Overall, the process can be divided into two main parts: 1) vinyl sheets cut to size, or 2) multiple color prints cut to size. For 1), you are looking to cut a simple shape using a single color vinyl (this can now be muli color and layers), and for 2) you are looking for a multi-color and complex picture, and will print it out and your cricut will cut the vinyl / sticker layer for you.
For this thread, I am just looking at #1, with a follow-up to #2 a little later. So this discussion will be cutting single image layer on a vinyl sheet, and applying it to your body. You used to be able to manually cut multiple layers, and different colors, and stack the layers to give multi-color results, and I have done this before with two layers, but the latest Cricut software allows up to 9 layers. I am not going to get into this process, as I believe layering more than a couple of layers of vinyl on top of each other is really going to look bad, at least at the small level we will discussing here, IE for RC cars. Even with two layers, the lines where they overlap gets unsightly.
Things you need (or things I use):
* Photo editing software where you can easily work with images with transparent background files (usually .png files). I use photoshop, and can really only discuss p’shop. I am not an expert with it, but use it for work to a certain level. Simple “paint” and such won’t work here, you need something more advanced. Now, P-shop isn’t legally free, and all that ……………. but there are ways. I can only teach below on p’shop, although other apps should be similar. Now, there are .png images of many logos and such on the internet, and some of them are legit, and have transparent backgrounds, and you can directly work with these in a simple program probably, but they are going to be few and far between. And be careful, there are a lot of these sites that throw around a DOWNLOAD button, and you really have no idea what you are getting.
* A Cricut and accessories. I bought my Explore Air2 when the 3 came out, and Target put the 2 on super clearance (explains my manly baby blue machine). Check out your local B/S/T market of choice, and you will find many for sale. It seems to be a hobby that many get into, and then many quickly out of, so second hand units are easily available and most have minimal use. You will also need a cutting mat if your Cricut doesn’t come with one. I use these, and again, these should last years. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08XYXX69T/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1 Then you need a basic tools set, for weeding, squeegee’ing, cutting etc. I don’t have link for this, and I think I just got one at WalMart or Hobby Lobby for $10 or something.
* Cricut Studio – Free App
* Vinyl. “Cricut” brand rolls are available at many locations, but you can skip that. I have used the off brands at Hobby Lobby and Michael’s, and they are fine. WalMart also sells the stuff, but, um, WalMart. Check to see if the retailer has it in 12x12 sheets instead of large rolls, as that will probably save you money for the smaller stuff. Also, you want “permanent” vinyl, not because it is permanent, but because that is how the glossy stuff comes (unless you want matte). I have no idea the science between the two, but glossy comes permanent, and matte comes temporary. Either will work fine for this application, but the permanent will leave an adhesive residue behind if you pull it off. This can be removed by multiple solvents so not a deal breaker.
* Transfer tape. Again, skip Cricut brand. I use this and it should last for years. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09K21VQ2Y/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and it should last for years
So, let’s go through the process of just grabbing a random image online, and making a vinyl cutout of the portion we want. So, I decided to just go with a Team Associated logo. To be fair here, AE makes many of their logos available for download here https://apps.associatedelectrics.com/downloads/index.html so I could have just grabbed this one, but I wanted to go through the usual technique, so I went here https://rcvisions.com/collections/team-associated and just wanted to use the TA logo. Quick tip, search for “team associated logo” or “champion spark plugs logo” etc for best results. This particular TA logo I found is a new nemesis in this world called a webp file instead of a traditional image file, but not an issue. Right click on the logo, and choose Copy Image. Now open pshop, and create a new file with dimensions of like 12x10 inches, and 300 dpi (or higher if you want, I just always use 300). You will want an image with decent enough quality to leave straight lines when you cut it, but usually with the sizes we are working with, and sharp looking image online will work, just don’t pic and 2”x2” pic. It will be apparent later if your image is too small. You should now be able to Edit / Paste, and your copied picture show up.
So, if you are completely new to pshop or photo editing, you will probably need more than I am putting down here, but I will see what I can do. First tip is that when you are working with images as we will be, a seen checkered background means it is transparent, IE there is nothing there. Unlike a document, where white is blank, here white means white and will be treated as part of the image. It won’t be ignored like the checkered board will be.
Second thing here is that will be working in layers, although minimal for simple vinyl cutting. Layers mean just as they state; we have our canvas and we can add layers and layers on top of it, each having its own part of a total image. We can have a transparent layer with just the number 1 on it, and we can have a second layer with a number 2 on it, and if we move those around correctly, and view both layers, we can see 12 or 21, but we can hide each layer and only see 1 or 2 or neither. We have a lot of flexibility with layers as opposed to a single canvas.
Now, and don’t get into why here, you should be able to look at / open up your layers menu to the far right. I have to admit, I use pshop a bit, and it is probably set up to start up unlike a stock version of pshop, but you really should be able to bring up the layers menu on the right side of the screen. You should only have one layer right now, Layer 1. Right click on that and choose Duplicate Layer, and hit Okay. Now click on layer 1, and then go to Layer at the top of the screen, and go to New, and then Background From Layer.
