How to Use Silhouette PixScan | A simple tutorial for how to use the Silhouette PixScan Mat and Technology. There are so many awesome uses for PixScan and it’s much easier to use than you might think!
Hi crafty friends! It’s Dawn from Dawn Nicole Designs here with you today! I have a confession. I’ve had the PixScan Mat since it very first came out. That means it took me over a year to get brave enough to try it. And of course, it’s so much easier than I’d feared. If you’ve been putting it off like I did, I want to show you just how easy it is to use. And then you’ll be hooked like me!
To show you how to use it, we’re going to do a simple project: Creating a set of Canning Jar Gift Labels.
Let’s get started!
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Silhouette CAMEO
- PixScan Mat
- Cardstock or White Stick Paper
- Canning/Mason Jar Labels (download the set I created here)
Step One: Print the Labels and trim down to about an 8×10 size. Place on your PixScan Mat and take a photo with your phone or camera. (Use the standard photo size, not square).
Step Two: Email the photo to yourself and save it to your computer desktop. Open Silhouette Studio and go to File>Open PixScan Image. In the PixScan window, choose Import from File and select the photo from your desktop. Silhouette Studio will import it and calibrate the image.
Step Three: Open the trace window and Select Trace Area. Select the area around all the labels and play with the high pass filer to get the entire label edges yellow. The trace method you want to apply for these is Trace Outer Edge. You may need to select the traced area, release the compound path (Object>Release Compound Path), and delete any extra areas it traced. (More on this in the coming video).
Step Four: Open the cut settings window and make sure the edge of each label is set to Cut Edge, as indicated by a thick red cut line.
If you’re a visual learner, I’ve put together a short video to show you the above steps live.
Step Five: Insert PixScan mat into your Silhouette machine (the labels should be stuck to it still). Select the material you are using in the cut settings window. I used white cardstock. Adjust blade level as needed and let your machine go to work doing the cutting!
Pretty nifty!
Now that you’ve seen how easy it is, will you be using the PixScan Mat anytime soon?
Happy creating!
Here are a few recent posts I’ve shared that you might also enjoy:
How to Create Your Own Hand-Lettered Silhouette Cut Files
Words to Live by Book Release & Pre-Order Details
The Best Markers for Hand-Lettering
Dawn is the DIY & Lifestyle blogger/Graphic Designer behind Dawn Nicole Designs. She is an Air Force Wife and mom of 3 who believes that kindness changes everything. While Dawn loves all things creative, she has a passion for hand-lettered typography. A clean-eating foodie who loves cooking as much as a a good long outdoor run, she believes in balance and rarely lets a day go by without dark chocolate and over-caffeinating.
Connect with Dawn Nicole Designs:
Sarah @ SarahTitus.com says
Thank you for this! The homemade sugar scrub label is PERFECT for my DIY Holiday Candy Cane Sugar Scrub!
Kimber says
Glad you enjoy them! I bet the sugar scrub is wonderful! Thanks for stopping by Sarah!
Rena says
This was helpful. I bought my mat when they first came out forgot I had it and now ready to use. Thanks to you.
Kimber says
So glad to help! Thank you for stopping by!
Emily says
If you don’t have the pic scan mat, you can also just use the print and cut feature on the silhouette program. It allows you to print your designs and then cut around them without having to take a picture, send it to yourself, calibrate it, etc. on your own mat.
Lindsey S says
Thanks for this, and they look lovely, but maybe I’m missing something – this appears to have the same end result as just using silhouette’s registration marks when printing (so using the print and cut feature) but with an extra 5 or so steps, thus taking a lot longer and costing the price of the mat. Is there more benefit to it that I’m just not seeing? x
Nicky says
It just means you can fit more on a page as there are no registration marks 🙂
Jamie says
If you have vinyl scraps that are odd shapes ypu want to use you can stick them on this, take a pic and can fully use them. Reg marks also sometimes limit your design space so this would be good for larger designs. Also good if you want to cut something out of a photo.
Paul says
Of course there is. What if you get pre-printed material from someone else or something your kids drew and colored? Wouldn’t it be neat to use your Silhouette to cut it out for you?
Tonya Morelans says
My thoughts exactly?? There has to be some other reason to use this??
Nicky says
I am having real issues with importing my image, it has the ‘loading image’ on forever and never actually loads the image 🙁
Any ideas?
Jamie says
Another tip is to create a small inset that way when you cut you won’t see any of that black circle.
Ray says
Wouldn’t It be easier just to cut the circles out by hand. Would be simpler and faster
Suzan says
Hi… so this might be a solution to printing and cutting using cameo and then laminating and cutting again? True? Thank you so much for your post