What's an SVG?

What is an SVG, and what makes it so special? Well, SVG stands for scalable vector graphic. Graphic images fall into two categories: raster images and vector images.

Raster images are what we’re all used to, and are the images we usually see when we browse the internet. They are composed of pixels – if you zoom in on a picture, you’ll see tiny colored squares. Maybe you’ve never heard them called raster graphics before, but everything we take on a digital image is also made up of those tiny boxes. This is why we say things are pixelated when we are zoomed in on an image. High resolution refers to an image with tons of pixels, and tons of detail. These images (and videos) are larger in file size, but can be viewed much larger. The file types you’ll usually see are .png, .jpg and .bmp.

So what is a vector image? Well, a vector is basically a line, curve, point or other simple shape. It’s not made up of pixels, and because of this they can be infinitely small or infinitely large and not lose any quality – they don’t get pixelated. The finer details are more complex and get into coding, which isn’t necessary to understand which one to use. If you’re curious, find an SVG file and instead of opening it in a cutting program or Illustrator, open it in a text editor (Textedit for Mac, Notepad for Windows). You’ll see lines and lines of code, and that code is telling where lines, dots, colors and everything else should be assigned. People can actually read this code, find errors and fix SVG files. Sounds kind of dull, right? Well, somebody has to do it, and we get to reap the benefit of their work.

What does this mean for your cutting machines and software? Well, your software can read that code and tell the cutting machine where to cut. Raster images don’t give very good directions to a cutting machine – it wouldn’t know where to start. A vector image tells the machine where everything should be cut, and it does its job well. Some software, like Make the Cut, can do something called a pixel trace, where it takes a raster image and turns it into something the software can use to cut out.

SVGs are pretty handy, and are growing to be more commonly used with cutting software. You can find them for free, make them yourself (with software like Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape) or find them at websites like Lettering Delights. If you’re interested in expanding the way you scrapbook or just the way you craft, you might want to take a look at some die cut machines and play with some SVG files, they’re a lot of fun.

-- The Cut Source

Using 3rd Party Software with Cricut (Part 2)

Okay, now we find a solution for this whole problem, at least for some folks.

First, for Make the Cut users: all you need is a plug in. Google “pccplugin.dll” and search for a working download. You should be able to find it within a few minutes of looking around on Google, which is the hardest part of the whole process. After that, you just need to bring it to its new home. Find your file, and put it in this folder (follow my arrows):

My Computer>>C Drive>>Program Files (x86)>>make the cut!>>plugins

Make sure Make the Cut is not open when you do this. After you move the pccplugin.dll file into the plugins folder, you should be able to use your Cricut with Make the Cut.

SCAL users, your situation is either easier or harder. SCAL 3, if you already have SCAL 2, can be downloaded and used with your Cricut without trouble. But you’ll still end up using SCAL 2 with the Cricut, so there’s not much point. If you don’t already have SCAL 2, you’d have to download it illegally, since no one can sell it legally. And while I’m fine with circumventing Cricut on a couple of issues, I don’t condone stealing software from Craft Edge.

It’s obnoxious that a company is so unwilling to work with the rest of the industry. There are tons of cutting machines out there, some great software to work with those machines, and lots of people that have made some great artwork, or websites like Lettering Delights that sell some great stuff. Provo Craft forces their users to buy limited, expensive cartridges, and that just doesn’t feel right. So hopefully you Cricut users can exercise some freedom, and maybe in the near future Provo Craft will allow some flexibility, but until then, there aren’t many options. Good luck!


-- The Cut Source

Using 3rd Party Software with the Cricut (Part 1)

So you just got a new Cricut from Provo Craft, and you want to make your own files to cut? Maybe you found some SVGs or other artwork and want to cut all those stacks of cardstock you have lying around? Well, I’m going to give a brief rundown of why you can’t currently buy software that allows you to use any third-party art with the Cricut, but in my next post I’ll talk about to how to make that software work anyway.

I know, the Cricut comes with its own cartridges, and they have a lot of images to choose from. But maybe you’ve seen some blogs out there, and the owners have tons of cute SVGs you’d love to cut, or you’ve seen websites like Lettering Delights or SVG Cuts. Well, Provo Cut decided to put an end to that by filing a lawsuit against a few smaller companies that made software that worked with the Cricut.

In March of 2011, Provo Craft sued Craft Edge and Make the Cut, who make Sure Cuts a Lot and Make the Cut, respectively. Sure Cuts a Lot (SCAL) and Make the Cut (MTC) are made by third party developers, and they designed software that could work with the Cricut, as well as with a bunch of other die cut machines on the market (like the Silhouette line or the KNK Zing). Provo Craft wasn’t very happy that its users were skipping out on buying expensive Cricut cartridges and using software that gave them some flexibility.

I don’t think any Cricut customers were out to get Cricut, but Provo Craft wasn’t supplying anything similar to MTC or SCAL for Cricut users. They just came out with some $300 product that looks like a Sony PSP that’s supposed to let you backup your cartridges and create your own files, but that’s six times the price of software and harder to use. Why not let the loyal customers who purchased the Cricut use whatever files they want to? If the cartridges are worth the money, users will buy them anyway.

Perhaps Provo Craft had its own legitimate reasons for these lawsuits, but I don’t know of a single owner of a Cricut who’s happy with this development. I’m not trying to get everybody to write angry e-mails to Provo Craft (although I’m not saying it’s a bad idea), but rather to show a couple of ways to get around the problem. So stay tuned for the next post, because if you’re tired of paying way too much for a cartridge when you just want a few files to play with, you may be in luck.

-- The Cut Source