Just downloaded my software

[Wendy Jo]

Good evening. I just downloaded my software. I have been using Silhouette Studio DE. I have 100's of files that I have created, that I would like to open with my SCAL. I saved a few as PDF's but I can't get them to open in my SCAL. Any suggestions?

Thanks so much,
Wendy

[dragonlord666]

for PDF you need to import as if it's an image then change the file type in the dialogue box to be pdf
scal should then import/trace the pdf.

if you have inkscape that can import the pdfs and export as svg

if you have version 1.9 of SSDE for windows you can save the studio files as svg - just open the file, file>save as change the .studio to .svg hit save

Gaz

[Wendy Jo]

Thank you Gaz.

I feel as if I am following what you have suggested but would you mind step by stepping me just to be sure?? I have saved the file to PDF, then open SCAL, File, import, select the PDF and I get a blank box. I have also tried saving the PDF to a jpeg, still nothing. I also changed the file to an SVG in Inkscape, and this way I can see the image, but it still will not allow me to trace the image and show any cut line when I click "outline".

[dragonlord666]

when you export from studio can you open the pdf and see the image with your normal Pdf reader?

if you can't then studio is saving a blank pdf.

presuming you have a good pdf


SCAL3
with scal open click the import SVG button
pdf's should be selectable but if not change "all readable files" to pdf

either double click your file or click it once and then click open

if you only get a box (and layers shows no cutlines) then the file is NOT a vector pdf and will need to be traced

scal can do it as can inkscape

in Scal you do this with the file>trace image
but you set the dropdown to all files

you will need to play with settings to get as best as possible - change something then click update to see what happened.
each file will be different

in inkscape you would import the file file>import and after finding the file you can set the import settings.
I find a quality of 131 works quite well

Gaz

[Wendy Jo]

Thank you very much for detailing this out to me.

I found out the "save to pdf" function on a Mac won't allow you to open a file in SCAL, so I changed the files to PNG format with did the trick. I was then able to trace with ease.

Thanks again.

Now I am on the search for the offset button or what will allow me to "shadow" my design.

Have a great day!

[dragonlord666]

once you have the cutlines in scal select them/it and go object>shadow

play with the settings

also look at the options on the side menus - I think there is options there for shadows too (they might have been moved in recent updates)

yes studio & mac gives totally different things to studio & windows LOL
I have windows on my mac and studio DE version 1.9 so I cna open a studio file and save it as a svg - so much easier.
I have studio DE (current) on the mac also but mac version has never been able to save svg - it will save them but they are useless files.

Gaz