How to create a basic stencil in Silhouette Alta.

Hi there everyone!
Stencils are a great source of technique. You can use them to emboss, paint and stencil.
You can easily make your own basic stencil using the silhouette alta.
Below are the steps to do this.

1- Open Silhouette Alta software. Click on the right side tab.

2- Click on the library folder.

3- Find a folder where you may have background files.

4- Double click on your image.

5- A new window will appear. Click on the stencil option.

6- Your design will appear as a stencil. With this particular design there are gaps from the edge to the design which need to be joined to create a whole stencil.

7- Click on the shape option. Then click on the cube.

8- Flatten the cube to the same height as the stencil.

9- Resize the flattened cube to a long thin rectangle. Place on the edge of your stencil to join the middle of the design to the edge.

10- Right click on the rectangle and duplicate.

11- Move the duplicated rectangle to the right joining the middle to the edge.

12- Right click and duplicate again.

13- Rotate then shorten and place across the top of the stencil to join the edge with the middle stencil design.

14- Repeat again to the bottom of your design. then click on the select all icon.

15- Right click and group. By grouping the pieces the printer will print as one design not several separate small ones.

16- Click on 3D print and then select your print options and print.

17- Your finished design can now be used as a stencil with paint or spray. You can also use these stencils through a manual die cutting machine to dry emboss patterns.

Create a key ring using a SVG file in Silhouette Alta software.

You can create many different things in the new silhouette Alta.
Below is a quick tutorial on how to make a keyring.
Once you have printed your keyring you can paint with acrylic paints and then spray with clear paint to seal it.

1- Open Silhouette Studio software (free edition). Click on the open file icon.

2- Find your SVG file and click open. I am using Pineapple SVG from designbundles.net

3-  The pineapple SVG will appear. Select the one you would like to use.

4- Right click and copy.

5- Go to a new file and right click and paste.

6-  with your design selected, click the offset icon.

7- Click on offset.

8- Adjust the offset size and click apply.

9- Select everything and click make compound path.

10- You will now see all the "cut" lines

11- We actually need to release the whole compound path. So right click and release compound path.

12- By making the compound path and then releasing it, we can be assured that all parts are separate.

13- Go to File - Save as - Save to hard drive. Make sure you save as a .studio file.

14- Open the Silhouette Alta software, click on the open icon.

15- Select your studio file and open.

16-  A new window will appear. Click on extrusion.

17- The pineapple will now be on the design area.

18- Click on the shape icon and then the tube shape.

19- Change the height of the tube to the same height as the pineapple. Move to the top of the design and then over lap some of the tube onto the pineapple.

20- Click on select all, then right click and group. This will join the tube and pineapple together to make one design (a little like weld on studio software) Next click 3D print.

21- As you can see the design is now one print. Click the quality type and then click on print.

How to make a text stencil in Silhouette Alta.

One of the great things about having your own 3D printer is that you can create your own stencils. This can come in really handy if you would like to emboss something specific, or if you want to use a stencil to use with ink or an airbrush.
Below is how to make a simple stencil in the Silhouette Alta.

1- Open Silhouette Studio (free edition)  Click on the text icon.

2- Type your text. then click on the right text icon.

3- Change your text to the desired font. I am using Garlic Butter from fontbundles.net

4- Select the text, then right click and ungroup the text.

5- Click on the shape tool.

6- Select the rectangle icon.

7- Draw a small rectangle. This will be our stencil bridge to keep all the text attached to the stencil when we print.

8- Place the stencil bridge(rectangle) over a letter with a middle (eg- Q,R,O,P etc)

9- Click on the modify tool and with the letter and the stencil bridge(rectangle) selected, click on subtract.

10- You can now see that there is a missing part of the letter. this will keep the design together as a whole when printing.

11-  Repeat the process with all other letters that have a middle.

12- Next select the shapes icon and click the rectangle.

13-  Draw a rectangle around your text. this will be the outline of your printed stencil.

14- Select all and the right click. Select - make compound path.

15- Click on File - Save as - Save to hard drive. Make sure you save as a .studio file.

16- Open the Silhouette Alta software, then click on the open icon.

17- Select your studio file.

18-  A new window will appear. Even tho we want to create a stencil, if we select stencil we will end up with the text to be printed and the rectangle blank.  As we want the text as the stencil we need to click on extrusion.

19- Your design is now a stencil. Adjust the size then click on the 3D print icon.

20- Print the design. The finished print will be able to use for painting or spraying, or even can be used as dry embossing.