That'll Do Pig.
Two weeks ago:
It's been about two weeks since I installed the newest version of the Silhouette Studio software (designer edition) from Silhouette America and I am happy to say that things seem to be going well.In my last post, I covered "the good, the bad, and the ugly" of updating and mentioned that I'd come back to update you on my experience. So, here goes!
The Good:
I have been playing with many of the new features available and plan on throwing together a few new tutorials for you guys on these features. But for now here are three of the things that have worked well and I am liking about the new update so far.1) Cut time progress bar. This is so great. There is now a progress bar at the bottom of the cut screen to show you how much longer it will take for your cut to complete. This is great for time management and has already helped me a lot. I know how long each cut is going to take so I can work on other things (like making a cup of coffee!) while the machine is grinding away.
2) Mirror reminder. Forgetting to mirror HTV is something I know we have either all done or will do at some point in our cutting careers. This can be a costly mistake when it happens with our last piece of hard to find glitter or the only bit of that one color we had left. The studio software now includes a pop-up reminder to check if you mirrored your design. If you haven't, it will do it automatically for you. If you have, just click "Send As-Is" and your cut will start.
3) Warp Function. This works for both text and images. You select the warp panel and then select what object you want to warp and then you can play around with the number of columns or rows and pull the handles around to warp your image. Note: This feature is available in Designer edition and up.
The Bad (and the ugly):
I mentioned in my last post that I had some concerns about things that might not work correctly with the new update and I have discovered a couple of glitches so far. Keep in mind, this is NOT a beta version. All of the features have been tested and this is supposed to be a complete and finished product. Nonetheless, there are still issues. Here are a few that I have noticed.
1) Tracing issues. Tracing can be difficult even when everything works the way it is supposed to. It can be a little tricky but thanks to some great tutorials like Tracing without Tears from Kay Hall at CleverSomeday on YouTube, it isn't as hard as one would think. The issue I have been running into with Version 4 is that I will select my trace area and adjust my settings and when I click "trace" nothing happens. The yellow fill disappears as though the trace has completed but it doesn't give me a cut file. The only thing I can do is start over and hope it will trace the second time. It doesn't happen every time but it is often enough to be a bothersome glitch.2) SVG drag-and-drop issues. Having Designer Edition means that I have been able to open SVG's in my design studio. This has been an awesome feature and allows me to pull all of the elements I need to create my design directly into the studio space that I am using and design on the fly. With version 4, I will drag and drop my SVG into my studio space and it will simply "stamp" itself onto the background and will not allow me to select, move, or modify it at all. I have had to open each element into a separate studio screen and then copy it and paste it into the space I am designing in. It's not impossible to get around, again, but it makes things take far longer than they should have and I am afraid that I will accidently save a modification to an original element if I forget to close WITHOUT saving changes.
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