silhouette cameo 3 lcd touch screen factory

The LCD screen on my cameo 3 does not light up. I’m not able to load or unload a mat or do anything with the screen blank. I’m in the middle of large project and need to be able to use this machine — ANY HELP IS APPRECIATED!!

Have you ever heard the old adage, “When all else fails, read the directions.” If you follow the CAMEO 3 setup instructions I can almost guarantee smooth sailing ahead.

However, I’ve compiled a few troubleshooting tips, just in case you have an issue. Since this post is regarding troubleshooting, I want to mention Silhouette America’s robust troubleshooting FAQ section on their website, which is available for reference any time, day or night!

I can’t stress this enough. Update the Firmware before going any further in the setup process. To do this, go to https://www.silhouetteamerica.com/firmware, and download the file for the CAMEO3 that is compatible with your operating system. See below for a picture of the Firmware Update page.

If you tried to update your firmware and the process was interrupted (your computer restarted, froze, etc.) you may have experienced a bad firmware update. If you’re in that boat, never fear, it’s fixable! Check out the steps listed on the Silhouette America FAQ regarding CAMEO 3 Firmware Bricked. Once your Firmware is updated, ensure your software is also up-to-date to prevent any further issues.

This will open a pop-up window in Silhouette Studio® that will tell you which version you are currently running. You can see in the photo below that I’m running Silhouette Studio® Business Edition V3 Release 3.8.150ssbe.

Updating your software will ensure your computer, Silhouette Studio®, and the CAMEO 3 are all communicating properly, which will mitigate a lot of potential issues.

Is your computer’s Bluetooth turned on? Use another computer or smartphone to verify that the CAMEO 3 is visible via Bluetooth. I used my phone’s Bluetooth (see photo below) to verify that my CAMEO 3 was recognizable and the problem was my laptop. My computer required me to manually turn the Bluetooth on. So, if you can “see” your CAMEO 3 on another device’s Bluetooth, then you can narrow down the issue. Start by Googling the make and model of your computer in addition to the phrase “turn Bluetooth On” or “troubleshoot Bluetooth” for tips regarding your computer’s Bluetooth.

Not to beat a dead horse but I can’t stress this point enough: Have you updated the Firmware and Studio Software? These components are essential to the symbiosis of the CAMEO 3 and your computer. Bluetooth will not connect properly if you haven’t completed these steps.

Was your CAMEO 3 working like a charm when suddenly you notice it’s stuck on Pause and will not cut any jobs? I haven’t heard about this issue lately, but it did seem to be a headache for some back in August/September so I thought that I would touch on it just in case it happens to you.

The CAMEO 3 has a built in sleep timer. You decide how long you want it to stay on, the default is fifteen minutes. It goes up to thirty minutes or turns off altogether.

Once I realized the machine had a sleep timer, and it wasn’t an actual issue with my machine, it no longer bothered me. If it goes into sleep mode while I’m working I just tap the screen to wake it up.

The CAMEO 3 is awesome and shouldn’t cause any issues. However, I hope that this guide was helpful, just in case you encountered a problem. Hopefully by now you and your CAMEO 3 are lean, mean cutting machines! Lastly, if you’re still experiencing issues you can always reach out to the Silhouette Support Team.

There is no easy way to reset a silhouette cameo, as the mechanism that holds it in place may be damaged. In some cases, you may be able to remove the cameo and replace the mechanism, but this will likely require professional assistance.

To factory reset your Silhouette Cameo 3, hold down the power button for 10 seconds until the machine turns off. Then press and hold the reset button for about 7 seconds.

To reset your cameo 4, power off the device and then hold down the power button and the home button at the same time until you see an Android logo. Then release both buttons.

There are a few things you can check to troubleshoot your silhouette not responding. First, make sure your device is connected to the internet and has an active data plan. Second, make sure your device is in good working order by checking for any software updates or changes to your settings. Third, make sure that you are using the correct app – if you’re using a third-party app instead of the built-in Snapchat app, for example, your silhouette might not work.

There are two ways to realign your Silhouette Cameo: you can use the touch screen or the control panel. To use the touch screen, first make sure that the machine is turned on and plugged in. Then open the touch screen menu by pressing the “Menu” button and selecting “Touch Screen.” Next, use the touch screen to select “Alignment.” You can then use the arrows on the touch screen to move the machine into the correct alignment.

If you are having trouble with your Silhouette Cameo, there are a few things you can do to troubleshoot the issue. First, make sure that you have charged the device and that the battery is fully charged. If the issue persists, try resetting the Silhouette Cameo by holding down both power buttons for 10 seconds. If the issue still persists, you may need to take it to a repair shop.

