The machine shipped on March 4 and arrived on March 6. I've only spent a few hours playing with it so far, but can say that it does do exactly what it claims, and quite nicely. Every problem I've had so far has been due to errors on my part, not on that of the machine or the software. Most of the effort has been in getting used to machine and software, and understanding their limitations and quirks.
The standard version of the "Silhoutte Studio" software that comes with the machine is also available as a free download from the Silhouette Web site. It's a competent little vector drawing program which will let you create nicely and print, though obviously you can't cut without one of the Silhouette machines. It will import a very few vector file formats, and the more common raster/bitmap formats which can then be traced to generate cut lines; it does this very nicely. The "Designer" version of the software costs an additional $50, and unlocks a few more features, the most important of which is the ability to import .SVG files (I draw in Adobe Illustrator, and the only other vector format the two programs share is .DXF; let's not go there). The machine has an optical sensor in the cutter head which will locate registration marks on the page and align the machine to cut where the page was printed, BUT this only really works well if you print and cut from the SS software in the same session, otherwise the registration mark detection doesn't work very well at all, and page alignment and scaling both go off significantly. I've managed to successfully cut ONE three-page model so far with good registration, and find that it's best to work with blocks of color and no PRINTED cut lines wherever possible, then any small misalignment won't be apparent after cutting. Imported artwork works best if it's flattened to one layer with as few object groups as possible. Text should be converted to paths before importing as well. Since the cutter uses a drag knife, avoid sharp corners and reverses, otherwise there WILL be some tearing at those locations. This leads to shreds of paper working their way up around the blade and impairing its freedom of rotation, so it's a good idea to pull the cutter cartridge out (a quick and easy task) to make sure it's clear before each page of cutting. "Scoring" is done by perforating the paper, which works nicely for larger parts but I have yet to find a way to make the perforations smaller. I need to buy (or make) one of the adapters (there are at least three kinds available) to hold a pen in place of the cutter cartridge, and put a ball-tip stylus in it for simple scoring. I don't know whether the machine will apply enough pressure for this to be feasible, though. If all else fails, I can just continue scoring by hand, but that would take all the fun out of having the machine! Cutting of unbacked materials is done on tacky cutting mats that the machine's rollers grip by the edges. Mine came with two 12"x12" mats, and a 12"x24" mat is also available. Backed (window cling vinyl, for example) materials can mostly be fed into the machine without a cutting mat as long as the blade is set shallow enough to not cut through the backing. Stock up to 12"x120" can be cut this way! I'm sure there's more I could say, but the brain isn't fully functional today. Oh, if anyone else has one of these machines and would like to take a whack at my TARDIS model with it, let me know. -- *Mike Hungerford* http://www.chthulhu.com/ -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Papermodels II" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
