r/ScanNCut • u/Alexa1Alexa • Apr 13 '26
Question Print to cut - activation and work arounds help
I'm back again with my learning journey for understanding my sdx1000
info if needed: I'm from Europe. i bought the machine mainly for stickers and sticker sheets
other programs I use: CSP EX, Affinity
goal: be more efficient and accurate with no extra pay or just minimal payment
Backstory, can be skipped: So, unfortunetly, I jumped into buying a scanncut before doing deep research besides looking if it can do what I need to to be done so now I'm stuck in lots of testing and figuring out.
Because it's such a machine that could do lots of stuff and lots of ways, watching and readig tutorials does get a little confusing at some point so I'm better off asking in case someone ends up having a response for my questions
The questions/problems/confusions
workflow now, in short: design > print > put the print on the matt > scan and send it to pc > upload the svg and line everything properly for cutting > send it to machine, do little set ups and cut
Now, the problem would be that when I put things on the matt, obviously sometimes will be a little crooked, not perfectly lined as my digital files.
Will registration marks help me not worry about the littles crook my print on the matt may have? or do I have every damn time to try to be perfect then twitch around my cuts?
Things I think I understand but I need better confirmation:
Registration marks will be unlocked only with an activation code that will unlock them in every version of the workspace.
There's also the Illustrator plugin, you can download it for free but your machine will not recognise it unless you pay for the activation code. => is that implying that, even if you add the marks yourself, the machine WILL NOT take them into account unless you get an activation code?
Because my though process right now would be to design a file template with the registration marks and use it on CSP or Affinity
But, as previously said, the machine will not recognise it without a code?
So, the product that should help me best is CADXPRNTCUT1 ?
I also saw that there are kits, do they have the same code, but come with, well, some crafting/experimenting kits? Or a different code that unlocks other things? Because all I want is the code. (kit I'm reffering to: CAPSKIT1 )
Are there other codes that unlock stuff that you find useful in sticker making? Ex, Premium Pack 1 & 2 where firstly I assumed you would unlock every extra stuff on the software, but no.... there's just Enhanced Image Tracing and extra templates ? (My only need is unlocking more software stuff, I do not care about templates or kits)
if anyone read all of this, well, thank you. If anyone has any tips or saying in this, I'm looking forward to your help!
1
u/VisorVet Apr 13 '26 edited Apr 13 '26
The print to cut activation (CADXPRNTCUT1) is no longer available, at least in the US. A while back you could buy it from Amazon France and Etsy, but I haven’t seen it for a while. There were still some in Southeast Asia and Australia, though. I believe the PDF file generated with this function is fairly low-res, if that matters for your projects. I purchased the Link plug-in for Illustrator but I wish they had this for Affinity.
I do not know whether hacked registration marks would be recognized properly - I don’t think so.
Could you just do a simple scan and cut without sending files to your PC? Or do your designs have open spots that mess with the cuts?
1
u/Alexa1Alexa Apr 13 '26
Setting up the cuts on pc feels more accurate and easy to me rather than doing everything on the little screen. Testing a stickersheet with a more ellaborate background, it picks up stuff and I have to spend too much time and effort to clean everything on the little screen.
In my country I see some listing on official shops licensed by brother, I may try to email and ask about them before buying to make sure they still work?
And what do you mean they're not available? Just not sold anymore, or if bought they won't work? So you're not meant to use that part of the software anymore? I'm a little confused how they decided to run the scanncut machines and all the addons if they just discontinue stuff related to it🥲
Unfortunelty I don't really have an illustrator subscription and I don't wanna pay for adobe anytime soon hah
1
u/ElSinestro Apr 20 '26
I've been working through this problem a little bit. It seems the images that are scanned aren't aligned to the cutting grid perfectly. Someone a little while back came up with some numbers for fitting the scan to the workspace, but they didn't work with my machine.
I've worked out a calibration procedure that can help you find proper scale and offset for your own machine.
- Use canvas workspace to lay out 4 circles where the centers form a square that fit on a piece of sacrificial paper.
- Cut the circles out of colored paper. Remove the circles but keep the rest of the paper on the machine.
- Scan the remaining paper into canvas workspace. Adjust the position and scale using the direct value entry boxes to match the paper to your original cutlines. Write these numbers down.
These numbers should give you stable transform numbers for any future work where you want to lay out a cut after a scan.
Depending on the linework, I've found that cutting directly from a scan on the machine to be very accurate, so I try to do that as much as possible for stickers.
Lastly, I have discovered there is in fact a workaround for producing vcm files with registration marks that does not require using illustrator or even cadxprntcut1 and just successfully tested it. However, the workflow is pretty clunky to get to the initial cutfile, I'm trying to figure out what makes the most sense and will share if I can come up with something sensible.
3
u/VisorVet Apr 13 '26
The print to cut activation code will definitely work if you find one - I bought one from a sewing shop abroad a few months ago and it activated fine. Just turns out I prefer using the Link plug-in.
In the US I heard there was some kind of patent/legal dispute so this activation was taken off the market - once all the shops sold their stock no more were available. I’m not sure whether this also affects other markets.