To update your CAMEO 4, first make sure it is connected to the internet. From the main menu, select “Settings.” In the “Settings” window, select “Update CAMEO 4.” Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the update.

To calibrate your cameo pro, first make sure that the device is plugged into an outlet and your computer. On the computer, open the “Cameo” application. In the “Settings” tab, click on the “Calibrate” button. The cameo pro will then ask you to select a photo. Once you have selected a photo, the cameo pro will start calibration.

There is no specific firmware update for the Silhouette Cameo, but there are several methods to upgrade your machine’s operating system. The most common way to upgrade your OS is through the Adobe Creative Suite software. You can also find updated drivers and software downloads for the Cameo on the Silhouette website.

Silhouette Studio may not be opening because one or more of the following is true: 1) The computer is not plugged in. 2) There may be a problem with the software. 3) The memory card may not be properly inserted. 4) One of the ink cartridges may need to be replaced. 5) There may be a problem with the printer cable. 6) The power cord may be unplugged.

There are a few reasons why your cameo 4 may say “No tool detected.” One possibility is that you may not have the correct driver installed for your cameo 4. You can download the correct driver from the cameo website. If that doesn’t solve the problem, you may need to format your device. To format your device, go to settings and select “format.

There are a few ways to update Silhouette firmware without using the USB connection. One way is to use the SD card that came with your machine. You can also download the firmware update file from our website and update your machine this way.

3. Follow the on screen instructions…unless and until you have a problem…see the bottom of this post for a “bricking”/Firmware Update Connection Issue fix.

At this point, you’re looking at 15 more minutes of screen colors changing and HOPEFULLY a Firmware Version screen update at the end.  IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM, scroll to the bottom of this post.

When updating, I DID have this issue.  How to fix it is straight from the horse’s mouth with Silhouette being the horse, here’s what they say:  If, during the firmware update process, you are experiencing any concerns with connection or the process has stalled on one step for greater than 30 minutes, please do the following to reset the process and reinstall the firmware anew:

Hold the power button down on CAMEO 3 and then plug the power cable into CAMEO3 . Continue to hold down the power button until the LCD screen turns light blue.

Once you see the window “Please connect the CAMEO and power it on”, press [Ctrl]+[Shift] on your keyboard and then click the [OK] option on the screen as these keyboard buttons are being held down.

One of the main unique things about the Silhouette Cameo 3 is that it offers you a two-tool option. To access this option you’ll need to open the cut settings window. Once this setting has been activated, you will be in a position to use two tools simultaneously.

Under the settings option, you will be able to select from two modes: Standard Mode and Advanced Mode. The Standard Mode offers limited features because the left tool holder is always given first priority. If you need to work more efficiently, then all you’ll require doing is check the Advanced Mode setting and ultimately the Silhouette Cameo 3 machine will unlock its fullest potential.

Looking to create some multi-colored stippled ink decor? Worry no more because the Cameo 3 comes fully armed with this feature. To apply stipple all you’ll need to do is open the Stipple Window at the upper right end of your screen. Once you click on Stipple

Fill, you’ll access a variety of stippling options ranging from stripe, scallop, wave to chevron, zigzag and metal plate. Of course, there are a bunch of other tools that you can use to achieve even more customized settings with this program. So, once again, this is a feature you’ll only find in the Cameo 3 – other Cameos don’t have it.

Keeping up with the excellent track record associated with its elder siblings, the Cameo 3 comes with a print and cut feature. This feature makes it pretty easy to capture and send videos through the Studio software. Worth noting, however, is that the image will be printed with tiny registration marks near its extreme corners.

Once the material is printed, it’s transferred into the Cameo from where the machine automatically decodes the registration marks and determines the right way to cut out the image. This, therefore, makes a process that would otherwise be so involving to be quite easy and effortless.

In order to use this handy feature, you will require having a copy of the latest Silhouette Studio software (usually, V3 and upwards). The PixScan functionality can be easily accessed from the upper toolbar and also you can select the cutting mats using a drop-down menu on the “Page Settings” section to your right.

Finally, click on the PixScan menu at the top right section of your window, select import file, complete a few self-explanatory steps and voila, the image will replace the PixScan image on your screen. At that point, you’ll be ready to trace and cut the image as you’d like.

The Silhouette CAMEO 3 is a vinyl cutter that plugs into your PC or Mac with a simple USB cable and uses a small blade to cut over 100 materials, including paper, cardstock, vinyl, and fabric up to 12 inches wide and 10 feet long. When you replace the blade with a pen, the CAMEO can also sketch and ink stipple.

