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Hi, have been looking at Design Studios and wondering if it's worth buying. Is it just software that allows you to more lazily use your cricut or am I missing something? Your feedback would be appreciated before I buy yet another not so much used item!
Buy it! I found that before I had DS I really liked my Cricut but it didn't get the use that it's high cost demanded (and poor hubby thought everything you EVER needed for it came all in one box, boy was he wrong), once I got the DS I started to LOVE my Cricut and I use it quite often, it saves on paper wastage and I find many times I try to cut two shapes on a piece of paper and the Cricut says it won't fit, but I can place those same two shapes on the mat in a more "creative" (wonky) way and voila! they fit.
I also find it useful when setting up to cut a large number of shapes, for example, I recently made some puppets for my friend's daughter using Create a Critter and Paper Doll Dress UP, setting up the characters in DS first let me get maximum paper usage and I only had to press cut once per page, I put all pieces that needed to be the same colour on each page, it was much easier than cutting each piece seperately and loading and reloading the mat each time.
__________________ Miss Melanie
Last edited by missmel; 11-02-2010 at 02:00 AM..
Reason: Insert picture
Another good thing about it is, if you make sure you get all the updates, you can "preview" what is on a cartridge before you buy it. It allows you to see all of the possible images on each cartridge whether you have them or not. Of course, you can't cut unless you have the cartridge.
Using the Design Studio is NOT being lazy. I am not being lazy using the Design Studio, I am being more creative! Using the Design Studio enhances what you can do with the images and fonts on the Cricut cartridges.
It's the opposit of being lazy, it allows you to take the images and fonts to a whole new level of creativity.
I use it in conjunction with the images and fonts all the time.
I have no need for the other computer programs talked about. The Design Studio suits all my needs!
No it has nothing to do with laziness. It allows you to manipulate shapes from the cartridges. So you can make a shape longer or wider, or you can weld letters together to form a single cutout or you can weld a shape with a word. You can also combine shapes to make other shapes. A lot of people have made some amazing things by doing that.
Having said that, I don't use it much. I have SCAL and MTC also.
Thanks for the prompt reply - what are SCAL and MTC? Val
I looked at the DS but the computer needs to be hooked up to the cricut in order to cut...I didn't have room to set up my computer near the cricut and I didn't want to purchase a laptop. I went with the gypsy instead, and I love love love it. It's just more food for thought
I use SCAL and LOVE IT! I do not buy cartridges - I buy SVGs from SVG Cuts (svgcuts.com) or create my own SVGs to cut on the Cricut. It can also cut any font on your computer. SVG Cuts has some great tutorials. Hope that helps!
Valda, I tried to reply to your message but your box is full. I'll just copy here what I typed to you.
Hi Valda. I honestly haven't done much with either program yet but if I was buying today, I would probably buy MTC. Mainly for a few reasons. Andy, the creator of MTC, has promised that all future upgrades would be at no extra charge. This is a big deal because there was a charge for an upgrade of SCAL (but that was before I bought it so my copy is the newer one). Also MTC seems to come out with improvements more often and they often had the improvements first, before SCAL added them. I have heard excellent things about both companies in regard to customer service so that isn't an issue at all. Also, one other thing-my friend uses MTC so if I have a question I can ask her and she can help me. Her blog is www.underacherrytree.com and she has done some amazing projects with MTC and graphics from lettering delights.
As far as what to cut-you can get graphics online that you can convert, or use dingbat fonts. Or you can make your own designs OR some people offer their designs as ready to cut. There's no booklet or anything because SCAL and MTC both do not come with any designs. But it's easy to find/make them. Coloring book pages are a good source if you like cute designs or even just google image searches can come up with a lot of nice designs to convert. The best way to learn a lot is to go to a site like ScrappyDew.com - Helping Others Scrapbook... One Pattern @ a Time and find the tutorials section. Or try youtube and search MTC or SCAL tutorials.
The main reason for going with one of these over the Cricut Design Studio is that you have so much more creative freedom and the best part-you don't have to buy any cartridges! But I do keep buying cartridges. It's like a disease. You do still need at least the trial version of Design Studio but it's free so there's no problem there. And you'll need at least one cartridge to put in the machine while cutting but at least one comes with any version of the cricut.
hope that helps you decide!
Yes, made up my mind on your advice! MTC it is - thanks so much to you and to everyone else for their help.
I am new to the Cricut world - and I love it. I was able to get my very favorite cartridges on Ebay recently for very decent prices. The Gypsy came with my Expression bundle, and while I have tried to use it - the Gypsy screen is just too small for me to get much out of. I can't make out a lot of the characters. I had done some reading and ended up purchasing SCAL. I like this a lot. But, this leaves me with no way to design pages with my existing cartridges - so I am considering buying DS as well.
I think for a well rounded studio - you need both. I have my own art that I would like to put on my cards and paper crafts. I have this very expensive machine and it makes sense to me that I should be able to do whatever I want creatively. Both tools offer good options.
I am nervous about purchasing DS because I have read that it is not compatible with Windows 7. I will have to check this out further.
Don't buy it! There is going to be a new, free version of it coming soon for everyone. It will be available to anyone who has access to the internet. It will be called Cricut Craftroom. That information was released at CHA this year. Google it or search for videos of it online.
How interesting - thanks for telling us about this. Wondering if that would mean that we can't use MTC etc with Cricut Craftroom?
Cricut Craftroom won't affect users of MTC. If you own an Imagine you can't use third-party software such as that. But owners of the Expression, Create or the original bug can use MTC or SCAL. Cricut Craftroom will be an online program; we'd sign in to cricut.com just like we would for the messageboards and that will be one of our selections. Think of it this way: If you already had Design Studio installed on your computer or you own the Gypsy, it doesn't prevent you from using SCAL or MTC now, does it? It's a completely separate thing. You're only prevented from using this new online tool if you don't have access to the internet. So no worries.
Knowing Provocraft's history, especially with new products, I wonder how well Craftroom will work? Have you visited their website lately? It moves at a snail's pace and is really aggravating. They were to have fixed it ages ago. I think the software sounds great, I am just very cautious of PC and "new" things. They don't exactly have a great track record of rolling out new products. There were always Design Studio updates "coming" and that didn't happen. Wish I had my $40 back! I can't believe a "free" product will be better than things we had to pay for. But time shall tell!
CRICUT DESIGN STUDIOS - WHY BUY?
