When it comes to cutting speed, the Cameo 4 is faster than the Explore Air 2. Cameo 4 can cut straight lines and also has a higher acceleration speed. 5. Blades On the other hand, Silhouette Studio is more complex and even enables free-hand drawing and a neat vector tool. If you want to do more, CorelDRAW compatibility helps. This software is more than a design tool and enables you to fiddle with all manner of settings on the hardware itself. Cricut's approach is more hands-off, its system does the legwork.

name of project>.studio or, to give an example, the file name for the first version of a coal office file to cut using .010" styrene would be "Coal Office 010 cut v1.studio" The Silhouette Alta uses PLA filament to create its models, which is made from plant-based material, which sounds great but it does compete with growing food for land use. While a PLA bottle could takeup to 1000 yearsto decomposeit is easily recycled. Before you buy a 3D printer, read up on the environmental impact. This just to show that most cutters can do this sort of output, not just the two well known ones that have been mentioned. This won’t take too long, but before I talk about the Silhouette Studio software proper, I need to take a minute to talk about the two different types of graphic files there are out there. It's going to get a bit techy for a few minutes, so it you aren't that way inclined, please bear with me. The Silhouette Mint does one thing and it does it very well. If you're a scrapbooker or love designing cards and gifts then we highly recommend this little craft stamping machine for creating stunning paper art.OK, now you’ve decided whether you want a Curio or Cameo (or both!), you might want to think about whether the Cameo or Portrait is the right Silhouette die cutter for you. Silhouette's Cameo 4 is more powerful than Cricut's Maker 3 but it's perhaps less adaptable (Image credit: Silhouette) If your answer is “yes”, then the Curio is the Silhouette die cutter for you. This is the only machine that can access the emboss, deboss, stipple and etch features in the Silhouette Studio software. This can come down to preferences, budget and how you're using your cutting machine. The Silhouette Cameo 4 has a greater cutting power than the Cricut Maker 3, for example, but the Cricut Maker overcomes this with faster cutting and can offer a cleaner edge. The Silhouette Cameo 4 is better for fabric cutters, as its larger size is useful.

Silhouette Portrait 3— A ‘portable’ craft cutter with a smaller cutting area, ideal for smaller projects and lighter materials. If you’re thinking to yourself that, actually, you want the best of both worlds — an all-round machine that also has the capacity to emboss, deboss, etch and stipple — then you will need to buy them both. The Cameo 4 is also designed to be used with the original Silhouette blades and comes equipped with 4 chipped collars which you can place your original blades into so that the machine will also be able to automatically detect your original blade of choice.The best thing about the Curio is undoubtedly the number of new features it has that no other Silhouette die cutter can do. Here’s an example. Say you need third open coach sides for five coaches, that's ten sides. You could cut them individually by hand, or you could create one cut file of the two coach sides and run it five times. In six months’ time you could run it again to produce some more with no extra effort. Also, if a coach is made of repetitive elements, you can group these elements together and copy them into the correct locations, so making the creation of the cut file even faster. I created a drawing for a 6-wheel brake van that took about an hour, it then took about 30 minutes to cut while I had a cup of tea. In our opinion we've found Cricut Design Space is much easier to use that Silhouette's app, Silhouette Studio. This is largely because it's a simpler software. In the long run, if you're keen on doing more original designs and complex projects you will find Silhouette Studio comes into its own. Silhouette Studio is a deeper design app. The Cameo 4 has had a complete make over, new aesthetic, sliding lid and a compact design make it the prefect desktop cutting system for home or small business.