Silhouette Import Image

[Boyan Atanaschev]

Im trying to convert from photoshop to affinity but am struggling. This literally takes me seconds in AI.

I find a picture I like... I open it up... I trace the image as silhouette... I expand the image... I have outline of image... a smooth outline no anti-aliasing.

How do I do this in Affinity? It's been 2 hours of googling and playing but no luck... So far this is what I've done:

Opened up image in Photo... removed background... save as .png... open up image in Designer... layer effects > Outline... I expand the outline (but I can not tell what thats done, if anything)

I'm now stuck... how do I just get that outline... nothing else, just a vector image of that outline with no anti-aliasing?

Thank you for any helpful answers

(I'm begging you guys for help here, I seriously do not want to go back to Adobe... I realise there's a learning curve and there will be something obvious but I'm struggling... I can usually switch to a new bit of software with a few tutorials and some googling but this is just getting painful... sorry)

Oh god that was the answer I was dreading

I still want to support the underdog though... I've bought copies and will continue to play with them but it looks like I'm going to have to pay the extortionate Adobe fee's

Thank you for your reply Gary... just to double check... are you saying I can not convert that pink outline I've created into a vector?

Really appreciate your solution... just loaded it up and it is perfect... unfortunately Inkscape, as much as I love to use open source and (donate to it) is clunky AF with it's XQuartz on my mac... so frustrating... I love the Affinity software, it really does have a beautifully made UI... it just doesn't do what I need

Looks like I'm going to have to suck up the Adobe price in order to have that "just works" experience... I do appreciate all the answers and help I've had from folks here but I also have animation to do

Looks like my move to open source and alternatives to the giants will have to wait a little longer... gutted but I gotta work, eat and pay bills

Thanks again

AFAI remember I tried that out once, it works with setup layers (manual layer based) and offers manual adjustments. So you do sort of a manual color quantization with that software (setup each wanted color layer). It can give good results though needs more time and manual work in contrast to other software.

Yes as default Intaglio Vectorize traces one color layer, so you would have to setup/add other additional color layers manually inside, in oder to trace for multiple colors. I'm not sure if that software uses maybe potrace too internally, since potrace usually traces just in BW and thus in order to trace for multiple colors one needs a color quantisation method there for dealing with the handling of different colors.

Inkscape for example does exactly that automatically, they use a modified potrace code here, where they do their own color quantisation with. - Aka remember and extract all colors, or a setup amount of the most used colors, then do a continious sequence vector trace after all those single colors, finally add all traced color vector layers together to form the colored vector result.

Answer: There are many ways in which Potrace can be useful in processing color images, with some extra work. For example, you can trace an image to SVG format using the --svg and --opaque options, and then use e.g. Inkscape to color it manually.

Or you can extract individual color components from your image using the Gimp or ppmcolormask (part of the netpbm package), trace them separately, and then overlay the pieces to get a multicolored image. You can get pretty good results for posterized images. I have used a command line similar to this:

Answer: No, Potrace is not designed to do centerline tracing, and for technical reasons, it is unlikely that this will change in the near future. Algorithms used for centerline tracing are quite different than those used for outline tracing; it might be more useful to write a separate program for this purpose. You could try Autotrace, which has such a feature.

Yes, in Inkscape you can limit or enhance color scans, setup quantisation, generally adjust settings to use etc. In Intaglio Vectorize for color traces you have to do add/setup manually more color layers for the desired colors there then.

Honestly I don't know, since I didn't followed their latest software version evolution approaches. But if they also add centerline tracing capabilities that's good news and of course will offer some more tracing capabilities then. All in all Inkscape has very smart tracing capabilities. - Further if they now support MacOS Quartz directly, so no more XQuartz is needed, it will be even better to use on Macs too.

I've tried the native Inkscape1.0 beta app and it works Ok so far also under El Capitan, so I've exchanged the XQuartz one with that. - Well X11 times are gone by far, last time I worked/programmed with the X Window System was under NeXTstep via Cub'X-Window, then porting some XView (OpenLook) stuff for NeXT (so ages ago).