Tech Data Model MM-CAH16W (16 inch Basic version cutting plotter) Acceptable media width 500mm Max cutting width 410mm 16 inch Camera Support Contour cutting function Fast ,automatically and high precision contour cut by using camera. Operation 4.3" TFT LCD Large touch screen Interface HD large screen full-color APP information function display Connector Real USB, U Disk Contour cutting &calibration Easy use and high precision calibrate Mainboard 32bit ARM cortex M4 MCU,8M memory. Support remote and one key update.

I like to use FedEx sheets (they"re free) for print and cut labels; however the margins include their logo. I have been somewhat successful with covering their print with white out tape. It doesn"t work all the time. I"ve tried to cut the print off so the Cameo wouldn"t be confused, but that didn"t work either. Any suggestions?

I have what looks like a down-rev model without buttons and a small LCD rather than the touch LCD on the latest model of Cameo. (I purchased mine about 4 months ago or so)

I"ve calibrated both the printer and the Silhouette Cameo and printed both from the design software I"m using (Visio) and the Silhouette Studio SW. Registration a little more reliable printing the image from Silhouette but still requires many retries.

This is just the info I needed! I am trying to print and cut wedding invitations on shimmer paper. The sharpie trick did not work for me, but shining a flashlight on the registration marks as the Cameo was reading them did the trick! Thank you!

registration marks are printed in the right direction, paper is plain white cardstock, lighting is excellent with a light directly above the cameo, mat is loaded correctly. Still no go! The machine doesn"t even look for the marks. Now what???

I am having an issue where I load my paper (sticker paper) on the mat into the cameo. When I hit send to silhouette, the machine moves just a fraction of an inch and it stops and registrations fails. I haven"t been able to cut in a couple days, and I can"t figure out the problem. Do you have ideas? I have taken the paper off and repositioned it. Restarted both the computer and silhouette. I even put the paper on the other end of the cutting mat and feed it in correctly so the registration mark were the same as the computer screen.

I had the same problem and I fixed it by putting a bright light on both the front and back of the cameo - the mat fed in and BINGO it registered immediately. My cameo (in the back) had a wall behind it and apparently the shadow made it impossible for the registration marks to be seen. I read the tip above and gave it a shot and it worked. :)

I went to the local quilt shop and worked for about 2 hours with the teacher there. We could get her cameo to acknowledge the registration marks and do the cutting but not mine. We could get neither to acknowledge the registration marks that were printed on a sheet of designs. We have the American Quilter"s Society Quilt week here in Chattanooga next week. A lady will be there that does big retreats in Atlanta on the Silhouette. So we are going to ask her how to get this fixed. I will post what I find out.

I tried all of your suggestions with no success. I had printed multiple images on a 130# vellum paper and then sprayed them with a Workable Fix. The spray made the surface of the vellum somewhat shiny causing the the machine not to be able to read the registration marks. I finally solved the problem by printing just the registration marks on a blank paper and then cutting them off the plain paper and lightly gluing them down on top of the registration marks that were already printed on the vellum. This worked very well and I was able to reuse them on the rest of the cutting job. At first I tried using a Sharpie on removable address labels to duplicate the registration marks but the machine didn"t see those either. The label may not have been large enough.

hey there! great to find a new silhouette blog! i"ve tried it all, and had some success, but now it"s not working. keep getting failed registration. anyway, do you know how to manually detect the registration marks? do i line the blade up with the first one (square), or ? seems lame that there is no information on how to do this anywhere in the manual! thanks so much for such a great blog!

Thank you! I just received my Silhouette Portrait today and was so excited to use it... then very discouraged by all the trouble I was having. Thanks to you I figured out that my mat was not lined up properly. You are the best!

My Silhouette cut great by the registration marks once but when I tried to do multiple copies of the same cut, it read the marks incorrectly and ruined four other prints. I"d be better off cutting that simple shape with scissors! Why would it do it right one time only and then mess up?

I am making about 50 books for Church and I needed to print n cut 7 circles per book (white paper, black print) with scripture. Not too many issues in the first 25. But today, now I was almost pulling my hair out. I darkened the marks with a black marker; I put my Ott light next to my Cameo so it could "see" better. No use. I turned the mat around; I turned everything off and started over. It would detect, maybe every 10th or 12th time and no telling why then. Finally, I got out a new mat!!! I can not believe it! It has not failed ONCE since the new mat. Must be all the scratches on the old one, along the edges. Don"t know if it will work for you but I am finished! Yea!!!

For some reason after I print my page I get a double tool bar at the top of my silhouette screen. The registration fails every time. If I print, "save", turn the machine off, back on, reload the Saved page the registration works every time.

