- Speed up the loading time. Depending on the computer it takes anywhere between 30 seconds to over a minute to load. Do the fonts and keywords have to be loaded EVERYTIME?
- The option of minimizing/sending to the back the opening Cricut image. It blocks a large portion of the screen while it is loading. Yes you can move it over to the side, but it's still in the way if you want to do anything else while your waiting for DS to load. (See item 1).
- I would like the ability to turn on and off the gridlines in the mat. Sometimes they get in the way when you are checking to see if your welding has worked.
- For the same reason I would like to be able to turn off the box around the shape.
- This one is HUGE! I can't believe I forgot about it had to go back and add it now. Please give us the ability to weld inside a frame. At the moment if we weld something inside a frame, the inner part of the frame and some parts of the object that has been welded inside don't cut. Being the very clever people that we are, we have come up with a way to do it using 4 welded rectangles, but what happens if we want to use a different shaped frame eg. a circle/oval/heart...?
- Group/ungroup option. This is a biggy. Being able to group a range of objects to manipulate them would be fantastic to have.
- Select All/Select multiple. Another biggy! We should be able to select everything/multiple items on the mat and move them around. This would be very handy when welding multiple objects.
- While we're on the subject of selecting - make it easier to select an object. Clicking inside the object to select it would be great.
- Nudge buttons - It would be great to be able to click and hold the nudge button rather than having to click it repeatedly.
- Shadows - Wouldn't it be fantastic if there was an auto welded shadow function. Create a design, weld it, then click shadow. Oh joy!
- I'd like to see a mirror image option and a flip vertical option.
- There definitely should be an Auto Save option. Computers are unpredictable and love to freeze and the most inconvenient time. Having a point that you can go back to rather than recreating your whole project if you have forgotten to save would be great. Even this Blogger software has Auto Save and it's FREE!
- I'd like to be able to use the Shift/Caps Lock keys on my keyboard instead of having to click it on and off with my mouse. Not a big thing, but annoying just the same.
- Make it easier to move that pesky cursor. The double click speed seems to have something to do with it, but really - we should be able to just click somewhere on the mat to move the cursor to that position.
- Crop function. We need the ability to crop out parts of objects that we don't want to cut. Eg. if you just wanted the grapes from the Paper Dolls Dress up cartridge you could crop out the other fruits.
- I'd like another keyboard shortcut. Delete All. There is a delete all option in the menu, but I'd like a keyboard combo that I could do the same - say Shift Del or something.
The following are ideas/suggestions from members of the Cricut.com Design Studio Message board. Others may have suggested these ideas in posts that I haven't read (of forgotten) so if I've missed your name, my apologies. :) - The ability to nudge up & down would be great. Idea from Mandy
- An erase option. Similar to a Crop feature, but could be used to erase smaller parts of designs (like the tails on the letters in Opposite Attract). Idea from Sarah (mommyto3bugs)
- Make the measurements on the CDS mat easier to see. Idea from Kissakoala and Glenda
- A percentage scaling option including Maintain Aspect Ratio that can be switched on/off. In other words, the ability to increase or decrease the size of a design (either individual pieces or with Select All, then "shrink" or "grow" it in one or both directions. Idea from JT
- The numbering on the virtual mat and the "real" mat are different. The top and left edges are the same, but the numbering on the bottom and right hand side of the virtual mat are reversed. I'd like to see them match up. Idea from JT
- The ability to change the speed of the cut. CDS seems to have taken over control of the cutting speed and sometimes it's too slow and is tearing the paper. Idea from Tammy
- The ability to see which cartridges have been used in a design without having to click on each shape. Eg. a menu item somewhere called "current design". Idea from Karen
Do you have any you would like to add to the list ?
Showing posts with label Weld. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Weld. Show all posts
Tuesday, 1 January 2008
Wish list of future features
While I definitely love the Design Studio software, there are things about it that could be improved. Here's my list of what I would like to see changed/added. Let me know if you have any to add to the list.
Welded Shadows
Here is a pictorial demonstration on creating welded shadows!
Be aware - this only works on cartridges that have a shadow feature.
Cartridge used: George/Basic Shapes
1. Right click anywhere on the mat. You will see this box:
2. Highlight the text “untitled page” and overtype it with a new name eg: Top layer
3. Press enter
4. Create your first layer. For this exercise I will be using the word “Welcome”. Type this in starting on the left hand side of the mat and using a size of 1.5/8"
5. With Kerning set to 0.000 click the Apply button
6. Using the Nudge buttons, make sure all the letters are overlapping.
7. Click the Preview button. This is what you should see so far. (Yours may be a different color).
8. With your word selected, click Weld. This should be your result.
9. Now would be a good time to SAVE!
10. Click the New Page button.
Rename this page to: Shadow
11. Click the Shadow key on the DS keyboard
12. Click the Preview button
13. Open the View menu, and make sure “Keep preview as mat background” is ticked. If not, click on it to put a tick near it.
