How to make a print and cut file: Cricut, Silhouette

A print and cut file is artwork that a home printer prints and a cutting machine then cuts round. It needs two things: a picture to print, and one cut line that runs round its outside. In Cricut Design Space, make one by selecting every layer of a design and choosing Flatten, which turns it into a single Print Then Cut layer. In Silhouette Studio, switch on registration marks in the Page Setup panel, place the artwork inside them, and give it a cut line round the edge by tracing or with an offset.

What the file needs

Part	What it is for	Good practice
The artwork	Printed by the printer	A PNG with a transparent background, or a flat-colour SVG
The cut line	Followed by the blade	One closed outline round the outside, not a line round every detail
A border (optional)	A white edge, as on a bought sticker	An offset of a few millimetres round the artwork
Enough pixels	A sharp print	About 300 pixels for every inch of printed size

The cut line is not printed, and the printed colours are not cut. The software keeps the two apart, and it adds its own registration marks to the printed page so that the machine can find where the print lies on the mat.

A picture file is measured in pixels, so its print size is limited. A sticker 3 inches wide wants a picture about 900 pixels wide. An SVG has no such limit, and SVG to PNG draws one at the pixel size you set, with the background left transparent. DPI vs PPI explains the sum.

In Cricut Design Space

The names here follow Cricut’s own blog posts on Print Then Cut.

1. Put the design on the canvas. Upload an SVG or a PNG, or pick images from the library. When a picture such as a PNG is uploaded, Design Space asks whether it is for cutting or for printing then cutting. Choose the print option and it arrives ready.
2. Give a layered design a background. If an SVG has gaps between its parts, the blade would cut out each part. Select the design and use Offset to make a solid shape behind it, and choose Apply. This also makes the white border.
3. Flatten. Select all the layers, the offset included, and choose Flatten, at the bottom of the Layers panel. The layers merge into one whose operation is Print Then Cut. Unflatten reverses it if something needs changing.
4. Check the page size. In Design Space’s settings, under Load Type, choose the paper under Print Then Cut Page Size. The design must fit inside the printable area for that paper, which is smaller than the sheet because the marks need room.
5. Make it. After the mat preview, choose Send to Printer. Leave Add Bleed on unless the artwork has no colour at its edges. Switch on the option to use the system dialog, which opens the printer’s own settings, and make sure nothing like “fit to page” is ticked there, since that changes the size.
6. Cut. Place the printed sheet at the top left of the mat, as the preview shows, and load it. The machine reads the printed marks and then cuts.

Changing a layer’s operation to Print Then Cut without flattening also works, but each layer is then printed and cut as a separate piece. Flatten is what makes many layers print together as one.

Cricut’s blog says an inkjet printer is needed, and recommends white material for Explore machines, since colour, pattern or shine can stop the sensor reading the marks. It says Maker machines can also read marks on light to medium coloured paper. The printable area has changed over the years: one of Cricut’s posts gives 9.25 by 6.75 inches as the largest image, and a later one says pages up to A3 can be chosen. Check what your version of Design Space offers.

In Silhouette Studio

The page setup steps here follow Silhouette’s own Print & Cut guides.

1. Set the page. Open a new page and set the page size to the paper you will print on.
2. Turn on registration marks in the Page Setup panel. Marks appear near the corners of the page, with hatched areas beside them.
3. Place the artwork inside the safe area, clear of the marks and the hatched areas. A PNG or JPG opens in every edition. Opening an SVG needs Designer Edition or higher.
4. Make the cut line. For a picture, open the Trace panel, select the area round the picture and trace its outer edge, so that the line runs round the outside only. For a white border, add an Offset to that outline and cut the offset instead.
5. Check what will cut. In the Send panel, only the outline should be set to cut. Lines inside the artwork should be set to no cut.
6. Print from Silhouette Studio at actual size. Do not let the print window scale the page.
7. Cut. Put the sheet on the mat the same way round as on screen and send the job. The machine reads the marks first.

Silhouette’s guides suggest a test cut before the full sheet. Use Print Bleed only when colour should run slightly past the cut line.

Starting from an SVG

A cut file SVG is made of separate coloured shapes, each of which would be cut. To print it instead:

• In Design Space: upload the SVG, add an offset if wanted, select everything and Flatten. No other program is needed.
• In Silhouette Studio, Designer Edition or higher: open the SVG, set its outside line to cut and its inner lines to no cut, and print it with its fills.
• In Silhouette Studio Basic Edition: convert the SVG to a PNG at the pixel size the print needs, open the PNG, and trace its outer edge.
• To pass the file to someone else: send the PNG. It opens in both programs. Leave a transparent background so the edge can be found.

Gradients, shadows and photographs are fine in a print and cut file, since they are printed and not cut. They are a problem only in a file meant for cutting alone.

Common problems

What you see	Cause	Fix
The machine cuts out every detail	The layers were not flattened, or inner lines are set to cut	Flatten in Design Space. In Silhouette Studio set inner lines to no cut
The cut is shifted from the print	The printer scaled the page, or the machine needs calibrating	Print at actual size. Run the Print Then Cut calibration in Design Space
The marks are not read	Glossy or coloured material, smudged marks, or strong light on the machine	Use matt white material, reprint, and move lamps away
The design will not go on the page	It is larger than the printable area	Make it smaller, or choose a larger page size
A white sliver shows at the edge	The cut landed just outside the colour	Use bleed, or add a white border with an offset
The print is fuzzy	The picture has too few pixels for the size	Export it again at 300 pixels per inch
The printed edge looks blurred on the sheet	That is the bleed, which is cut away	Nothing to fix

Questions

Can a print and cut design be turned back into a cut file? In Design Space, select the flattened layer and choose Unflatten, and the layers come back as they were. A layer whose operation was changed to Print Then Cut can be changed back to a cut in the Operation menu. If the design is a single picture with no layers behind it, the shapes have to be traced: see how to convert a picture to SVG.

Does it work from a phone? Cricut’s blog has said that printing and cutting these projects is not fully supported in the Android app. Use a computer or an iPhone or iPad if in doubt.

Where can I find artwork to try? The free SVG library has cut files that can be flattened for printing.