Silhouette Portrait cutter

[KursadA]

I have mentioned the Silhouette Cameo cutter a while ago. Silhoette now has a lower-priced ($160) cutter named "Silhouette Portrait". I recently bought one to make custom masks; and I am really enjoying it so far. I highly recommend it to anyone who would like to design and make his own custom vinyl masks for painting markings, masking canopies, etc.

This is a tool that is primarily aimed at the scrapbooking hobbyists. There have been similar cutters before (like Cricut), but they were strictly limited to what shapes you could cut: the companies sold expensive cartridges with designs, and you could not cut your own designs. Silhouette Portrait essentially works like a printer and you can cut pretty much any shape you can draw. The software that comes with the cutter is pretty powerful; but you can import and cut DXF files which means you can use any vector-based drawing program you want to design, export to DXF and cut the design using the Portrait.

Here are some photos of the Portrait in operation (sorry for the pink vinyl my wife chose to make signs for the house). I cut a simple "USAF" mask within seconds and placed it on a scrap Airfix Hawk lying around. I also cut much, much more intricate designs successfully with great results. At this price, this could be a great tool for modeling. It has optical registration capabilities for precision cutting, which means you can use it to precisely cut shapes from a custom inkjet decal sheet, etc. I intend to use mine for personal projects as well as prototyping of vinyl masks to be included in future products from my decal line.

Edited March 31, 2013 by KursadA

[DesTROYer]

Cool.

[Av8fan]

Wow that looks great!

I wonder if it would work with Tamiya Masking sheets?

Thanks for posting.

[swedeinsiam]

Wow that looks great!

I wonder if it would work with Tamiya Masking sheets?

Thanks for posting.

I have the bigger Cameo and it works perfect with Tamiya masking sheets and tape. Should be the same for the Portrait cutter

[daywalker]

Very, very interesting piece of equipment! Thank you for sharing it, I had no idea such a thing was available, much less affordably so.

[dnl42]

Do you have anything that shows the movement resolution? The web site doesn't give a clue...

[KursadA]

Do you have anything that shows the movement resolution? The web site doesn't give a clue...

No, but in my opinion its resolution is good enough to cut masks for pretty much anything but very small serial numbers and maintenance stencils. The blade thickness becomes a limiting factor for any feature size smaller than 2-2.5mm or so. Hoping to use this for very small markings like stencilling etc. will be pretty unrealistic.

Edited March 31, 2013 by KursadA

[Av8fan]

Anders,

Thanks for the confirmation on the tape. If anyone is interested, I found out that this can work with Inkscape

Edited March 31, 2013 by Av8fan

[niart17]

Just curious, do you think this thing would cut through thin sheet styrene so if you wanted to make thin sheet plastic parts? I think the Cricut you had to buy a different blade and it would cut template material. Have you tried this on the Silhouette?

Bill

[dnl42]

Anders,

Thanks for the confirmation on the tape. If anyone is interested, I found out that this can work with Inkscape

Ooh. This is getting more and more interesting... My Google-fu hasn't found such info. Can you provide pointers?

[Av8fan]

A forum about cutting with Inkscape.

Inkscape cutting design

A walk through on how to change the file so that it works

How to Cut Directly from Inkscape Using the Silhouette

Edit it seems that the best thing to do is to convert the svg to a GSD. DXF is a default save as choice in inkscape, however it seems to be a bit buggy when used with the cutter.

See this link Convert SVG to GSD

Further Edit: It seems that you can buy from Silhouette an upgraded software that allows the system to work with SVG files. SVG files made by Inkscape or Illustrator are scalable up or down without loss of quality. That's why I mentioned Inkscape.

My main use would be for trimming out camo patterns iei WWII Spitfire, Tempest, Typhoon, Hurricane. No more sitting there with scissors and and a knife. I have to save up for this.

Edited April 6, 2013 by Av8fan

[swedeinsiam]

Just curious, do you think this thing would cut through thin sheet styrene so if you wanted to make thin sheet plastic parts? I think the Cricut you had to buy a different blade and it would cut template material. Have you tried this on the Silhouette?

Bill

I tried it with the thinnest Evergreen sheet on my Cameo and it doesn't work very well. It cut through after 4 cuts but not a perfect cut.

[dnl42]

I wonder if you could just score the plastic and use the scoring as a cutting guide?