14. Move the cursor to the left of the mat and below the word “Welcome”.
15. Type the shadowed word “Welcome”
16. Select your shadowed word and move it up so the W covers the W of the unshadowed word.
17. Click Preview. The Shadowed “Welcome” will show up as a different color.
18. Click on the Shadowed E and nudge it to the left until it sits over the unshadowed E.
19. Repeat this process with the remaining letters.
20. Click Preview in between nudging each letter so that you can better see where the letters need to go. Lighter preview colors are easier to see. To change the Preview color, right click on the mat, Select Set Preview Color and click on any light color from the palette. Here is the finished result.
21. Making sure that you are still on the Shadow mat, select the word Welcome and click Weld.
You may need to fiddle with the nudging slightly but this should be the result.
22. To cut your design you can either cut one layer at a time or you can copy the shadowed word to the top layer, (or vice versa) and move it to the bottom of the mat. (Turn off Keep preview as background). Then on your real mat you can position your 2 different papers and cut both titles at the same time.
Be aware - this only works on cartridges that have a shadow feature.
Cartridge used: George/Basic Shapes
1. Right click anywhere on the mat. You will see this box:
2. Highlight the text “untitled page” and overtype it with a new name eg: Top layer 3. Press enter
4. Create your first layer. For this exercise I will be using the word “Welcome”. Type this in starting on the left hand side of the mat and using a size of 1.5/8"
5. With Kerning set to 0.000 click the Apply button
6. Using the Nudge buttons, make sure all the letters are overlapping.
7. Click the Preview button. This is what you should see so far. (Yours may be a different color).
8. With your word selected, click Weld. This should be your result.
9. Now would be a good time to SAVE!10. Click the New Page button.
Rename this page to: Shadow 11. Click the Shadow key on the DS keyboard
12. Click the Preview button
13. Open the View menu, and make sure “Keep preview as mat background” is ticked. If not, click on it to put a tick near it.
14. Move the cursor to the left of the mat and below the word “Welcome”.
15. Type the shadowed word “Welcome”
16. Select your shadowed word and move it up so the W covers the W of the unshadowed word.
17. Click Preview. The Shadowed “Welcome” will show up as a different color. 18. Click on the Shadowed E and nudge it to the left until it sits over the unshadowed E.
19. Repeat this process with the remaining letters.
20. Click Preview in between nudging each letter so that you can better see where the letters need to go. Lighter preview colors are easier to see. To change the Preview color, right click on the mat, Select Set Preview Color and click on any light color from the palette. Here is the finished result.
21. Making sure that you are still on the Shadow mat, select the word Welcome and click Weld.You may need to fiddle with the nudging slightly but this should be the result.
22. To cut your design you can either cut one layer at a time or you can copy the shadowed word to the top layer, (or vice versa) and move it to the bottom of the mat. (Turn off Keep preview as background). Then on your real mat you can position your 2 different papers and cut both titles at the same time.
Friday, 28 December 2007
Welding inside a shape
Update: More recent version of DS allow you to weld objects inside ready made frames. You may still have trouble getting some parts of the object to cut however. Here's some info on how to fix that problem. http://myfaqcricutds.blogspot.com/2008/02/more-on-welding-inside-frame-burping.html
The following information is still relevant however, if you can't find the correct ready made frame for your project....
Who would have thought welding an object inside a shape could be so difficult? Many of us have tried and unfortunately it's not as easy as it should be. The trick is that you can't actually weld inside a frame. But you can make your own "frame" and weld inside that. Here is a step by step pictorial on how to do it. For this example I have used the George/Basic Shapes cartridge for both the frame and the object inside it.
Click Shift Lock on the DS keypad.
Click on the thin rectangle button key (below the question mark).
Click on your shape and using the Vertical Stretch handle, stretch the rectangle to the length you want your frame to be. Then using the Horizontal stretch handle, stretch/shrink the rectangle to the correct width.
Copy this shape (Edit, Copy/Ctrl C/
) then Paste (Edit, Paste/Ctrl V/ 
).
A new rectangle will be pasted on top of the original rectangle.
While this rectangle is still selected (i.e. you can see the selection handles) click the Turn 90 button once.
This will flip the rectangle horizontally.
Using the Free Move handle, move it up to meet the top of the vertical rectangle.
This will form the top of your frame.
Using the Horizontal Stretch handle, stretch this rectangle until it is the correct length.
(Note, when you use the stretch tool on the vertical shape, it stretches in one direction. When you stretch a horizontal shape it stretches from both ends).
Using the Free Move handle, position the top rectangle so that it meets the left rectangle.
Select each shape in turn and click Weld on both.
Click the Preview button to make sure your welding has worked. Remember, only the bold lines are the cutting lines.
Select the top rectangle and select Copy.
Select Paste, then using the down arrow on your computer keyboard, move that rectangle to the bottom of the vertical rectangle.
When you are close, hold down the CTRL key on your keyboard while clicking the down arrow. this will move your shape in smaller increments. You can also hold down the ALT key while moving your shapes to make the Selection handles disappear. This makes the placement of your objects easier. You may also find it easier to make small adjustments if you change your view to 200%.
