that Load Cutting Mat has the black dot [1g] next to it on the machine s console. If not press the up arrow to select it. Load the mat by pressing the Enter button on the machine. Set the blade settings on the computer to match the blade setting on the machine. Select the cut settings button at the top right corner of the Silhouette Studio Designer window [1h]. The Cutting Settings window opens on the right side of the screen. Change the blade to number 5 by clicking the small black triangle next to the picture of the blade. When selected, the number 5 should be highlighted in blue [1i]. Make sure the other settings are set to match those in the photo [1i]. Click the icon Open Registration Marks [1j]. Uncheck the Show Registration Marks in the Registration Marks window [1k]. Select the cut settings button again opening the Cut Settings menu. Select the Cut button. The machine cuts any of the red lines shown on the screen. 6

7 [1a] [1b] [1c] [1d] [1e] [1f] [1g] [1h] [1i] [1j] [1k] 2. Unload the mat by pressing the Enter button on the machine. Make note of where the machine cut the letters. This is where you will place the clay attached to the plastic shelf paper. If the letters are to the size you need then you are ready to cut the clay. If not adjust the letter sizes, and complete another test cut. [1l] 7

8 3. Cut the letters out in the clay. Place the clay backed with plastic onto the mat where the machine cut the previous letters [3a]. Take note whether the black roller on the feed will roll over the clay. If so, move it down the bar. Feed the mat into the machine, by pressing Enter to load the mat. The machine is already set to cut 2 cards thick clay at blade # 5. You can adjust the blade to cut a little deeper by changing the blade s depth to #6. Selecting the check box double cut makes the machine cut the lines twice [3b]. If you change the blade depth to #6 on the computer then remove the blade [3c] and change its depth manually as well. [3a] [3b] [3c] 4. Unload the mat by pressing the Enter button on the machine. 5. Carefully lift the design off the mat with tweezers. Shrinkage Factors PMC3 and PMC+ has a shrinkage factor of 15% when fired at 1650F for two hours. Enlarge your design by 118%. PMC Sterling has a shrinkage factor of 15 20%. It s best to error on the large side, so plan on the 20% shrinkage rate. Enlarge your design by 125%. Art Clay Silver low fire has a 9% shrinkage rate. Enlarge the design by 110% The Silhouette Cameo Cutting Blade Settings The Cameo cannot cut deeper than 1mm (4 cards = setting 10 on blade.) Cutting at setting 10 may require a double cut setting. Number of Cards Slat Color MM Thickness Inch Thickness Blade Setting