Mastering Edit Points in Silhouette Studio: A Guide

Have you seen edit points pop up in Silhouette Studio before?
Do they intimidate you?
Well let’s see if we can change that.

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What are Edit points?

Edit points are basically the data points the Silhouette reads to make a particular shape of the object. Each edit point has qualities on how it is supposed to act such as straight line, corner, curved, etc. and this is how a shape is made up.

The edit points will come up on an object if you double click on the object or use the keyboard shortcut letter “A” with the object selected.

If you draw a circle, it is made up of 4 edit points.

A square also has 4 edit points but the type of edit point are different than the above circle.

By clicking on an edit point, you can see what property it has in the Point Editing Panel.

Why Edit Points Might Not Show

In order for the edit points to appear, the object has to be a single object and an ungrouped object.

For instance, if I type out text, it is not treated as a design. So the edit points won’t appear.

If it is converted to a path, the edit points still will not appear because even though it’s acting as a design, it is still grouped together. If the design is ungrouped the edit points will appear because all the pieces are now separate.

Or if the design is made into a Compound Path, then the edit points will appear.

Altering Edit Points

There are many ways to change the edit points.

By clicking on an existing point, it turns white, indicating that it is the point selected.

It will tell you what kind of edit point it is. This one is a corner. Grab the blue squares on either end and this will adjust the outcome of this edit point.

To select multiple edit points, hold down the Shift key & drag the selection box around all the points you would like to select. Then make changes to a group of edit points all at one time by moving or choosing a new property for those selected.

All edit points that are selected will show as white points.

Point Editing Panel

When the editing points are active, the Point Editing Panel should pop up or click on the Edit Points tool on the left side menu.

This panel has many options for how you can alter an edit point(s). The name of each tells you exactly what behavior it will have.
Each design you work with will react differently to what is changed.

Remember, edit points are the data points that your Silhouette software relays to your Silhouette machine to connect the cut.

The Cameo machine needs to hit every single one of those edit points in order to make the cut. Some files such as dxf files or traced images can have lots of edit points and this can make the Cameo sound odd when cutting. The Cameo is not broken, but has to connect each of those edit points to make the cut.

Simplifying Edit Points

Some files can have the edit points simplified without changing the look of the design.
For instance, this Leafy Mandala by Rhonna Farrer from the Silhouette Design Store has a lot of edit points when I first opened it.

In the Edit Points Panel, select Simplify.

You should notice less edit points in the design.

In this case, the design did not change in the look at all, but the edit points are now much less.

The best way to learn how edit points act is to find a design and just play around with the different options.

While they can look intimidating when they pop up on the screen, once you understand their purpose and how they work, I think it makes it seems a lot less daunting when you see them.

Designs used in this post are from the Silhouette Design Store:
#MoreCoffee by Kolette Hall – Design #179647
Leafy Mandala by Rhonna Farrer – Design #215137

Feel free to post your comments and questions below or on my Facebook group at Silhouette Secrets with EllyMae.

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Enjoy !

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