When you're looking for an image to download onto your silhouette, you want to make sure that it is a simple image, especially as a beginner. This is a simple black and white coloring page that I downloaded. It has nice straight lines so there's nothing really wild and funky about it.

Selecting the outer edge of my daisy will highlight the back piece and allow me to color this a different color. If you are not able select and add the colors like this, then it has not been grouped properly.

Learn how to use any image with your Silhouette! You can cut all kinds of files with your Silhouette Cameo or Portrait, and I will walk you through the process of using each file type with both written and video tutorials. This post may contain affiliate links, which help to support this site.

The Silhouette (Cameo, Portrait, and Curio) can work with a lot of different types of images and different file types, but the steps for working with each one are a little different. I wrote this post to help explain the different file types you can use with the Silhouette Studio software and to share some tips and tricks for working with each one.

I also made a video to walk you through the whole process too. You can watch it below or check out the written tutorial after that. (This video is part of the Silhouette vs. Cricut series with my friend Colleen of Lemon Thistle, so if you are a Cricut user, you can learn all about working with any image in Cricut from her video right HERE!)

DXF files are actually a great option for Silhouette users who have only the Basic edition of the software. Like SVG files (read more about those below), DXF files already contains the cut lines for your design, so they do not need to be traced like the image files we just discussed (JPG, PNG, BMP). This is what the DXF piata looks like when opened with Silhouette Studio:

As you can see, you lose the colors that you get with SVG files, but you still have the cut lines and can use the fill tool (the paint palette icon) to add colors to the image if you like. So, if you are using the Basic Edition of the software, DXF files are a great option. Where can you get DXF files?? Well, I always include DXF files with the cut files you can purchase in my shop and So Fontsy cut files also will always include DXF files, so those are some great options to check out.

SVG files are vector images, which means they can be scaled up or down without losing their shape or definition. SVG files also already have the cut lines embedded into the file. They are super easy to work with and are the most common cut file type.

I almost always recommend that people get the Designer Edition of the software. I think the small extra cost is worth it if only for the ability to open SVG files. Plus, you can almost always find it for a good price on Amazon (Although please note that if you buy it from Amazon, you are buying a card that will be mailed to you. To get instant access to the software, you will need to buy it through Silhouette directly. You can use the code 10OFF for 10% off your purchase.)

There are higher levels of the software available too that allow you to work with even more file types (the Designer Edition Plus allows you to open embroidery files and the Business Edition allows you to open Illustrator and Corel Draw files), but I only recommend those if you work with embroidery a lot or if you are an experienced designer.

One big file-related bonus to the Business Edition is that it allows you to export SVG, PDF, and JPG files. That basically means that you can design in Studio and then export those files to share outside of Studio.

You can buy SVG files in lots of places or you can design your own using a design software such as Adobe Illustrator. If you are looking for SVG cut files, then be sure to check out the free cut files I have here on the blog. I also have a SVG shop and participate in a monthly cut file bundle that you may want to check out. Finally, I am also regularly pinning awesome cut files to my Silhouette board here.

I hope all of that helps you understand how to cut your own images and designs in the Silhouette Studio software. If you have any questions about the types of files you can use with your Silhouette or how to use them, let me know if the comments below. ?

I have the designer edition plus and I have a Mac. My question is if I copy a picture I find and upload to silhouette then I trace it and cut out just the image, how do I turn that picture into a svg file to design a shirt for?

This information is EXACTLY what I needed! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge! i kept trying to get my cameo to cut an image i imported but it would only cut my cut box and leave the inside blank!! trial by error but boy was i getting frustrated

Hi Cori! Cricut machines mostly use SVG and PNG files. You can open these file types with the Silhouette Studio software, but you do need the Designer Edition upgrade to open SVGs in the Silhouette Studio software. Hope that helps!

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