Silhouette Studio Business Edition – An Overview of the Features

As I mentioned in my last article, Silhouette Studio Business Edition is available as an add-on to the Silhouette Studio Designer Edition. As a user of the Business Edition, I will be detailing the features of the Silhouette Studio Business Edition in this article.

Ability to open AI, EPS, and CDR file formats: If you prefer to create design files in Adobe, Corel, or other graphics program, you can open them directly in the Silhouette Business Edition. To open the additional file formats in Silhouette Studio Business Edition, click “File”, then “Open”.

Multi-cutter support: If you own two or more Silhouette machines, you can hook them up to the same computer and run them both using the Silhouette Business Edition. You can choose to cut either the same design or cut different designs on each machine at the same time.

Tiling: This feature allows users to cut up to 24″ by 24″ with their Silhouette Cameo. The tiling automatically breaks the cut job into smaller chunks. After cutting, you assemble the pieces together to make your larger design. For example, if I wanted to cut a 24″ by 24″ tree on my Silhouette Cameo in vinyl, I would use the tiling feature which automatically breaks the design into 4 equal pieces on my 12″ by 12″ mat, or 2 equal pieces on my 12″ by 24″ mat or rolled vinyl cutting without a mat. When using tiling, your original design is not altered.

Advanced Nesting Feature: This feature allows you to nest a cutting job to save materials. Nesting is available in the Designer Edition, but the program nests your original design. In the Business Edition, the design is nested “on the fly”, and the original is not changed.

Matrix copy feature: This feature allows you to design something in Silhouette Studio, and then the matrix copy feature to replicate the design without changing the original. This is helpful to cut down additional design time for designs you create over and over again. The photo below illustrates the feature. Note that the far left is my original design, while the copies in the center were created “on the fly”. After cutting, I will only save my original design. (A quick aside here: I used to always “babysit” my vinyl designs when cutting directly from a roll. If I did this, the matrix copy feature would be useless to me – as it wouldn’t save me any time. I got over the fears of my vinyl sliding around or feeding crooked when I purchased Silhouette’s roll feeder. The roll feeder makes sure that the vinyl continues to feed straight, and I am comfortable walking away from my cutter when it’s doing large jobs.)

Weed line options: If you are cutting large or intricate designs on your Silhouette machine, the Business Edition allows you to automatically add weeding lines to your designs.

Here is a design ready to be cut on my Silhouette Cameo:

Here is the same design ready to be cut on my Silhouette Cameo with weeding lines automatically added (shown by the blue lines):

For maximum efficiency, you can combine the tiling, matrix copy, and nesting features as needed.

If you want to purchase the Business Edition, read my last article and save around $24! If you want to know if I think the Business Edition is worth it, come back tomorrow and read my summary. Read other posts about Silhouette Studio Business Edition by clicking here.

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