Having trouble importing SVG files into Design Space? Hopefully this will help.
Most SVG files import easily into Design Space. However files from
MyScrapChick currently import with black blobs around them. There's extra work that needs to be done in Inkscape to cut those files successfully. I'm not aware if/when that problem is going to be fixed, but I do know the owner of MyScrapChick is aware of the problem.
On to the tutorial!! Here's the process from purchase to being ready to cut.
I'm using the awesome Easter file from SVG Cuts.
1. From the SVG Cuts website, click on the image for the file you want to purchase.
2. Click on Add to Bag
3. Click the Checkout button
4. Sign up if you don't have an account. Or complete your login details and press Log In if you do have an account.
5. Select how you want to Pay and complete the details.
I'm using PayPal so I click on the Paypal button at the bottom of the screen.
6. Confirm your billing address etc and click the Place Order button.
7. Complete your payment
8. When your payment is complete click the Download button.
9. Select the location on your computer to where you want to save the files and click Save.
10. Once the file has been downloaded navigate to that location on your computer.
11. You'll notice that the file has downloaded as a compressed (zipped) file. You will need to unzip that file before it can be used.
You can either right click on the file and select Extract All from the menu...
Or... you can click on the File name then click on Extract All from the toolbar.
12. Select where you want the unzipped files to be saved. I generally save them to the same directory the zipped file is saved. Press the Extract button to unzip the files.
13. Now you'll see a new directory that will contain the unzipped files. Click on that directory.
14. For this file you'll see 3 items.
- A directory that contains all the SVG files
- A PDF which contains pictures and sizes for all the pieces
- A jpg file. This file won't be imported into Design Space as it is merely a photo of the finished pieces in this collection.
15. Click on the SVG files directory
16. You'll see a directory for each of the pieces in the collection. I'll be working with the Bunny so I click on the Bunny directory.
You'll then see all the SVG files that make up the bunny.
You'll also see a PNG file. You won't be cutting this file. This image gives you an idea of what the end product should look like.
The five files that make up the bunny are highlighted below.
Now you need to get those files into Design Space.
17. Log in to Design Space and click the Create New Project button
18. Click the Upload Image button
19. Click the Vector Upload button
(The Basic Upload is only for importing .jpg, .gif, .png or .bmp files.)
20. Click the Browse button and locate the directory that contains the Bunny files and navigate to the directory that contains the SVG files.
21. Click on the first file to be imported - the belly panel. Depending on how you have Windows set up you may have to click Open after you have selected the file.
The file will be uploaded to Design Space and will appear in the Uploaded Images gallery.
22. Click the Vector Upload button again to upload the next piece of the bunny.
23. Repeat the steps until all pieces of the bunny have been uploaded.
When you're finished you'll see all five files in the Uploaded Images gallery.
24. Click on each piece to select it (a green tick will appear) then click the Insert Images button.
This is how the images will import... all on top of each other.
25. Click each piece in turn and move them around the mat.
You'll notice that each set of pieces appears in the Layers box.
The next thing you're going to do is re-size the pieces back to their original size. (Unlike other die cutting software programs eg. Silhouette Studio - the images currently don't import at their correct size. I hope this will be fixed in a future update.)
Luckily SVG cuts supplies the correct sizes for each piece.
26. Go back to where your files are saved and open up the Bunny Hop Menu PDF.
Each piece will have the size you need to set in the width property in Design Space
27. Select the piece you want to resize then open the Edit properties box.
28. Change the size in the Width box. In this case I'm resizing the bow tie so I need to change it from 5.49 to 5.00. Make sure you don't click on the little lock symbol. Your image won't stay in proportion if you click that.
29. Resize each of the sets of pieces using the PDF as a guide.
30. Next you need to fix the score lines. Currently all the score lines will be set to Cut lines.
You'll notice that any piece that has score lines will have several layers in the Layers box. Select the layer that has the score lines and click on the scissor icon beside it.
The Line type box will pop up with the Cut icon selected.
31. Click on the Score icon to change that layer to Score.
Some of the pieces will have an additional layer. In the image below you can see that some of the pieces are numbered. These numbers will also cut. Finally, before you can cut your image you will have to attach the score lines to the main images.
32. Drag a selection box around a set of images. (I've changed the cut layer to pink so you can see the score lines.)
33. Right click and select Attach from the menu. (You'll also find the Attach feature at the top of the Layers properties box.
Finally.... you're ready to cut!
Feel free to let me know if you're still having trouble.