Remember during this process that we are just going to end up cutting out an object on a sheet of vinyl, and the vinyl cutter (at least for the simple single color sticker we are going to create here) does not care about colors. The cutter only needs to know which part of the object is getting cut, and which part is background trash. If our image had multiple colors, and we are only interested in cutting them on a single sheet of vinyl, it does not matter the multiple colors of anything in your image. The cutter will cut the white object the same same the black and the same as the blue. All the colors will be treated the same.
Alright, now we want to work to keep what we want, and get rid of what we don’t. So, un “eye” the Background layer, and highlight the Layer 1 layer. At this point, we are only working on Layer 1, and everything we do here is not having an effect on the background layer (or any other layer if there were more). So, for this example, we want to zoom in so get a closer look at the logo, and at the end of the day, we only want the text in Team Associated, and the shadow and white background to go way. This image is just showing the layers, but at this point we should have unchecked the eye on the background so it is not visible, and highlighted the Layer 1 copy so we are working on that layer.
So, on your left toolbar (hopefully it is there, if not, it needs to be turned on), we want to click the Magic Wand Tool. This is such a great tool! When you choose this tool, there will be some variables to play with along the top of the screen, Tolerance, Contiguous, etc. This are the two we want to play with. With this tool, we are selecting a point in the image, and it is going to select all of the points associated with that point based on the parameters at the top. If you have Contiguous unchecked, and choose a white spot on the image, it is going to select all of the areas that contain white pixels. If you have Contiguous selected, it will only choose white pixels that are connected to the one you choose. IE, with the magic wand, if you choose a white point on the letter “O,” with Contiguous, you will now have selected the letter “O,” but with Contiguous not selected, you chose all of the white pixels in the image. If there were variations of white in this image, what would end up being selected would be dependent on Tolerance, or how close to white are the other variations of white.
So, we want the white in the background to go away, so we use the Magic Wand and select a point in the background of Layer 1, and have Contiguous checked. We select that point, and it should highlight background with blinking lines, but not the white letters in the middle, and then hit Delete on your keyboard. Bam, background gone. Now we need to get rid of the black shadow. We can use the same technique, but here we can uncheck Contiguous because we want all the black to go away. So, select the black and hit Delete on the keyboard.
So, now we are going to use the Magic Wand again, but in a different way. I am going to teach this one the long and more difficult way, and then explain why. With the wand, choose a point in the background, and this is with Contiguous unchecked. By doing this, you have selected every transparent point on the canvas, and what we really want is the opposite; we want every point that is not transparent. So next go to the top of the screen and hit the Select button, and then Inverse. Then hit the Image button at the top, and hit Crop. That should have deleted all of the background from around your logo, and left you with a nice fitting rectangle canvas around it.
So, yes, we could have just directly wanded a white part of the logo, and ignored the Select Inverse part, but often times when you are doing this, you may be working with images with multiple colors even if you are cutting it in one color. So if you have multiple colors, choosing the transparent, and then selecting the inverse of transparent will make it easier to I just go that route every time.
Now, we can’t this image and size it to exactly the spot we want to put it. I want this one 4” wide, but whatever the height is natively. So, go to Image at the top, and then Image Size. This will show width, height, and DPI (which should be 300 as we created it earlier). You will see a chain link between the width and height, meaning if you change one, the other will change proportionally. If you want to custom size it, you can click and break this link and do what you want. I thought this image would have been bigger than 4” (should have looked earlier), but it should be fine to upsize. Choose your new size and hit Okay, then save as a png file.
Now we open Cricut Studio and log on blah blah blah. In Cricut, hit Canvas as the very top, and then Upload on the left menu. Hit Upload Image, and drag your file over. Then Continue, then Apply & Continue, then hit Single Layer and Continue, then Upload. This may put it immediately on your canvas, or you may need to choose it from a list and tell it to put it on your canvas.
Now, this part is weird, but Cricut does not pay attention the size properties of your image when you upload it. You now need to tell it what size it is on the upper menu, and if you choose one direction, it should get the second one correct as long as its padlock is locked. So, confirm in pshop your width, and then insert that in Cricut, and hit enter. Now copy and paste that a few times on the canvas to give you screw up room. Then you hit the Make button at the upper right. If you moved around the images how you wanted then on the previous screen, surprise, it undid all that. Just move them around as you want them. You are using a 12x12” mat, to that is fine for material size, but you can use a scrap if it is bigger enough for your image. Hit Continue, and it will network to your Cricut. For most Vinyl I use, I select Vinyl+ on the machine, but YMMV. Stick your vinyl to your mat board, and slide it into the channel, and hit the Arrow button the machine, so it takes it and positions it, then hit the Cricut button, and it should just do.
Now, rough cut one of the logos you want, and then we weed. Weeding is simply getting rid of all of that “transparent” background. It takes a little patience. For this project, the ASSOCIATED was okay, with just a few tricky corners, but the TEAM part is in the ballpark of too small for me. There is a minimal size limit to working with this process, and that TEAM part is just about there. This is unfortunate for some of the smaller, mainly text, stickers that are needed, but the nature of the beast.
