Any opinions about the Cricut Design Studio Software?

[SILLYANDI]

I am thinking about buying it but I'm looking for opinions from those who have used it. Is it user friendly? Can you use your own fonts, etc or only those from cricut? How does it work-Do you have "all access" to cricut software or do you have to purchase each shape, etc that you want to use form their website?


Thanks!

 

[TiggerFamily]

I have it and like it alot. You have to have Cricut carts, that's all you can use. The software has all the carts on it but you can only use the ones you have. Yes it is user friendly.

 

[SILLYANDI]

So I can't use my fonts that I have on my computer? Only those that are on my cartridges is that right? It looks like you can merge letters together (which would be WAY easier to pull off the mats & glue on to paper) but other than that what does it do that the cricut doesn't do on it's own?

Also, the cricut website has all kinds of warnings about 3rd party software for it, I can't seem to find what they are refering to? Is there software out there (I'm guessing unauthorized) that allows you to use your own fonts, etc?
Thanks!

 

[clh2]

With the Design Studio mentioning third party software...that may be because someone else may have designed the software.

You cannot use any of your own fonts on the design studio. There are some amazing, very talented people who post stuff, and share their "cut files" .

I was able to download the trial program for Design Studio around Christmastime, and it only works with the cartridge that came with your machine (i.e. the baby bug came with George, and the Expression comes with a different cartridge). Once you purchase the program, then you can cut stuff using all the cartridges that you have.

I actually used the design studio this weekend,,,for the first time... to cut out windows in cards that I am making for an exchange. Pretty basic, but I was pretty excited.

 

[Tiger926]

With the Design Studio mentioning third party software...that may be because someone else may have designed the software.

You cannot use any of your own fonts on the design studio. There are some amazing, very talented people who post stuff, and share their "cut files" .

I was able to download the trial program for Design Studio around Christmastime, and it only works with the cartridge that came with your machine (i.e. the baby bug came with George, and the Expression comes with a different cartridge). Once you purchase the program, then you can cut stuff using all the cartridges that you have.

I actually used the design studio this weekend,,,for the first time... to cut out windows in cards that I am making for an exchange. Pretty basic, but I was pretty excited.

They are speaking about Sure Cuts Alot (SCA) which is a third party software. I am a new member of the Cricut boards, and so they are allowed to discuss it, but they have another message board dedicated to SCA and many members seem to love it. It is a software program that allows you to use any true type font in your computer and cut that out on your Cricut without the use of cartridges.

Remember, Cricut wants and needs you to buy more cartridges; therefore, they are not going to endorse a third party software that takes business away from them in any way, shape or form.

Regarding voiding the warranty - there have been lots of discussions about this as well, and to be honest, I'm not sure what the legalities are about it since it doesn't go into the Cricut (you download it into your computer), but from some of the discussions, it seems it may affect your Cricut's firmware (software used to power your Cricut), and if this is so, then using it can void your warranty. I'm not sure of that though, as I don't purchase third party stuff as I don't want to have issues with my products at all. You would need to research this some more (as I am doing) to see if it is legitimate, especially if your Cricut is still within the warranty period.

Have fun with your Cricut, Tiger

 

[Raenstoirm]

I love my DS. The welding is definitely the best part, but what is also fun is merging carts. I particularly like using the doodle charms as letters, like using the ice cream cone as the "I" in ice cream. I have also had luck making boarders of shapes. I used all sorts of snow flakes from all different carts to create a falling snow border.

 

[labdogs42]

You can make all kinds of things with design studio, not just welded words. Check out the Cricut board or some people's Cricut blogs to see their amazing work. SCA looks cool, too, but I have only downloaded the trial version so far. I'm not sure if I really need it, so I'm not jumping on that just yet. I'm not so worried about the warranty situation, as the Cricut warranty is only for one year, so maybe when my warranty is up, I'll buy SCA!

 

[TiggerFamily]

I have not tried any 3rd party, I know you do need the cart of something you want to cut out from Cricut.

 

[BayBeauti]

Okay, peeps, here's the deal. Now this is just my own opinion, mind you, but, I just purchased the cricut. I did so because the sales rep said that yes, I could use my own computer for my own designs. He just neglected to tell me the details. So, after I ordered it, I started to research it to get more info. I was so excited. Well, you can't use your own designs unless you have a third party software. So, I found the SCAL software (sure cuts a lot). I went ahead and ordered it, because, if I couldn't use my own fonts and designs, I really had no use for the cricut. Well, I received my cricut. Updated the firmware, which, by the way, you have to download the Cricut design studio demo to update it, it is the only way. and hooked it up to my computer. Windows installed the drivers for the cricut, and Voila!! I was ready to go. Now you can use any .svg file, but, many of you may not know the details on that so, I will give you the most awesome way to use your cricut with your own true type fonts. Do a search for wingdings or dingbats,there are many free ones out there. Here is a good site for example. OOps, it won't let me post links until I have 10 posts, so just do a search ( I don't usually post much anyway, I just read, but, it seems like so many people have questions on this). Install it into your windows font files and you have a gigantic new source for your cricut.
I have had not had any problems with it affecting my cricut, anyway, give it a shot. Hope this helps.

By the way, the only thing that I can see that the design studio is good for is to view all the cartridges that they have available to buy. and the only thing you can do with it is to combine their designs that you have cartridges for on the screen and then cut it out. I could be wrong, but, it just looks like another way to market their cartridges so you have to spend more money. That's just my opinion. Have fun and happy cutting. Oh Yeah, Have an awesome Christmas.

 

[123SA]

I have both design studio and SCAL. DH bought them for me. I have used scal to cut downloaded fonts and welded words. I like it, but usually I am not willing to put in the effort. I find it hard to find a font that I think will cut well.

Design studio - -I have seen the wonderful things that people have created and posted on blogs or on the cricut boards. Again, I am not willing to put in the effort. I would rather spend my time on paper crafts than sitting at the computer creating.

What I use design studio for the most is finding shapes -- you search by keyword, say snowflake, and it will let you know which carts has a snowflake. Also, I use it to size things out. If I want a shape to fit in a 5 x 4 square, I can try different sizes on design studios until I get the right size without having to cut out the image over and over again.

I'm like being able to do this, but I don't think it is worth the price for just this.

 

[SammyAx]

I was reading earlier that there is a lot more that you can do with design studio if you know how. This is where you can find the info:
cricut-scrapbooking.blogspot.com

happy scrapping

 

[mecllap]

There are lots of sources for the Cricut cartridges -- in stores and online and there have been some good sales lately (altho they are still spendy).
Design Studio (CDS) is not completely intuitive -- it does have a learning curve, so I wouldn't say totally user-friendly. I could not install it on my early-version Vista computer (have never been able to do updates), but can use it on my DD's old XP laptop (which is actually kind of handy since I can set up the stuff I want to cut while watching TV). So, be sure you read all the info on the CDS thread on cricut.com to be sure your system is compatible.

I've just started using mine (got it for 29.99 online) and am liking the way it welds letters together (the main reason I got it). You can also fit together different sizes and colors of paper on the mat at the same time and cut out different things (as many as you can get onto the onscreen mat). The main things I'm having trouble with are getting the size bar thingy to set at the size I want, and to be able to select each letter again to make it active in order to do the nudging/welding (but can eventually get it there) -- none of that makes sense until you actually try the software (you can download a trial version and try it out).

(If you don't already have several Cricut carts, you might want to go with SCAL?)

I guess the next question is, can you change the cutter firmware to use SCAL, and then still use your cartridges also, without a conflict (separately)?