Cricut design studio interesting reads

Interesting document:

You & Your cricut: The beauty and the beast
The cricut expression machine has won the hearts of passionate scrapbooking lovers all over the world. The fact is,  most people don’t suspect the creative power within their cricut machine. From now on, make it your mission to unleach your wild side and let your cricut bug turn into a cricut beast, making your creations the gossip of your scrapbooking club. If you’re not using the Cricut Design Studio software or the Sure Cuts A Lot software, your not making the most of your Cricut. Making beautiful crafts comes down to your creativity and knowing your tools. But no matter how creative you are, if you don’t know which functions to use, most of your ideas will never see the light of day. Get “Taming The Green Bug”, learn all you can about the Cricut and Design Studio, watch videos and make stunning designs.

You can read this full document on the cricut design studio here.

Cricut Design Studio

Cricut Design Studio is a software package that gives you greater design power with cricut content. You can affect the look of any cricut image by resizing it, rotating it, flipping it, stretching it or squewing it. You can even weld from any combination of cartridge sets, the only limit is your imagination.

When you load your cricut design studio software, you’ll see 4 main components: the virtual mat where your work is dispalyed, the cricut cartridge library, the virtual key-pad overlay and the shape properties window.

The library contains content of every cricut cartridge released. As more come out, you’ll be able to update your library so that you can always have  new tools for your creations. You’re free to design with all the cartridges in the design studio library but you can only cut with the cartridges that you own. The library can be used to help you explore content from the cartridges that you don’t own, so use it as a tool to help you find what you love!

Searching through the library is easy. The cricut cartridge library lets you list cartridge set in whatever order you choose from a drop-down menu. You can organize your library list alphabetically by favorites, by category or by cartridges that you own. You can also search through the library by using keywords (tip: when you do a search by keyword, the simpler the search word, the better!) and the auto-filler function anticipates what you might be looking for and gives you suggestions.

As you cycle through your search results, the virtual overlay changes to show which cartridge set and feature your search result is found in. This method makes it easier to find what you want quickly. You can also customize what shows in the virtual overlay if you decide that what it shows for your keyword isn’t accurate.

The key-pad overlay is nearly identical with the actual overlays you put on your cricut machine. On the left, there are the six feature buttons, the “shift-lock” button, and the space/backspace buttons. When the shift-lock buttons are engaged, they are highlighted just like on the cricut machine. As you hover your mouse pointer over your image keys, they will enlarge slightly to show you which image key you’re about to select.

Working with virtual mat is as intuitive as it gets. When you have chosen the shape you want to work with, it will show up on the virtual mat with selection handles. Selection handles are the 8 circles that show on the corners and sides of your shape. The majority of your image crafting will be done using these handles, as you play with them you will discover the possibilities that open up for your creative mind.

Nevertheless, after using it for a while, you will feel the need of more functions. The problem is, the manual that comes with the cricut design studio is insufficient. If you want to take a step further in your creativity, Brandi Dickerson made a very useful guide and video that can turn your ordinary designs into masterpieces. Learn more  at  LearnTheCricut.info ..

I am a happy user of “The Missing Manual” by Brandi Dickerson. Learn more about the manual at LearnTheCricut.info

1) Will we be able to use images/fonts other than what is on a cartridge now or in the future? Will we be able to cut using True Type Fonts?
No, Cricut Design Studio allows you to cut with the font and shape sets on the Cricut cartridges. The Cricut machine remains a cartridge-based system.

2) Will we have to switch cartridges during cutting (if cutting a design using images/fonts from more than one cartridge) or how does that work?
Yes, you will need to switch the cartridges if you are cutting with more than one cartridge. You will be prompted to insert the different cartridges as needed. However, the Cricut machine will remember what cartridges are being used during that project session and only prompt you to insert the cartridge once.

3) We can save “our” designs, but can we take them with us to a crop to use with our machine? How would we transport the images?? Will there be a blank cartridge that we save it to?
The Cricut mat layouts or designs can be saved and shared using a USB flash drive. In order to take the saved layouts to a crop, you would need to be able to bring a laptop with you and upload the saved layouts onto it.

4) What versions of Microsoft Windows operating systems will the Cricut DesignStudio software be compatible with?
XP and Vista

5) What Mac systems will the Cricut DesignStudio software be compatible with?
None at this time. However, we have already received several votes for Cricut DesignStudio to become Mac-compatible, so we’ll gladly report your enthusiasm to the proper authorities.

6) When will the trial version of the Cricut DesignStudio software be available to the public?
Fall 2007

7) How much will the full version of the Cricut DesignStudio software be?
The software will retail for $89.95 USD.

8) You said in the blog and phrases found in the complete Cricut cartridge library, regardless of whether you own the cartridges or not BUT then you said DesignStudio will let you know when to insert a cartridge so that it can cut your design. Isn’t that a contradiction?? So we really DO have to OWN it to cut it?

Yes, you do need to own the cartridge to cut the mat layout you design. However, as we said in the original post, The Cricut DesignStudio program allows you to explore the thousands of letters, shapes, and phrases found in the complete Cricut cartridge library, regardless of whether you own the cartridges or not. So you will be able to explore all the cartridge content, meaning check out the complete font or shape set, play with it, make designs with it, and see if its something youd like to own.

More Cricut Design Studio benefits at scribd.com

“If you’ve been trying to be creative with the cricut ds  and would like something to help you bring your ideas to life faster, maybe you need a hand, get some help at http://www.learnthecricut.info “

That’s what my friend told me. I’m always  jealous of her when she come over with her creative beatiful designs that are the envy of our group of friends.

My cricut designs attempts have been pretty lousy but I’m at working on it when I have time.

I’m considering getting some manual  or guide  but I’m not sure yet.

The one that comes with the software itself  is insufficient for someone like me. Has anybody tried any other cricut ds  guide?

Would like some help, let me know if you got any good information on the guide available out there.

Need your opinion on this one:

Cricut ds Guide And Step By Step Manual