by Sandy McCauley | Jun 15, 2008 | Design Master, Lattice, UK Scrappers
Check out the following link:
http://www.ukscrappers.co.uk/boards/forumdisplay.php?f=349
If you’re not already a member of UK Scrappers, then you’ll need to sign up before accessing this page. But it’s worthwhile joining because it’s an active message board and a source of tutorials and files. The link above takes you directly to the Design Master tutorials created by members there and, for those of you unfamiliar with Design Master, it’s like a lite version of KNK Studio. It’s missing two of the three weld tools, the ginsu knife tools, the measure tools (including the “oh so handy Notes tool) and a number of other menu commands. But otherwise the programs work the same way and anything you find in the Design Master tutorials will apply in KNK Studio.
I posted the link above, in particular, because a UK Scrappers’ member named Lesley figured out a way to basically “die cut” any image from a lattice pattern. Her method is very clever and definitely open ups some interesting designing possibities with lattices. The thread is called “Any Lattice Shape.” (Thanks, Lesley, for creating a terrific tutorial!)
by Sandy McCauley | Jun 14, 2008 | Settings, Shortcuts
Today’s post is all about some of the buried settings in KNK Studio that YOU might just want to check out for fun or for improvement in your KNK Studio experience. Here’s a list of where they are and what they do:
- Options>Klic-N-Kut Setup>General Preferences: The Duplicates setting controls how far a copy of an image is placed, from the original, when you use Ctrl-D or Edit>Duplicate. Some people want duplicates placed EXACTLY on top of the original. To do that, set the X Offset and Y Offset both to 0.
- In that same window: Grid Size controls the size of the grid. Most users probably already know this is the place to change your grid size, but just to be complete, I mention it here again. 🙂
- Options>Klic-N-Kut Setup>Display Units: If you want more decimal places shown or fewer throughout KNK Studio, this is the location to set that number.
- Options>Klic-N-Kut Setup>Selection Tool Settings: If you would like your selected objects to change color, as well as have the 9 little squares showing, then in this window you can check the box next to Highlight Selected Objects and pick a color (from a choice of 6) and a line thickness (1 or 2). This could be handy if you find yourself having a tough time seeing if you have interior parts of images selected or not.
- Options>Workspace Colors: Bored with the same colors for your grid, guidelines, Sign Blank edge, or background? Personally, I can’t imagine having a background other than white, but for the rest? It’s kind of fun to make a few changes using any of the 9 available colors.
- View>Toolbars>Customize: Check the box next to Use Large Icons and for those who struggle a bit with the small size of the icons on the toolbar will now have larger, easy-to-see icons. You’ll notice in my videos that I have this setting all the time so that it’s easier to see which functions I’m selecting.
- View>Show Bitmap Outlines: If you have a tough time, after vectorizing, figuring out which image is your original graphic and which one is the new vector image, then turn this feature on. All of your bitmaps (raster images) will appear as crossed-out squares, thus making it very obvious they are not vector images. Note also that the shortcut key, Alt-M, will toggle this option on and off.
by Sandy McCauley | Jun 13, 2008 | Balsa, Chipboard, Clear Rubber, Fabric, Felt, Stamps, Vinyl
Here are some photos of items I’ve cut with the Klic-N-Kut to show the intricacy possible with this cutter:
White Cardstock from Sam’s Club
Vinyl cutting: Note the smaller lettering is only 1/4″ in height
1/32″ thick Balsa Wood
1/16″ thick, flexible chipboard using the sliver blade
Clear Rubber for making your own Acrylic Stamps
Stiffened Craft Felt
by Sandy McCauley | Jun 11, 2008 | Dashed Line Cutting, Pouncing
Today’s blog covers Pouncing in KNK Studio, with some tips about using it. First off, pouncing is the exact same thing as dashed line cutting or perforating in other programs. Instead of a solid cut line, you get dashes cut and you can specify how long the dashes will be and their spacing. Some applications for this would be:
- Fold up projects, such as gift boxes, bags, and pop-up cards.
- Adding dashed cuts to the interior of your die cuts for dimension, such as you see with the Sizzix dies.
- In paper piecing, dashed cuts on the main background piece can serve as guides for placing the other cuts you glue on top. (Thanks to Klo Oxford for this great idea!)
To do pouncing:
First, pouncing must be done in Sign Blank mode. Otherwise, if you are using Page mode, the pounced lines will be sent to the origin for pouncing and then the cut lines will be sent to the origin for cutting and they will NOT line up! Thus, go to Cut>Plotting Defaults, and check Sign Blank near the bottom. Then click on Save Default and click on OK.
Next, select the lines to be pounced and change their color. For example, in the image to the right, the black line will be cut and the blue line will be pounced.
When you enter the Cut Preview window, RIGHT click on the 6th icon from the right in the Cut Tools toolbar.
Enter the dash and space settings from the popup window:
Click on OK and make sure the Pounce icon is indented.
Then, if you have more than one image in your window, and you need to ONLY do the Pounce on one color, then click on the second icon from the right.
Uncheck the color you do NOT want to Pounce. In this case, we uncheck black. Then click on Cut.
After the line is pounced, then click on the Pounce icon to outdent (no longer indented), use the second icon from the right again to now uncheck the color you just pounced. In this case, the blue would now be unchecked. Click on Cut and your image will be cut.
That’s it!
by Sandy McCauley | Jun 10, 2008 | Array, Free Videos, Wreaths - Designing
Sorry I didn’t have a chance to post for several days. I was at the Great American Scrapbooking Convention in Arlington, Texas! It was lots of fun and the best part is meeting my customers! I taught 14 students in private or semi-private classes and one of the favorite items was definitely the On Arc with Rotation feature. I decided to make a quick video for my blog so that everyone can start using this very cool design feature! Enjoy!
