Silhouette Media Layout Archives

The Tiling feature is a Business Edition upgrade feature that is found under the Media Setup Panel – Tab 4.

The Media Setup Panel is found on the right side of the Silhouette software at the bottom of the icon toolbar. Depending on the size of your computer monitor you may see all the icons or you may have an arrow for a fly out menu.

Since the Cameo can only cut 12″ wide, the tiling feature can be used to break up a big design into smaller pieces to be placed together after the cut. While the knife feature could also be used, why not let the software work for you and break it up. This feature is available if you have the Business Edition upgrade of the software and is only accessible under the Media Layout Setup Panel and with the Media Layout View active.

In the Media Layout View, the original design stays intact and all changes take place on the side of the Media Layout View. Check out the post from last week on the Media Layout View here.

I am going to use this Scandinavian Snow Princesses by Erin Doran – Design #68466 from the Silhouette Design Store for my example.

First, I’m going to resize this so the silhouette is 5 feet tall. To do that, open the Transform Panel – Scale tab, lock the aspect ratio and change the Height to 60″.
For more information on the Transform Panel – Scale tab click HERE.

Now, I am only going to work with 1 of the princess designs at a time, so I’m going to right click and choose Ungroup and delete the princess on the right side.
In the case of this file, I ended up choosing Release Compound Path to separate the princesses. Then, I selected all the parts of each Princess, right clicked and chose Make Compound Path for each again.
Find out more about Compound Paths HERE.

If you plan to cut both, you can leave it as is or copy and paste the right side to a new design mat to use later.

Now, let’s look at the Tiling feature.

Tiling Active – Check this box to activate the Tiling feature. The Media Layout View will adjust to show you the number of tiles (according to the Page Size set) that it will take to cut the design.You will also see on the left side in the Design View, that it adds a grid over the design with dimensions of each tile, and numbers of tiles. It does not alter the design on the left side, but adds this visual as an overlay of how it would divide the design up.
On the right side, in the Media Layout View, it shows each of the tiles in the order of the numbers shown on the left side.

For this design to cut on a 12″ x 12″ mat, it would take 14 – 12″ x 12″ tiles.
Configure Position and Size – Choose Relative to Job, Relative to Media or User Defined. Each of these options allows you to adjust the design even more.Relative to Job – This option is shown in the photo above and includes the entire design.Relative to Media – This option uses the current Media mat chosen. In this case, a 12″ x 12″ cutting mat is selected, so it uses that Media in how it changes the Tiling.

You can see above, that it only includes the Media mat portion of the design in the Tiling.

User Defined – Choose between the Origin X, Origin Y, Width, Height and Maintain Aspect. Each will change how the design is Tiled.
Panel Margin – Allows you to change the size of the Panel.
I increased the Panel Margin to 1″ and the Panel dimensions on the Design View adjusted.
Configure Regular Grid – Choose between Automatic, Custom or Regular Grid. These options allow you to make changes to the Tile spacing.
Overlap – This feature gives the ability to add a bit of overlap to the cut image and is a great feature for giving yourself some extra space in lining the image up after the cut.
Other Options – Show Dimensions – Allows the dimensions to be toggled off on the Design View.
Tiling – Choose which Tiles you would like to cut – All or selected ones only and choose the separation details between the tiles.
Notice that since Selected Tiles Only is checked and I typed in 1-2, it highlights only 1 and 2 numbered Tiles and then places only the 1 and 2 numbered Tiles on the Media Layout View to cut.

The Tiling option is a great feature if you are cutting large decals and want the software to do the work for you in breaking up the design to cut.
Each design that you are cutting is going to vary in how it looks and how much material it will take to cut the design out to the size you want.

For instance, if I want to cut this Witch Silhouette by Sarah Bailey – Design #153652, you can see that the top of the broom covers the edges of the 12″ x 12″ mat.

That leaves a lot of unused space and each Silhouette user would need to decide if it’s worth cutting a full 12″ x 12″ piece of material for this design.

Here is another example:

If I want to cut a decal of this Beach Bum phrase by Silhouette 48″ long, it breaks it up into 8 panels that fit onto 6 tiles.

I encourage you to just pick a design and play around with the Tiling feature. Every design you choose will react a bit differently in how it looks in the Tiling feature.

Hopefully this explains some of the features of the Tiling feature.
I would love to see what you create on my Facebook group if you do.
Find me here at Silhouette Secrets+ with EllyMae.

Enjoy!

**This post may contain affiliate links. What that means is that I may receive compensation if you purchase through the links I have provided. The price you pay for the product or service is not higher but I may get compensated for sharing.

Do you have the Business Edition upgrade? If not, there are so many neat features that are unlocked with it.
I have to admit that I have not used this much as all, but after today, that will be changing.

Media Layout Setup Panel

What is it? If you have the Business Edition upgrade this is an additional way to view your design to be cut and make some changes to it, without actually altering the design on the Design View.

