SVG s don’t always behave as we’d like them to when they are used in a Software Program that is different to the program that they were designed in.
I use Silhouette Studio Business Edition to design my cutting files and then save them as SVG Files. Sometimes when imported into Cricut Design Space there may be a few things that’ll need adjusting.
I’m using a cut file of a Square Greeting Card with peephole cut out and a slightly smaller overlay. My sample card is sized at 24cm wide and 12cm high. The overlay is 11.5cm square. Before saving as an SVG, I had grouped the card and Score lines together and made both the rectangle shape and the square offset into a compound path.
This is what happened when I dragged/imported it into design Space.
Cricut Design Space
First, It was a totally different size. It was approx 35% of the size of the original file. Secondly, all the perforated score lines changed to solid cut lines. The good news was that it retained the compound path.
Fix up the Score Lines
First, we need to change the Score lines back to perforated lines. Over on the right, Click “Ungroup” from the layers panel. Then Select the solid Score line on the card. Click on the Scissor Icon by the scoreline.
A new pop up box: “Layer Attribute” will open. Click on the “Score” tab at the top and the line on the card will change to a perforated Score line.
Fix up the Size for a Single Design Element
When there’s one item on a design file it’s easy to select it and change the size to whatever you want it to be. You can do this two ways. Select the shape and drag out using the grid and or measurements as a guide.
A quicker way to do this is: select the shape and type in the desired measurements in the “Size” box. Easy!
How to resize Multiple elements of an SVG File.
When there’s multiple pieces in a single design, selecting the elements and dragging them isn’t an option. Once grouped together, the size shown will a total of all the shapes and include the spaces between them, so that’s not going to work.
The simple fix is to stack all the smaller pieces of the file on top of the largest element of the design. Group them all together. In my example below I stacked my overlay on the card base and then added a few star shapes just to show how its done with multiple shapes. Ensure each extra shape is enclosed within the larger piece. You don’t want any bits sticking out.
Important: Make sure everything is grouped together.
The size to enter is the size you wish the largest piece to be. In my case I wanted a finished card of 12 x 12 cm, so I entered the size 24 x 12 cm (the opened card size). This is the size I designed the card as in Silhouette Studio, but there’s no reason you couldn’t make it larger or smaller. Everything within the largest shape will resize with each individual shape being in proportion to the other pieces.
Then it’s a simple matter of ungrouping the parts and setting it up on your canvas ready to cut.
Don’t feel discouraged by the length of this post and the steps. It takes longer to write and read the instructions but it can be done in no time at all! Hope this helps when using mine or any other designer’s SVG cutting Files.
Oh, and I’m sharing this cutting file on Friday 🙂 Check back and see the Christmas Card I made with it.