For beginners, Graphtec Studio (free, included with the plotter, PC and Mac) or Silhouette Studio (free, PC and Mac) are excellent entry points. If you need integrated vectorization, Draw Cut Pro (€149 excluding VAT, PC and Mac) or Graphtec Pro Studio (included with some plotters) are the most versatile options.

For cutting standard vinyl flex, the Silh-Blade-2MM or the Silh-Blade-Prem are the most versatile options — they cut paper, vinyl, vellum and flex on Portrait 2, Portrait 3, Cameo 3 and Cameo 4. For thicker materials (felt, fabrics), choose the Silh-Blade-Rotary with a high-adhesion mat.

No. Each brand of heat transfer vinyl has its own layering rules—some products can only be applied underneath, others only on top, and some combinations are incompatible. Consult the layering charts for each brand (Politape, Siser, Stahls, SEF) available in PDF format above. As a general rule, special vinyls (glitter, mirror, embossed) are applied as the final layer, over the standard vinyls.

Yes, absolutely. Cutting plotters work with vector files (SVG, AI, EPS, vector PDF). A bitmap file (JPEG, PNG) must first be vectorized before being sent to the plotter. Photoshop is not suitable for this step—use Illustrator, Corel Draw, Draw Cut Pro , or any software with an automatic vectorization function.

Download our Cutting Blade Settings PDF, available in the Silhouette Blades section above. It includes recommended pressure, speed, and blade depth settings for each material. These values ​​are starting points—always adjust them on a small test run before starting your production run.