So let’s explore the different views.

Design view is the normal view a user sees when the Silhouette software is opened. The drawing tools are located on the left side, the panels are on the right side, and the document tools and Quick Access Tool bar are at the top.

Media view is an option if you have the Business Edition upgrade active on the software. This view shows how things are processed as they appear for a cut job. The Media view does not show color or patterns.

The Media Layout Setup Panel is found on the right side of the Silhouette Studio software, at the very bottom.

If you have a larger computer screen, you may see all the icons displayed on the right side like this.

If you have a smaller computer screen, then you may have a fly out arrow to click on and then more icons will appear like this.

The Media Layout view will open up with a split screen panel and you can choose between either side for which one is active and you are making changes in.

*Believe in the Magic of Christmas by Lori Whitlock – Design #162472

Now, let’s take a more detailed look at the Media Layout Setup Panel.

Show Media Layout Split – Screen – Check the box if you would like the Media layout to split screen with the Design View layout.
Media Layout Setup Tabs – there are 4 tabs to chose from
– Tab 1: Media Size, Cut Border & Orientation
– Tab 2: Copy & Separation
– Tab 3: Nesting
– Tab 4: Tiling
Media Size – Change the Page Size, Width & Height of the Media Layout View
You’ll notice that changes made on the Media Layout Screen do not change the Design View side on the left side. This is a way you can make changes to what will be cut without changing the actual Design mat itself.
Cutting Mat – Change the Cutting mat size of the Media Layout View
Reveal Mat – Slide the arrow over to reveal the cutting mat grid on the Media Layout View
Cut Border – Change the Cut border left, top, right, and bottom dimensions.
As you can see above, on the right side the red cut border line changes as the measurements are changed under the Cut Border section.
You could adjust these to where the material is placed on the mat or place it anywhere on the mat you like and it would only cut there.
This might come in handy if the top left corner is no longer sticky but the middle of the cutting mat still has lots of stick left to it.
Orientation – Rotate Cut Job – this will rotate the design on the cutting mat on the Media layout.
Checking this box, will rotate the design 90 degrees on the cutting mat shown on the left side, but the original design stays in tact on the left side.While those features can be useful, I find the other tabs are even more interesting.

Media Layout Setup – Copy Tab

Next, is Tab 2 – the Copy Tab. Here is where you can tell the software to cut multiple copies of a design without actually adding images to the original Design mat.

Copy rows – Add the number of rows you would like to cut and the Media Layout View will duplicate the design that many rows. It will show this on the right side in the Media Layout View only and leave the original design unchanged.
Copy columns – Add the number of columns you would like to cut and the Media Layout View will duplicate the design that many columns.
Limit to Media – Click this button to limit the design to only the Media area selected, no matter how many columns or rows you enter, the software will change it to fit on only the Page Size and mat you have entered on the first tab.
Horizontal Separation – Increase or decrease the horizontal spacing between the designs on the selected media.
Vertical Separation – Increase or decrease the Vertical spacing between the designs on the selected media.

This is another way you could tell the software to cut multiples of an image without actually having to Replicate the design on the Design view.

Either way will work, but it is another option and one I will be using in the future when cutting multiples of the same design.

Media Layout Setup – Nesting

And to add even more options to the Media Layout, the 3rd tab is the Nesting tab. This has several options in how it will nest the designs together before cutting.

Nesting Active – Check this box to turn the Nesting feature on.
Interlock – The software looks for more paths to move shapes together. This works well for designs that are not square or hexagons.Here the Interlock is off:

In this one, the Interlock has been turned on and you can see it Nests the design a little different.
Maintain Grain – This option allows the design to rotate only 180 or not at all, in order to work with materials that may have a grain to them. So the design stays on the same grain of the material.
For example, if you were cutting an object out of a wood grain paper and you wanted to make sure that the grain of the paper ran the length of a wood piece you were cutting instead of cross ways through it.
Align – When align is on, the software will align the pieces of the design that are at an irregular angle.Here the Align is on:

Notice the leaves are vertical.Here Align is off:

Now the leaves are rotated to a different angle.
Whole Words – Choose whether the software divides the text into a whole word or individual letters to place it for the cut.Here whole words is on:
And here, whole words is off and it rearranges the individual letters:
Maintain Groups – When on, this maintains the items that are grouped together and treats it as one object. When off it will treat each piece as an individual object.Maintain Groups on:

Maintain groups off:

As you can see above, it treats it quite differently depending on what option you choose.
Rotations Parameters – Tells the software how many rotations of an object is allowed when nesting it on the mat.This is 2 Rotations:

This is 4:

You can see above how it changes the spacing a bit when more rotations are allowed.
Padding Parameters – This is the minimum distance between 2 shapes after it’s been nested.Here the padding is 1:
And here the padding is 3:

Once again, it changes how the nesting is done by the software.