Where to Place my drawing on the Page

[Gail]

I am trying to cut this file. I placed my 12x12 paper at 15" mark using bc 15" mat and Knife point with MTC.
I set origin 1/2 in from side and top. It cuts off the mat. I even moved paper to 16" and moved square over but still cuts off the mat. Can anyone tell me some guidelines to go by on design placement on the screen? I am in landscape mode. Thanks

[Gigi]

Gail -

Are you putting your mat all the way to the right? If you are cutting knife point, it doesnt matter where it is on the screen as long as it is on the mat and the mat is not larger than your actual cutting mat.

On your real mat, put the 12x12 paper down toward the right side of the mat (you have some room to play with a 15" but just want to ensure success!) and put your blade in the lower right hand corner of the 12x12 piece of paper. Your design is close to the size of the paper, so if you are moving your blade 1/2" in, that may be just enough to cut it off the mat. Be sure your design is not larger than your paper, (it looks like 11 1/2" to me) so you only have 1/2 " of leeway. So you want to be sure you sent your knife point or blade in the bottom right corner as close to the inside of the paper as possible. Does that make sense? If you can decrease the size of your design so you have extra room, that would give you more space - but if not, then you need to be in that lower corner.

Hope that makes some sense.. You have a little more room vertically but not horizontally. I dont use MTC, but not sure why you are in landscape mode. I would do portrait, but again, that might be something preferred in MTC. Just watch the one side that is almost 12" wide or long and you will be ok.....

[Elizabeth]

Hi Gail,

With Knife Point cutting in MTC, I always set my blade right at the bottom right corner of my paper. That way, I have the full paper to work with. It doesn't matter if you use portrait or landscape, just as long as you are aware of which way your cuts will be oriented. I had to practice a bit to figure that out. I just make sure I put my paper on the mat in the direction of the arrow on the virtual mat in MTC, and away I go. (I rarely use 12x12 paper, so it makes a difference for me.)

[MeFlick]

. . .I set origin 1/2 in from side and top. . . .

This is the issue, when you using the "knife point cutting" in MTC, you don't set your origin in 1/2" from either the side or the top. (You only do that when cutting "WYSIWYG" mode and then you are not using the blade you are setting the laser light for origin.)

As noted, you want to set the BLADE tip in the very corner of your paper and then set your origin. DO NOT offset it at all from the side or the top.

So, if you are using a 12x12 sheet of paper, you want it set in the tippy corner of the paper. Note, when people say the "bottom right corner of the paper", they are referring to how it looks if you are standing straight on facing your machine and loading in your mat. So, in your screen shot you are in "landscape" mode in MTC, therefore looking at your virtual mat on your screen it would be the top right corner on the virtual mat (to the right of the small purple square at the top on the right side of the screen). (Is that clear as mud?) (It always confused me when people would say the "Bottom Right" because to my mind I was considering the virtual mat on screen and that is not the "bottom right" on the screen! - once I figured out that they were referring to the actual mat once it was loaded into the machine when you were standing straight on facing the machine - it helped my brain!)

[Gail]

Thanks everyone for the reply. I can take some off, but it seemed everytime I did I went the wrong way. If I am looking at my bc, I am placing my knife at the top right, not back where the roller is. Is that what you are saying is the bottom right? Put it back where the roller is? I no.....dummer than a door knob.

[Gigi]

Gail -

On your physical mat, once you have the paper placed on it, load your mat into the machine. When you are facing the machine and looking at the mat that is going into the machine front to back, you want to position the blade in the lower or bottom right hand corner of the paper - in other words, as you are standing there looking at it, the part of the paper closest to you in the right corner. The rollers can be holding the furthest part of the mat - or closer to the front. I don't want to confuse you. I usually put my mat in about halfway and then put the pinch wheels down and set the blade.

Does that help or it is more confusing. Do you need a photo? I think if you look at the Learning Center it will become much clearer....

[MeFlick]

Yes, Gail that is the bottom right, the corner that is closest to the roller on the right side of the machine when facing the machine straight on (assuming that you have fully loaded your mat and paper into the BC) and to you!

You want it so that the knife begins to cut there and goes towards the front of the paper. If you had a cricut before, it is the OPPOSITE of how you loaded the mat in a cricut. In the Cricut, you loaded the mat so only the top of the mat was up in the machiine. Then that it started the cuts at the top right corner and cut down. In this instance, you are loading the mat so that the paper is FULLY in through the machine and the blade is set at the bottom right corner of the paper and then pulls the paper and mat BACK THROUGH the machine as it cuts.

[Gail]

Finally dear friends, the old lady gets it! lol...I contacted Scrappydew and he and Michelle got me to his Knife Point video on Vimeo. That one plays good for me. I could not get the one in the learn center here to play and I tried many times. And I even have the video downloaded too...so the next time I try it I can watch it if I have any trouble. Blessings and much gratitude to you all.

[Gigi]

Glad to hear you are getting it, Gail. Keep up the good work!

[Elizabeth]

Good for you, Gail!

[MeFlick]

Great - as the old saying goes, A picture is worth a thousand words sometimes!

[Angel135612]

Love it when things "click"... it does take a few times for me before I get that click, but it is a great feeling when it does.