Circut Design

YOu gO Girl!!!~:o) I made 22 school bus memory books for my sons Kindergarten class with the design studio! Let me tell you that it was my BEST investment yet! LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Blessings, Dorothy in NY

I stink at CDS, I can weld and do basic things but when it comes to actually designing something out of circles and squares forget it. I have much better luck with Inkscape plus I like that I can scale the svg files of others whereas CDS does not allow you to select all. I do enjoy using the cutfiles of those nice enough to post them on the board. I downloaded the gazebo cutfile about a month ago for this layout. I haven't finished the layout as it is going to be a 3 pager and I'm just not feeling it but I did finish the gazebo part.

I love how the gazebo turned out! I don't know a lot of Circut - I'll have to investigate a bit, looks ideal for my Christmas wishlist! LOL

Judy, SA

If you decide to get one go with the Cricut Expression.

I have been debating about getting the Cricut Design software. The more I see everyone on the board making with it and the fabulous files they are sharing I'm thinking about purchasing it. Some of the ladies do amazing stuff with it. ScoutLady love the gazebo. I was looking into Sure Cuts Alot which is very similar to Cricut Design Software but it's not licensed by Provo Craft and I believe with SCA you can cut fonts from your computer, not 100% sure though.

Chrissy

"ChrissyM" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@z72g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...

I have both programs and although they share some things in common they each do different things. I will try to explain each program.

CDS adds a computer interface to the Cricut which eliminates having to use the Cricut keypad. This alone makes it worth it but it does come at a price in regard to the Expression as the Expression enhancements like autofill are not available on the interface. CDS allows you to lay out a title and then weld the letters together and add a shadow layer. CDS lets you lay out the different parts of a design on a cartridge you own and make a cutfile, for instance you can lay down Mickey number 4 and create a different layer for each cut and then save it so the next time you want to cut that Mickey it is already laid out for you. Once again this feature in itself makes it worth buying. CDS allows you to manipulate the content on your cartridges and make new creations but there is an extremely steep learning curve to overcome in order to do so plus you have to be artistically gifted in the drawing department as well. For instance some of the people on the board can take a couple circles and squares and manipulate them until they have a fire hydrant or race car or a cactus etc. To make it doubly difficult the original shape remains and it is through a series of welding manipulations that the final product is produced. What it looks like on the interface is not what it will look like when cut. I have completely given up any hope of using it as a design tool and I just enjoy the cut files of others (like the gazebo) who freely share them with the rest of us. Other things to keep in mind is that you must have the cartridge in order to cut a design so if you have a great boat cutfile that uses Plantin Schoolbook you won't be able to cut it unless you have that cartridge. The software itself is buggy and lacks basic tools which should be available in the program like being able to "Select All" to move a design around on the mat or being able to resize a new design that you downloaded. Provocraft forbids the sale of cutfiles so the designers who design and sell cutfiles for other diecut machines will not design for the Cricut. The program takes forever to load and whenever it is updated (about once every 3 months) you then have to go back and reselect the cartridges that you own which is a pain and could be fixed if only Provocraft was concerned with the end users experience but they clearly are not. You can not install the program on both your laptop and your desktop, Provocraft requires you to buy a registration code for each computer you install it on. Customer support for CDS is poor and basically you have to ask other users on the Cricut board for help if you run into a problem. Provocraft had an outside company design CDS so the customer service support team often doesn't have a clue as to why you are having problems or how to fix it.

Sure Cuts A Lot (SCAL) is a third party program that adds a computer interface to the pc but does not use the cartridges. You must have a cartridge in the Cricut to cut but it doesn't matter what cartridge it is as the Cricut itself will not cut without a cartridge in the slot. SCAL allows you to cut any font or dingbat on your pc. You can weld and add a shadow or two or three and the shadowing is much easier to do (basically it one step) than it is on the CDS. There is no learning curve involved to use SCAL, the interface is clean and simple. You can design and cut your own diecuts by using a freeware vector drawing program called Inkscape. Once again you have to be artistically gifted to draw something but Inkscape does have functions that CDS does not have and as a result what you see it what you cut making it 50x superior to CDS and 100X less intimidating. Inkscape also allows you to import any picture, trace it and cut it out. You will have to clean up the pic before cutting but it is not a difficult task as it done through the program itself. There are tutorials that teach you all this and I have made a few things to cut by following the tutorials. Like CDS you can save your cutfiles. With SCAL you can also resize and move a design around on the mat as Select All is functional. You can import any svg file and the various cutfile designers are beginning to sell cutfiles to use with SCAL (they are sold as scut files). You can install SCAL on every computer in your home if you would like and the customer service is second to none.

Provocraft had been trying to intimidate people by suggesting that if they use SCAL that Provocraft will not honor the warranty on their Cricut if it breaks. After a few members with legal backgrounds pointed out that they would have as much success with that reasoning as a computer manufacturer saying that were not honoring pc warranties if non-Microsoft software was installed they finally stopped with the threats. A few dimwitted people on the board are scared to death that SCAL will break their Cricuts but there are always gullible people everywhere you go.

Where's the best place to buy the SCAL? When I typed in a search the sites were overwhelming and I want one I can trust that someone else has used.

Thanks,

Sandy

The only two places I can recommend is from the Craft Edge website ($75 for download/no cd or $90 for CD) and Cutters Creek which has the cd version for $65.99. The only problem with Cutters Creek is it is a one person business and your order takes 7 to 10 business days before it ships and right now she is trying to get all the Cricut Jukeboxes out that were pre-ordered so it may take longer. I downloaded it from Craft Edge and just made my own backup cd because I wanted immediate gratification.

I got mine straight from Craftersedge. And had no problems downloading it. Just make sure you back it up to a cd so that you have your activation key if you need it again.

Tam