Illustrator, Silhouette Studio and M1 Macs

[pedley_s]

I know this is an Illustrator forum, but in the past I've seen and responded to questions about Silhouette Studio, the software that drives the Cameo cutters from Silhouette America so I thought I'd throw this out here. 

I use Illustrator to create SVG and DXF files that I import into Silhouette Studio on a 2017 iMac that is realllllllly showing it's age. I'd like to buy a new computer, but I'm unsure of what the world of M1 brings me in terms of stability in software.

I know Rosetta exists to help with programs not designed for the M1 chips, but I'm looking for real world experience of anyone actually running Silhouette Studio on a new Mac to help me decide if I'm just trading one slow and aggravating experience (the outdated computer) for another (new computer, incompatabile software).

[kgal17a]

I am running Silhoutte Studio on a new base model 2021 Macbook Pro 14" with the M1 Pro chip and Monterey OS.  Sadly, it is not a great experience.  The software runs quite slow and laggy for me.  I have been running SS 4.4.895.001 version mostly (Business Edition) and do some SVG designing with it.  I can only assume it's partly due to the translation that has to happen through Rosetta 2 but I can't say that for certain.  (At present, I can't get my laptop to talk to my Cameo 3 either but I'm still working that out).  

{Side Note:  ALSO... seems a LOT of us are having trackpad issues when it comes to using the Tap-to-click feature.  I actually ended up at the store recently trying to diagnose the issue.  Best info as of now is that it's a problem with Monterey and not the hardware but a LOT of us are hoping that gets resolved soon.  I know that may be off topic but just to mention in case you plan on using the build-in trackpad with the tap-to-click turned on}

I have Adobe Illustrator but (sadly) I only use it very lightly for a few tasks... on my bucket list to learn more and possibly transition my designing over there! 🙂  With what little I do, it seems to run nicely.  

[pedley_s]

Thanks for the notes!

I do 99% of my designing in Illustrator and then export to SS just to do the cutting portion. I'm an old-school Illustrator user (way back to the time when it came on a floppy disk) so I'm just hard wired to working that way.

With the small amount of work I have done in Studio, I'm betting you actually have more Illustrator skills than you think - they are very similar, just Illustrator has a ton more features so it appears to have a longer learning curve but if you stay on specific task (just designing for cut files - not 3D illustrations, etc.) you. might might be surprised how easy it is.

Someone somwhere else mentioned a plug in for Illustrator that would let me stay in it to actually do the cutting so I may pursue comments on that option.

[Eric22058161zfk3]

It's called Silhouette Connect and it allows you to take your created items in Illustrator and oepn them directly to the app called Silhoeutte Connect which is just like having a SEND page from the silhouette software but for the content in Illustrator. 

BE CAREFUL THOUGH, From what I have used, if you have content that is in Silhouette Studio from the Silhouette Design Store, you can NOT bring it over to Illustrator to work wtih it. It turns the designs to dotted lines even when you export as an SVG (which btw you have to do to get the items you want into Illustrator anyway. There is no way to just open or import the .silhoeuttestudiofiles into Illustrator. You have to export them as SVGs (Which required the business update of Silhouette Studio) and then place that item in through the Place option. Also, it's like 30 dollars for that plugin. 

It is not ideal and the fact that silhouette hasn't said anything about optomizing for M1 is making it hard for alot of people since it makes the abilities and work much slower than it should or is anywhere else.

[DigitalResident]

Hi! I know the thread is quite old, but does Silhouette now function as expected? I'm thinking about replacing an older Mac with a Macbook Air M1. But if it's still not working I guess we need to switch to PC.

[pedley_s]

Last weekend I finally caved and replaced that aging iMac with a 2022 13" Mac BookPro running the M2 chip. 

Illustrator and Silhouette run fine, although the current version of Silhouette appears to have broken the Print and Cut feature (in that registration marks aren't recognized most of the time). 

[Anubhav Majumder]

Hello @pedley_s,

Thanks for reaching out. I would request you get in touch with Silhouette America for problems related to Silhouette Studio and check if it helps: https://www.silhouetteamerica.com/contact/.

Kindly update this thread if you need further assistance. We'd be happy to help.

Thanks,

Anubhav