You have now formed the bottom edge of your frame. Check that the bottom rectangle has the Weld option ticked.
NOTE: Don't be tempted to create the right hand rectangle yet because for some reason it won't weld properly if you do!
Now it's time to insert your shape. For this example I've used a star - also from the George cartridge.
Click on the first star shape on the DS keypad. This will insert a star onto the mat.
Select the star and using the Free Move handle move it inside the 3 rectangles so that the top point and the left point touch the top and left edges of the rectangle.
Using the Scale handle stretch the star until most of the points of the star meet the edges of the rectangles.
While the star is selected click Weld.
Now you can add the final side to the frame.
Select the left hand vertical rectangle and copy and paste it. Move the pasted rectangle over to the right side until it meets the two horizontal rectangles. Adjust the placement as necessary.
Again, check that it is welded.
Click the Preview button. You should have something that looks like this:
If any of the points of the star don't touch the side of the frame, you can use the Vertical and Horizontal stretch handles. However, it's not necessary that ALL the points touch the frame. It will just give you a different look if they don't.
Click Preview again to check your welding. Remember, only the DARK lines are the cutting lines.
Use the same process if you want to weld a word inside your frame. Just remember that everything must be welded.
Here's some more examples:
With this example I did the flower first and built the frame around it. Just remember to weld everything and add the right hand side of the frame last!
If for some reason your welding isn't working, delete the right hand side of the frame (select it and press the delete key) then undelete it (CTRL Z or Edit, Undo Delete Shapes).
The following information is still relevant however, if you can't find the correct ready made frame for your project....
Who would have thought welding an object inside a shape could be so difficult? Many of us have tried and unfortunately it's not as easy as it should be. The trick is that you can't actually weld inside a frame. But you can make your own "frame" and weld inside that. Here is a step by step pictorial on how to do it. For this example I have used the George/Basic Shapes cartridge for both the frame and the object inside it.
Click Shift Lock on the DS keypad.
Click on the thin rectangle button key (below the question mark).
Click on your shape and using the Vertical Stretch handle, stretch the rectangle to the length you want your frame to be. Then using the Horizontal stretch handle, stretch/shrink the rectangle to the correct width.
Copy this shape (Edit, Copy/Ctrl C/
) then Paste (Edit, Paste/Ctrl V/ 
).A new rectangle will be pasted on top of the original rectangle.
While this rectangle is still selected (i.e. you can see the selection handles) click the Turn 90 button once.
This will flip the rectangle horizontally.
Using the Free Move handle, move it up to meet the top of the vertical rectangle.
This will form the top of your frame.Using the Horizontal Stretch handle, stretch this rectangle until it is the correct length.
(Note, when you use the stretch tool on the vertical shape, it stretches in one direction. When you stretch a horizontal shape it stretches from both ends).
Using the Free Move handle, position the top rectangle so that it meets the left rectangle.
Select each shape in turn and click Weld on both.
Click the Preview button to make sure your welding has worked. Remember, only the bold lines are the cutting lines.
Select the top rectangle and select Copy.
Select Paste, then using the down arrow on your computer keyboard, move that rectangle to the bottom of the vertical rectangle.
When you are close, hold down the CTRL key on your keyboard while clicking the down arrow. this will move your shape in smaller increments. You can also hold down the ALT key while moving your shapes to make the Selection handles disappear. This makes the placement of your objects easier. You may also find it easier to make small adjustments if you change your view to 200%.
You have now formed the bottom edge of your frame. Check that the bottom rectangle has the Weld option ticked.
NOTE: Don't be tempted to create the right hand rectangle yet because for some reason it won't weld properly if you do!
Now it's time to insert your shape. For this example I've used a star - also from the George cartridge.
Click on the first star shape on the DS keypad. This will insert a star onto the mat.
Select the star and using the Free Move handle move it inside the 3 rectangles so that the top point and the left point touch the top and left edges of the rectangle.
Using the Scale handle stretch the star until most of the points of the star meet the edges of the rectangles.
While the star is selected click Weld.
Now you can add the final side to the frame.
Select the left hand vertical rectangle and copy and paste it. Move the pasted rectangle over to the right side until it meets the two horizontal rectangles. Adjust the placement as necessary.
Again, check that it is welded.
Click the Preview button. You should have something that looks like this:
If any of the points of the star don't touch the side of the frame, you can use the Vertical and Horizontal stretch handles. However, it's not necessary that ALL the points touch the frame. It will just give you a different look if they don't.
Click Preview again to check your welding. Remember, only the DARK lines are the cutting lines.
Use the same process if you want to weld a word inside your frame. Just remember that everything must be welded.
Here's some more examples:
With this example I did the flower first and built the frame around it. Just remember to weld everything and add the right hand side of the frame last!
If for some reason your welding isn't working, delete the right hand side of the frame (select it and press the delete key) then undelete it (CTRL Z or Edit, Undo Delete Shapes).
And here's a great example from AnointedHands:
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