There could be a lot of utility in this thing. I've been playing with Inkscape--looks pretty good, including the Amarillo USAF font. I wish I had it when I built that old Hawk R3C-2 as I had to cut the "3" and "U.S. Army" by hand. This would have made cutting masks or even white decal paper pretty simple.

[JackMan]

I have mentioned the Silhouette Cameo cutter a while ago. Silhoette now has a lower-priced ($160) cutter named "Silhouette Portrait".

Can I know what are the differences (feature-wise) between the 2 (other than the price)?

The software that comes with the cutter is pretty powerful; but you can import and cut DXF files which means you can use any vector-based drawing program you want to design, export to DXF and cut the design using the Portrait.

Is this also possible using Adobe Illustrator and can I do the same with the Cameo ( ie also using Illustrator)?

It has optical registration capabilities for precision cutting, which means you can use it to precisely cut shapes from a custom inkjet decal sheet, etc.

Could you elaborate on this part? What does it mean?

Thank you in advance.

[niart17]

I tried it with the thinnest Evergreen sheet on my Cameo and it doesn't work very well. It cut through after 4 cuts but not a perfect cut.

is it possible they have a different blade to try or maybe some way to modify the existing blade so it would work? Since it seems like it's a simple X Y type device, as long as the blade can handle the motion (swivel etc...) and not cut too deep, it should work. Hopefully they or someone else will come up with a way to cut at least thin plastic sheet with it. Then it would really be a very very useful modeling tool. Still though, even cutting paint templates at whim would be very nice.

Bill

[niart17]

Could you elaborate on this part? What does it mean?

Thank you in advance.

I THINK what this means is it will scan an existing printed decal sheet (or photo or whatever) for the outline shapes and then you can cut the printed decals out tightly around those shapes. I saw one company (might have been Cricut?) that was a printer and cutter all together. You could print a design via inkjet and then tell that same machine to cut that shape out. I don't remember what machine that was but it's out there somewhere.

Bill

Edited April 8, 2013 by niart17

[huntermountain]

I THINK what this means is it will scan an existing printed decal sheet (or photo or whatever) for the outline shapes and then you can cut the printed decals out tightly around those shapes. I saw one company (might have been Cricut?) that was a printer and cutter all together. You could print a design via inkjet and then tell that same machine to cut that shape out. I don't remember what machine that was but it's out there somewhere.

Bill

Actually, I think it works a little different. I think it means you can incorporate a sort of calibration mark in your design, so the printer will make the cuts in the exact place you want it to. So if you print a design you want to cut out later, it will cut exactly where you want it to. Sort of like in colour printing. The printing equipment calibrates on a specific mark to make sure each of the colours is printed in exactly the right spot. I think we've all seen magazines or books where there was a small deviation in the placement of one of the colours. So, if you scan your sheet of decals, transfer it to a vector based design program, add in a marker, you'll be able to cut them out exactly. But what I've described would cost a whole lot of effort and skill. For your own designs, it will be a breeze to cut them.

[KursadA]

Can I know what are the differences (feature-wise) between the 2 (other than the price)?

The Cameo is wider and can cut wider shapes. It also has a "standalone" mode where it can cut designs loaded on an SD card, without being connected to a computer. This is why I got a Cameo to run in "production" mode to mass-produce masks that I will include with Caracal decal sheets. The Portrait will not work without a computer and is more suitable for personal use or prototyping.

Is this also possible using Adobe Illustrator and can I do the same with the Cameo ( ie also using Illustrator)?

I don't use Illustrator but I am sure it has pretty good DXF export capabilities.

Could you elaborate on this part? What does it mean?

huntermountain has explained the concept pretty well- basically the cutter has optical sensors that make it possible to make precise cuts on material that has already been printed on elsewhere, i.e. an inkjet printer. It requires a special calibration mark that can be recognized by the cutter. This allows, among other things, printing your own decal design on white decal paper on an inkjet, put the sheet in the Portrait and precisely cut around the markings.

It won't work on a decal sheet that someone else printed; but with some creativity it could be possible to get it to work: one can temporarily affix the preprinted decal sheet to a piece of paper, scan the sheet and use it to design a template for the area to be cut; print the required calibration mark on an empty place on the sheet and then feed it to the Portrait for cutting. Definitely not a straightforward task though.

Overall, I am having a blast using these two cutters (Portrait and Cameo); and being able to cut my own masks will be very useful as I expand the business. Their capabilites have exceeded my expectations even though I was fairly familiar with vinyl cutters and the mask/decal design process.

