Export Silhouette File To Png

[Ellyn Krucke]

Mywife and I have a silhouette for our craft projects. It's a great little device. Through some experimenting we found a few of the export formats will import and give various quality of vector results. The SVG format, depending on what settings you use, will give you best results in our experience.

Silhouette is now selling a plug-in ($39.99) to allow the user to directly print from Adobe Illustrator which should avoid reworking in Silhouette Studio. I am trying to install the plug-in now, but I use Creative Cloud and I'm hoping that the Coresynch plugin folder is the correct place to drop the Silhouette plug-in file. I'm waiting to hear back from Silhouette America on chat now.

I believe this is what Silhouette expects - otherwise you will run into trouble when fonts differs or not available. Good thing is you just need to check "export text as curves for font independence" which leaves your text editable in AffinityDesigner - BUT any design on text should be converted nonetheless (you always can keep a hidden duplicate which won't be exported then).

I have a handful of original graphic renderings that I would like to save as an image in order to display them in my online shop. Is there any way to export my own designs as images?

I would think Silhouette isn't so obtuse as to believe that something made using their software belongs to anyone but the creator. If this is the case, it is completely unfair to keep people from saving their own work in a different format.

Please tell me I have overlooked something. Please tell me I am ignorant and don't have enough experience... I'd rather that be the case.

Sorry... I'm a little paniced right now about having access to my own creations outside the Studio program.

8:33AM, 13 January 2012 PDT(permalink)

The files can only be saved in Studio format. You have two options I know about to get those to be viewed from other sources.

First, take a screen shot with a snipping tool (I don't know what operating system you're working with). That will be saved as a PNG image that can be viewed almost anywhere.

Second, print to PDF with a PDF printer like Bullzip. Whatever you create in Studio can be printed on paper or saved as a PDF by "printing" to PDF. I use this option all the time.

ages ago(permalink)

Hmm... this is a complicatin I hadn't forseen. I've never used the PDF option, but it sounds viable... I'm going to give it a try. Thanks again Kelly. (Plunking a couple coins into the slot on my computer :) )

ages ago(permalink)

Golly gosh I shall be saving this thread as I was wondering how to do that also. Should have asked the question months ago. So glad that the Silhouette allows us options and not closed the door shut tight. (you know what I mean.) Hooray for Silhouette, I am loving it.

The more I learn the more I love it.

ages ago(permalink)

lhorvati,

The resolution is set in your preferences in Silh Studio. I think the default is 600 dpi so there is plenty of resolution.

And for any Mac people reading this thread, no extra sofware is required. Just click the PDF button at the bottom of the print window. When the PDF opens in Preview save it in your choice of file formats.

ages ago(permalink)

I have been using this, but have found that I sometimes have trouble with Bullzip picking up the lines instead of the fill part of a pattern, even when I select "Print lines of selected" . Has anyone else had this problem?

ages ago(permalink)

HELP!!! So I'm trying to save a studio file as an eps so I can edit it in Photoshop Elements. I've followed your directions and downloaded Bullzip and opened the file. Then I clicked print and chose Bullzip, then I saved it as an eps. When I open it in Photoshop nothing is there!!! I've tried saving it as a jpeg and a pdf and still I get a blank file. Please let me know what am I doing wrong?

ages ago(permalink)

Sorry to jump in, would this work for getting something printed a Staples?

Just thinking, if I placed the registration marks and saved it as a screen shot jpeg would it work? My printer isn't the best quality.

ages ago(permalink)

Angeltbs, probably your best bet for printing at Staples would be to actually save it as a PDF with its registration marks on. I think most places like Staples can easily open PDF's. A screen shot may lose resolution or save in a different size. I still recommend Bullzp for this.

ages ago(permalink)

Think of me as a kindergardner playing with Duplo blocks while you're all building Lego castles. I downloaded Silhouette Studio so I could transform clipart type objects into silhouettes.

I created one I love for a new business card I'm designing and now I can't transfer it to my card (powerpoint - don't laugh). SO. I read above and see your suggestions, but those would save the object with a white border within and around it, right? I need mine to be the pretty silhouette I see in the application.

Thanks for your help!

ages ago(permalink)

Yes Janen you have run into a big limitation of this and that is that you can't have a transparent background. But you can fix that in Powerpoint. Go ahead and get your image in and then check the powerpoint help for how to set transparency. You will be able to click the white background and have it magically disappear.

and to follow up on a couple of old posts

hb313 eps won't work because Silh Studio doesn't send vector info to the printer.

You can set the resolution in Bullzip to whatever you want. You can also set the page size. You can even watermark with it. Very helpful companion to Silh Studio and just daily life.

ages ago(permalink)

When I export a design in the SVG format and open it in another vector program the size is different. I need the design to be the same size as the size I created in Affinity Designer. I opened the SVG file in AI, Corel, Inkscape, Cricut Design Space and Silhouette Studio. In all the software the design is not the same size as I created in Affinity Designer. Am I using the wrong settings?

Hi. Thank you for your message. I was using Adobe Illustrator before and had no issues with size when exporting SVG files. In Affinity Designer however I am not having any luck. Let me give you an example. I created a 2" x 2" circle. When I export it as an SVG file and open it in other vector software it is 8.333" x 8.333". Unticking the Set viewBox does not work. Inkscape had the same problem. Inkscape then created a template called "default pt" to fix the problem.

Hi. Following my previous message. I figured it out. I unticked the Set viewBox and I changed Use DPI to 72. I see there are a lot of people online who also have issues with SVG exporting and resizing of designs. Maybe it would help if Affinity adds a preset to the list under Export Settings with the correct settings and call it SVG - Preserve original size. That way people only have to choose that preset when they want export an SVG file that does not change the size of their design. Thank you for a great product. As a hobbyist I could no longer afford the ridiculous subscription fees of Adobe. I am so glad they finally have competition. I know they have a lot more features but with time I am sure Affinity will catch up and even surpass them. I am very excited.

Thank you. I am not an expert in designing software and all the different terms so I did not know how to provide the information you requested. I had to search the internet to try and find solutions. I appreciate your help.

I was reading the various examples as my SVG exports to upload into Cricut were going onto Cricut's canvas much smaller.... So, I followed your instruction of setting DPI to 72 and unticked the Set ViewBox and it uploaded to Cricut's DS perfectly, at the same size 6"x5"!! Thank you.

I am having an issue with fluctuating files sizes. Some vector images are 70megs and other are 705Kb. In fact I have one image that contains a copy/paste of the entire image in a file thats 70meg, plus quite a lot of other vector drawing (like another 30 other little objects) yet when I export it it is only 705kb in size....I want the smaller file size but why is there such a huge fluctuation? Is it the canvas set-up dimensions? I thought vector, being math, made the physical dimensions redundant? I mean a matchbox size vector can scale up losslessly (what a word lol) to be printed on an aircraft. I assumed it was the number of nodes that increased file size more then the physical dimensions of the board... Is there some setting Im missing?

...I think there might be a gradient in one of the layers? But that would exist in both files. The smaller file has a pixel/raster layer at the bottom that I was using as a reference....but that shouldn't account for the vast difference in file sizes?

I am used to the simplicity of the Sihlouette Studio software and currently have the designer edition. Now not knowing much about Vinyl master and licensing at the time, I am kind of scared I may be losing some functionality with having just the cut edition and might need to spend more money to upgrade.

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