Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Silhouette 4.0


Change is a good thing! Change is a good thing... Change is a good thing?


Maybe you're like me:

When I see a new software version update on my phone, I put it off a long as possible. I mean, like, a long time. Weeks, months...

I am so afraid that doing the update will stop other important things I use every day from working properly if they haven't been modified for the update.

Most recently, the on-screen keyboard on my android phone just plain quit after an update. I couldn't type anything at all on my phone or bring up the keyboard for voice-to-text.

I was finally able to get a supplemental keyboard installed and finally got my phone up and running again but it was a frustrating experience to say the least.


So, you'll understand my hesitation:

Silhouette America released the newest version of their software suite recently and today is the day I plan on switching over.  I have been following along with a few of my acquaintances on Facebook who were helping to beta test and a lot of the early adopters who have already started making tutorials to get the good, the bad, and the ugly about the upgrade.  Sometimes the easiest way to learn is to watch someone else do it, right?

The Good:

So Many New Features! The tutorials I am watching have excited me.

  • With new features like text warping, you won't have to create your design in another program and import it. 
  • A glyphs panel should make it a little easier I currently use Nexus Font) to take advantage of all of the extra swashes in some of the more decorative fonts a little more easily. 
  • There is finally a cut-progress bar in some of the videos I have seen. 
  • And, as I am starting to get into HTV a little more, a pop-up reminder before cutting to mirror your image so you don't end up wasting material.

The Bad (and why it's not so bad):

The number one horror story I am seeing regarding the software upgrade is people loosing their designs that are stored by silhouette. A more recent update introduced cloud storage and operation and many people lost their designs during that too. Thousands of hours and hundreds of dollars can be lost if someone has spend enough time designing and/or purchasing designs. I believe there there have been a number of successful recovery stories but I don't have any personal experience with those.

Fortunately for me, since day one with Silhouette, I have kept all of my fonts and designs in a DropBox folder. This means that no matter what the update throws at me, my designs, my fonts, and my files will still be there.

The Ugly:



Knowing that all of my previous work is not at risk of being lost forever is a huge confidence boost to push me to start trying to take advantage of all the new features. Unfortunately though, even that won't solve the #1 issue.
 

This is a pretty big change. The layout is similar but the buttons have all been shifted. Some icons are slightly different, and they've introduced separate panels that pop out instead of everything being controlled by fixed menus at the top and side.

The process of getting re-acquainted with how to do some of the more basic things that are so quick for me to do now is what has held me back so far. I hate the feeling of starting over.

*goes back to re-read the good things about the upgrade again*

But, today is the day. I am going to install. I am going to learn. I am going to create cool things. And, I am going to teach you to do it too! 

Going Forward:

Lunch is here. Time to install and re-start fresh :-) I'll put up a new post in a day or so to track progress. Feel free to follow along. It should be fun!

What about you guys?:

Have you had an experience (good or bad) with an update that you want to share?

If you're already working in 4.0, do you have any quick tips that could help me get up and running a little faster?

I look forward to hearing from you!

I look forward to hearing from you! Happy Crafting!

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