My next toy will be a high-resolution 3D printer that I preordered several months ago. I intend to use it to produce masters for resin conversion/detail sets. I will report my experiences when it is finally delivered and I have some results to show.

Edited April 8, 2013 by KursadA

[niart17]

Hey KursadA, question about this cutter. Seems like some places I've heard that you do need to get a software upgrade to be able to use self-designed patterns to cut. But on other sites it sounds like you can use personal files with it right out of the box. So what is the process of taking a .dxf file, like from Autocad, Illustator etc... and loading it into the cutting program? Is it simple right out of the box or does it require some upgrade that costs extra?

I am seriously thinking this may be my next B-day gift.

Thanks,

Bill

[KursadA]

Hey KursadA, question about this cutter. Seems like some places I've heard that you do need to get a software upgrade to be able to use self-designed patterns to cut. But on other sites it sounds like you can use personal files with it right out of the box. So what is the process of taking a .dxf file, like from Autocad, Illustator etc... and loading it into the cutting program? Is it simple right out of the box or does it require some upgrade that costs extra?

I am seriously thinking this may be my next B-day gift.

Thanks,

Bill

Hi Bill,

The software that comes with the Silhouette Portrait, straight from the box, allows you to import a DXF file into the cutting software without the need for any upgrades, any plug-ins or additional software. It looks like additional formats like SVG require an upgrade, but DXF format certainly works out of the box.

Note that the Portrait is not recognized by the system as an ordinary printer (like professional-grade vinyl cutters from Roland etc. do) and allow you to cut from any application that supports a printer: It requires a special application (Silhouette Studio). But the application does allow importation of third part drawings in DXF format.

I happen to own commercial drawing software that can export in DXF format. If you have access to such software (AutoCAD, Illustrator etc.), you will be able to cut your own designs easily, without any add-ons needed. I don't think Inkscape exports to DXF without plugins, but there are many other ways of getting DXF files from open source or free software. Some solutions I can think of are:

-You can draw your designs in Inkscape, export to SVG; and then use free software (e.g. pstoedit ) to convert SVG to DXF

-You can draw your designs in free software (e.g. DraftSight) that support DXF output

Hope this helps.

Edited April 8, 2013 by KursadA

[niart17]

Awesome! Thanks for the explaination.

I watched a demo video and it looks like it's pretty easy to put the optical registration marks on self-made printed decal sheets before you print them. If I understand correctly, the work flow would be that you design the decals in Illustrator or whatever program, then export that file to the Silhouette software and the program adds the registration marks to be printed on your inkjet. Hit print and it sends the file to your printer. Then put that on the cutting mat and load it and it reads the registration marks and cuts it out. Does that sound about right? So for multi-color paint templates (like overlapping colors that need to line up i.e. old stars and bars etc...) I guess It should be fairly easy to make a cut for each "layer" and they should line up pretty well if the program is accurate.

My wife has a Cricut that we've barely taken out of the box. I didn't like it because of the cartridges you had to have to cut and they sued the company that made a program that would allow you to custom design cuts. But this machine looks like it's what I had hoped the Cricut would be.

Thanks for posting all of this.

Bill

[Av8fan]

4 minute video on how to make a cut.

Yes, she does mention registration marks.

Here is another

Edit:

I just checked locally and the Cameo is $329.99 cdn, and the portrait is $229.99 Cdn. WTH!!!

Edited April 8, 2013 by Av8fan

[KursadA]

If I understand correctly, the work flow would be that you design the decals in Illustrator or whatever program, then export that file to the Silhouette software and the program adds the registration marks to be printed on your inkjet. Hit print and it sends the file to your printer. Then put that on the cutting mat and load it and it reads the registration marks and cuts it out. Does that sound about right?

That's exactly how it works, it's pretty simple to use.

[niart17]

BTW, off topic I know but I've been wanting to mention I like your avatar for a while now. I can't believe what she did to that painting. Almost criminal. I cringe and laugh everytime I see you post. (nothing personal )

Bill

[KursadA]

BTW, off topic I know but I've been wanting to mention I like your avatar for a while now. I can't believe what she did to that painting. Almost criminal. I cringe and laugh everytime I see you post. (nothing personal :woot.gif:/>/> )

Thanks, I still get about one e-mail per month that asks me about what it is. Good to know that it is still remembered! I will probably change it soon, though.

If anyone here buys a Portrait for modeling use, let us know so we can exchange ideas, tips, and perhaps drawings etc.

Edited April 8, 2013 by KursadA