by Sandy McCauley | Nov 10, 2009 | Decorative Border, Free Videos, Welding
Carol B contacted me the other day after she inadvertently discovered the Decorative Border function in KNK Studio. She asked me if I was aware of it and I responded that I was. It’s covered in Section 8.9 of the KNK and ACS User Manuals. HOWEVER, there was something about Carol’s file that triggered something I had never thought of before! She had a hearts image selected when she clicked on the Decorative Border function and KNK Studio immediately placed the inner part of the border around her hearts:
That’s when I realized that the border was actually a frame (with a hollow interior), thus you could use it to weld the images to the inside rectangle! And further, it’s REALLY easy to drag that interior rectangle to overlap perfectly and maintain centering with the outside rectangle at the same time. The only thing one needs to remember to do, is change everything to the same color before welding. This is FAR easier and faster than either of the methods I’ve taught in the past and I’m so very happy to have available now. Thanks, Carol! And here’s the video to watch:
Use Decorative Border to Weld to Rectangles
by Sandy McCauley | Nov 6, 2009 | Editing, Free Videos, Guidelines
Credit for today’s post goes to Brenda Josselet who has found a quick way to align nodes horizontally or vertically, thus making editing straight line images much easier. I was so impressed with her discovery that I just had to come up with a name for it that would make it hers forever. So, I’m calling it Josselet’s Jostle It because you do kind of jostle the nodes in the process!
😛
Here’s the video to see how it works. I’ve also added a few more things you may not have thought of before, so hopefully there’s something for everyone in this post. Thanks again, Brenda, for sharing your discovery!
Josselet’s Jostle It
by Sandy McCauley | Oct 1, 2009 | Free Videos, Inkscape, Outlining Images
Lisa B posted to the I Love KNK group asking if there is an easy way to fit your text into another shape… such as I show in the above screen shot. The answer is, “Yes, but you need to use Inkscape.” The process isn’t difficult, but it does require a number of steps as shown in today’s video:
Fitting Text to a Shape
If you do not already have Inkscape, then it’s a free download from Inkscape.org and I believe this will work the same in either the 0.46 version or any of the beta 0.47 versions. The only tricky part I’ve run into is getting the text set to the font I want to use. Inkscape has always had a few quirks with their text function. But you should be able to do what I show in the video and then type what you need for your shape.
Also remember to verify that your original shape from KNK Studio matches the shape in Inkscape. It will also flip vertically during the conversion, so check that. Otherwise, have fun with it and maybe, someday, we’ll be able to do this in KNK Studio automatically!
by Sandy McCauley | Sep 12, 2009 | Dimensions, Free Videos
(Added 9/13)
If you’ve already watched the video below before Sunday, 3pm EDT, then watch it again. Sharon M and Elsie H both contributed information that helped in finding easier ways to do things so I made an entirely new video. Thanks ladies!
(Original Post)
Thanks so Sharon M for today’s blog post. She contacted me this morning asking about the Notes function, which she was using to manually type in various dimensions for a pattern. I responded that there was a really easy way to add dimensions, using another icon under the Measure Tools, called the Object Dimension, in which you can easily create arrows with measurements by just dragging on the side of a selected object. As always, a picture is worth a thousand words and a video is worth ten thousand! Watch and learn how easy it is to add dimensions to your projects in KNK and ACS Studio:
Adding Dimensions to Your Projects
by Sandy McCauley | Aug 14, 2009 | Free Videos, Rhinestones
In today’s video, I show how to easily design a pattern using two different sizes of rhinestones. In the figure above, the blue circles are sized for a 3mm stone while the red circles are sized for a4mm stone. I use the Transform>Outline function to create several inline paths but NOT to fill the entire letter, as you can see above. I also show how to use color differences to easily select paths and circle for executing the Fit Object to Path and also for determining the number of rhinestones needed for the design.
I want to give credit to Luis, a member of the T-Shirt Forums, for his well-written and interesting tutorial using Corel for rhinestone designing. This was the inspiration for what I did today. Luis actually used a much larger inline size and I also really liked the look of that as well. Below shows a screen shot somewhat like Luis’s final pattern except I believe he uses much larger rhinestones for the interior.
Anyhow, fun stuff! Happy cutting!
by Sandy McCauley | Aug 6, 2009 | Breaking Path, Free Videos, Making Path, Welding
An oft-asked question by my customers designing titles goes like this: “I’ve welded some letters together but the middles disappeared! Help!”
Very simple diagnosis and a very simple fix: If you’ve gone to Arrange>Break Path so that you can edit the letters (or any image with interior parts) and you neglect to then do an Arrange>Make Path, then those interior paths will vanish upon welding. So, after editing your letters, just marquis-select each one (making sure you select both the exterior path and the interior path) and then do an Arrange>Make Path. Today’s video shows you exactly how it works.
I fail to mention in the video that this works the same way with just a basic shape. If you have, for example, a flower with a center circle and you have not execute an Arrange<Make Path, then when you weld the flower to any other object, that center circle will disappear. Also, remember that if you ever weld anything and you do not get the results you expected, then always back up a step (Edit>Undo). I’ve also had customers who have performed a Make Path on everything at one time (as I show in the video), then tried to weld and noticed that nothing seemed to happen. Then they begin doing the Break Path and trying to re-Make Path and weld and end up with sort of a mess. So, remember that all-important Edit>Undo as well.
