Tuesday 3 April 2012

How To Use SVG Shapes in MyMemories

I left paper scrapbooking behind a few years ago, probably just as the Cricut and what my DH calls the "Robocop" were becoming popular so I had no idea what svg files were. When I found they were files used in these cutting machines I thought they had no relevance to me

BUT

Did you know you can use svg shapes in your My Memories Suite digital scrapbooking program? Lots of svg files are available free so that means you could have dozens of new shapes to use in MMS.

This is a quick example of a shape filled with a glitter "paper". Actually the paper is a sample jpeg of a glitter style that Lindsay Jane thoughtfully provides with her kits. (Glitter and embossed paper from Lindsay's Frosty kit). The chandelier was free from the FreeSVg blog.



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The best way to tell you how I did this is to get you to do it.

Go to one of the sites that offer free svg files. You can Google exactly that or "cutting files".

Download a SIMPLE silhouette type shape. If you're a paper scrapper what we're looking for here is one pass of the cutting machine not multiple layers. You can use multiple layers but not when you're first starting out! For example the chandelier is one simple shape. There are no separate bulbs or cord in different colours.

Download it. It will appear on your computer very quickly as these are small files. If it appears as a web page to to save in your top toolbar as save as SVG file.

Open Windows Explorer and find where MMS is on your computer. It's likely to be in C Drive - Programs - My Memories:


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See "Components"? Expand that until you see Shapes. Put your cursor on this word and right click - new folder - rename the new folder to Free SVG Files or whatever name you like. As you can see, I have a folder called free svg files and one for SVG Cuts with sub-folders for the few shapes that I've bought.

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Right click on the file you just downloaded and select Copy. Go to your new folder in the MMS components section and Right Click - Paste to put your new file into that folder. You can even do this while MMS is open.

In MMS click on the shapes icon, go to the folder where your new shape is and click on it. It will appear on the page and you can click on the paper icon to fill it with paper. Choose a paper that came with MMS. It doesn't matter what. Double click on the shape and a window will open. You can then replace the image (the paper) with another paper or a photo.

Rinse and repeat! Go get lots of shapes. I have downloaded a few free ones that won't work for some reason. I just deleted them from my MMS folder.

More tips on the main site soon. For the geeks - SVG stands for Scaleable Vector Graphics.

2 comments:

  1. HOLD UP! Did you use a Photoshop Glitter Style in your example?? Did you just use it like paper when filling your shape??

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  2. Glitter styles came with the kit but this designer, Lindsay Jane, also provided previews of the glitter styles in jpeg form (about 1200 pixels square, I think) so, yes, I used these just like paper. I also use them a lot to make mats and frames. You can use them for anything really! Heart shapes are nice filled with glitter. You don't need Photoshop for this!

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