{"id":5153,"date":"2018-10-16T16:18:49","date_gmt":"2018-10-16T23:18:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.corbinstreehouse.com\/blog\/?p=5153"},"modified":"2018-11-03T13:35:32","modified_gmt":"2018-11-03T20:35:32","slug":"making-vector-images-from-pictures-for-vinyl-cutting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.corbinstreehouse.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/making-vector-images-from-pictures-for-vinyl-cutting\/","title":{"rendered":"Making Vector Images from Pictures for Vinyl Cutting"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"top\" \/>\n<p>In this video I&#8217;ll create custom silhouette vector images for use in a vinyl cutter such as the Silhouette Cameo. I walk through the basics on how to do this in Adobe Illustrator.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/c1UiW8JsmUo\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>Tools and Materials (affiliate links):<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2CR7P6U\">Vinyl Cutter<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2J1WNMu\">Vinyl Pack<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Step 1: Find Your Image<\/h3>\n<p>If you are like me, you probably want things written out instead of watching a video. First, download some pixel image that you want to create into a vector. In this tutorial, we\u2019ll start with an image that is already a silhouette. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/subscription_center?add_user=corbinstreehouse\">Subscribe to my YouTube channel<\/a> for how to create these from your own color images! I found this awesome dinosaur that has a creative commons license:\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" title=\"trex_sil.png\" src=\"http:\/\/www.corbinstreehouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/trex_sil.png\" alt=\"T Rex Silhouette Image\" width=\"800\" height=\"481\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>Step 2: Fire Up Illustrator and Open the Image<\/h3>\n<p>I created a new blank Illustrator document that was 12\u201d by 12\u201d. I used inches and not pixels because we are going to be dealing with a vinyl cutter in the real world. I dragged the image into Illustrator.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" title=\"Screen Shot 2018-10-16 at 4.05.44 PM.png\" src=\"http:\/\/www.corbinstreehouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screen-Shot-2018-10-16-at-4.05.44-PM.png\" alt=\"Illustrator of Dino\" width=\"800\" height=\"447\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 3: Rasterize<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I selected the image, and then clicked <strong>Object -&gt; Rasterize<\/strong> to rasterize it at the smaller size. This helps create a smaller vector image, which will be easier for the Cameo vinyl cutter to cut.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" title=\"Screen Shot 2018-10-16 at 4.07.34 PM.png\" src=\"http:\/\/www.corbinstreehouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screen-Shot-2018-10-16-at-4.07.34-PM.png\" alt=\"Screen Shot 2018 10 16 at 4 07 34 PM\" width=\"791\" height=\"600\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Step 4: Make it a Vector<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>I selected the image and clicked \u201c<strong>Window -&gt; Image Trace<\/strong>\u201d to show the image trace options. You can tweak the values as you see fit, and hit <strong>Preview or\u00a0Trace\u00a0<\/strong>to have it actually do the trace. In general, you want to keep the path and anchor count down in order to make the image cut better. If it is too complex, the blade will chew up the vinyl.<\/p>\n<h3><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" title=\"Screen Shot 2018-10-16 at 4.09.52 PM.png\" src=\"http:\/\/www.corbinstreehouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screen-Shot-2018-10-16-at-4.09.52-PM.png\" alt=\"Image Trace\" width=\"798\" height=\"518\" border=\"0\" \/><\/h3>\n<h3>\u00a0<\/h3>\n<h3><strong>Step 5:\u00a0<\/strong>Unlink and Ungroup<\/h3>\n<p>I select the image and hit\u00a0<strong>Expand\u00a0<\/strong>in the Properties tab to actually get the paths out of the image.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" title=\"Screen Shot 2018-10-16 at 4.12.27 PM.png\" src=\"http:\/\/www.corbinstreehouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screen-Shot-2018-10-16-at-4.12.27-PM-2.png\" alt=\"Screen Shot 2018 10 16 at 4 12 27 PM\" width=\"265\" height=\"566\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I then also\u00a0<strong>Ungroup\u00a0<\/strong>it to make corrections.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" title=\"Screen Shot 2018-10-16 at 4.12.35 PM.png\" src=\"http:\/\/www.corbinstreehouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screen-Shot-2018-10-16-at-4.12.35-PM.png\" alt=\"Screen Shot 2018 10 16 at 4 12 35 PM\" width=\"278\" height=\"551\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Step 6:\u00a0<\/strong>Cleanup<\/h3>\n<p>At this point, there may be some white fills that you may want to select and delete; probably on the top and bottom of the vector.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" title=\"Screen Shot 2018-10-16 at 4.15.23 PM.png\" src=\"http:\/\/www.corbinstreehouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screen-Shot-2018-10-16-at-4.15.23-PM.png\" alt=\"Screen Shot 2018 10 16 at 4 15 23 PM\" width=\"693\" height=\"468\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Step 7:\u00a0<\/strong>Export as DXF<\/h3>\n<p>Silhouette Studio can only read DXF files, unless you give them more money to have it be incorporated directly into Illustrator. Don\u2019t do it! Just export it as a DXF and then you can open it in the Studio and cut!<\/p>\n<p><strong>File -&gt; Export As\u2026 -&gt; Format \u2014 DXF<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" title=\"Screen Shot 2018-10-16 at 4.17.36 PM.png\" src=\"http:\/\/www.corbinstreehouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screen-Shot-2018-10-16-at-4.17.36-PM.png\" alt=\"Screen Shot 2018 10 16 at 4 17 36 PM\" width=\"1094\" height=\"797\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Step 8:\u00a0<\/strong>Silhouette Studio and Cut<\/h3>\n<p>Now you can open it up in Silhouette Studio and cut it on vinyl!<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this video I&#8217;ll create custom silhouette vector images for use in a vinyl cutter such as the Silhouette Cameo. I walk through the basics on how to do this in Adobe Illustrator. \u00a0 \u00a0&#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.corbinstreehouse.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/making-vector-images-from-pictures-for-vinyl-cutting\/\">[read more]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5157,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81,80],"tags":[84,82,83],"class_list":["post-5153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-project-videos","category-vinyl-cutter-projects","tag-cameo","tag-diy","tag-vinyl-cutter"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.corbinstreehouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Tile-Making-Vector-Images.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.corbinstreehouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.corbinstreehouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.corbinstreehouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.corbinstreehouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.corbinstreehouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5153"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.corbinstreehouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5158,"href":"https:\/\/www.corbinstreehouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5153\/revisions\/5158"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.corbinstreehouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.corbinstreehouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.corbinstreehouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.corbinstreehouse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}