Section 7: File Types

There are two common major types of electronic images:

Raster - Electronic representation of printable data using a grid of points called pixels. Photographs are good examples of raster images.
Vector - An image system that uses basic geometric shapes like rectangles, lines, circles, ellipses and polygons, to create a graphic image. The vector image usually contains very little data, like the starting point of each line and the ending point.

For the purposes of understanding the difference, basically a raster image is a print format image your printer can see and a vector image is a line format image your Silhouette can see. The Silhouette can only read vector image information. Specifically, the Silhouette reads a proprietary (or specialized) file format called GSD, GSP, and GST files.

While this information may seem a bit advanced for some, it is actually relevant. While the Silhouette can only open GSD files to cut, you can also import external images into the software. The Silhouette has an Auto Outline function to trace these images and assign cut lines. This only works with Raster images. When seeking to import and trace external images, you will need to ensure you are using a compatible file format that can be traced, such as .BMP or .JPG, both common file type images. The Silhouette cannot import proprietary image file formats specialized to certain software, such as AI or EPS files.

Some image formats, such as .WMF and .EMF files can be imported to view and print from the Silhouette software, but cannot be traced with the Auto Outline function.

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