Export Svg From Design Space

 

One of the great features of Cricut Design Space is the ability to import SVG files. An SVG file, short for scalable vector graphic, can be resized large or small without losing quality. I love SVG files because they can be used with almost every cutting software. Many designers (including me) will often give away free SVG files. There are also tons of SVG files available for purchase. If you use Cricut Design Space, you can easily import these files and use them to make awesome projects!

When you download cut files online, they usually come in a zipped folder and need to be extracted before you can use the files. To extract, double-click the folder and then choose extract all. You’ll know the folder has been unzipped because you’ll see a new icon of an open folder in your directory. Now, you are ready to open the files in Cricut Design Space.

  1. Upload Image to Convert for SVG. Find an image you want to cut in Cricut with different color vinyl. Then open Cricut Design Space. We need to upload the image you want to convert first. In your Cricut Design Space Canvas that should be open now, choose Upload.
  2. To save your svg file as a png, jpg or other image file, click the File button, then click Export, Export As, then underneath format, choose the format you want to export your svg file as and then click Export. When saving your file as a png file, you can choose for the background to be black, transparent or white and I always choose my resolution to be 300 dpi, which is a higher.

Tldr; See the title, I have an SVG file that is an outline of the state of Utah with a transparent background. When I upload this file to Design Space the thumbnail of the uploaded file looks correct, however once I import into my project, it is imported as a solid black shape. The Cricut Design Space is pretty robust but there are times when you need a little more in the design area. For example, create curved text and such for a project. I stumbled across a way to covert PDF sewing patterns into SVG files to use with my Cricut Maker. Don’t worry, I’ll have a tutorial for that soon.

Once you’re in Design Space, click on new project. This should open a brand new, blank canvas. On the left hand side, click on the upload icon.

Next, click on the button that says upload image.

You can drag & drop your file here, but I prefer to click the browse button.

Go to the folder where you’ve saved your unzipped files and find the SVG file. If you don’t see an SVG file listed, look for a Chrome HTML document or something similar. Once you’ve found the SVG file, double-click the name (or select the name and click open). This will import the file onto your mat.

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Once you are ready to cut, select your entire design. Then right-click and choose attach. This helps to hold your cuts in the same position relative to each. If you don’t click attach, the letters and elements might shift around when you send the design to cut.

Click on the Make It button in the upper right-hand corner. Now, your design is ready to cut!

Export Svg Files From Cricut Design Space

I hope this tutorial was helpful and you start using SVG files with your cutter! Be sure to pin this post so you can find it again!

© Copyright Burton Avenue 2020.

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Say you have a graphic like this in Adobe Illustrator:

Export Svg From Cricut Design Space

Note how the art doesn’t touch the edges of the artboard. Say you want that space around it, and you want to save it as SVG for use on the web.

Nope: Save for Web

THE CLAW! You’ll see space around here, but unfortunately the classic Save for Web dialog doesn’t export as SVG at all, so that’s not really an option.

They are already calling this a “legacy” feature, so I imagine it’ll be gone soon.

Nope: Export As

The “Export As” feature supports SVG, and you’ll likely be pretty pleased with the output. It’s fairly optimized, cruft-free, and pretty much ready to use on the web.

But… it crops to the art with no option to change that, so we’ll lose the space around that we’re shooting for here.

A possible work around here is putting a rectangle behind the art with the spacing around it we need, but then we get a rectangle in the output, which shouldn’t be necessary.

Nope: Asset Export

Export Svg From Cricut Design Space

The Asset Export panel is mighty handy, but you the export crops to the art and there is no way to change that.

Yep: Export for Screens

The trick in preserving the space is to export the artboard itself. You can do that from the Export for Screens dialog.

Export Svg From Cricut

The viewBox will then reflect the artboard and the space we have left around the art. That’s what we were aiming for, so I’m glad there is a way!