Bless you for this! I held a flashlight above the cameo and it worked like a charm! Thank you, thank you! (But hold it above it, I first held it to the side, trying to get as much light in there as possible, but it must"ve cast a shadow because it cut my circles oblong! Haha)

I HAVE TRIED EVERYTHING YOU AND 40 OTHERS HAVE SUGGESTED. I"ve had this "thing" for 2 weeks and I"ve worked for hours at a time and done every hack or trick that has been suggested and I cannot get anything but Registration Failed. I"ve written to support and they give me a tutorial for Curio not Portrait. I"ve used youTube and I"ve tried the flashlight trick but WHY should I have to use a trick? This should just work!!! I paid enough for it. In 1 more day I"m tossing it in the trash.... OR at least sending it back to you. I"ve even sent screen shots of the issues and I haven"t cut anything except with a cheap pair of scissors. Any suggestions????? HELP...

Hi, I can see my registration marks on my screen but they aren"t printing on the paper when I send it to the printer to do a print & cut ! It used to work, so I"m not sure what I changed to make the lines & square so light ? any help would be appreciated. Have a good day

I have been cutting out planner stickers using Connect and I have had an issue with it not following the lines. It will cut great one time and the next time it will go "up hill" or "down hill" and not be anywhere close to the cut lines. I have tried everything and ruined lots of paper. I have contacted Silhouette and they say they can not see an issue with their hardware or software, but clearly something is not right if it will cut once just fine and then mess up. Has anyone had this issue using Silhouette connect and it not cutting anywhere close to the cut lines?

Hello, I have the Silhouette Cameo 3 and I am getting the registration mark error when trying to cut smooth heat transfer vinyl. I have only had this machine for a couple weeks, but have not had any issues cutting regular vinyl. Any ideas as to why I would get this error for the heat transfer vinyl? Thank you

Silhouette Studio is great. It does a lot so you only have to do a little. But, there is a lot going on behind the scenes. If things get "wonky", it may not be apparent and you will be fighting a problem you can"t see. This is why a "completely clean" restart of EVERYTHING is so important. Making software "robust" is not easy. Over time, I"m sure the guys at Silhouette will make things better and better.

I am in desperate need of trying to figure out why my Cameo 4 Pro will not do the print and cut. I have changed the quality of ink to best so it"s extra dark. I have put extra paper on the mat to make sure it"s not seeing thru to the grid lines on the mat. I have shined a flash light on it, as well as extra lamps. I have tried the manual suggestion. NOTHING IS WORKING. The ONE time it did work was when I moved my paper down about 1/8 of an inch on the mat, but then it started cutting above the design.. I have calibrated and recalibrated. ANY SUGGESTIONS OR RECOMENDATIONS are appreciated.

Created by different brands, Scan and Cut and Cameo are dedicated to artisans, amateurs, and small business owners who want to make a profit out of their craftsmanship.

If you’re on the fence when it comes to these two cutting machines, we’re here to set the record straight and help you decide which one is better for you: Brother Scan and Cutor Silhouette Cameo.

Scan and Cut includes some awesome features that you won’t find in other similar products, including an LCD touchscreen display that provides on-screen editing, predefined designs so that you can print and cut without having to use software, as well as use self-calibration mode to accurately adjust blade settings.

Silhouette Cameo is an incredibly powerful machine that can cut through more than 100 materials. It comes with Silhouette Studio, the exclusive design software app made by all Silhouette cutting machines.

Cameo supports multiple tools and a system that automatically identifies which tool you’re using and tweaks software settings accordingly to leave no room for human error.

There are many technical aspects behind Brother Scan and Cut and Silhouette Cameo, which we are taking into account when comparing the two cutting machines. Here they are:

Keep in mind that there are multiple models available for these two cutting machines. For the purpose of this article, we took into account Silhouette Cameo 4 and Brother Scan and Cut 2 CM650W since they are currently the most powerful machines from the Silhouette and Brother families.

Cameo is much larger than Scan and Cut, but the difference isn’t that significant when it comes to the weight – only 1.73 lbs (800 g). However, this means that you will need a larger workspace dedicated to Cameo, without including the space necessary to perform cuts, store accessories, or use the software.

Neither machine is portable, though, so it would be slightly awkward to pack up the machine and carry it in a bag whenever you’re on the move, whether you proceed with the Brother cutting machine or Silhouette Cameo.

When it comes to the maximum cutting length, Cameo surpasses Scan and Cut in both cases: with and without a mat. While Brother Scan and Cut is limited to a length of 11.76 in (30 cm) with a mat and 23.76 in (60 cm) without a mat, Cameo goes further to 24 in (61 cm) with a mat and 10 ft (3 m) without a mat.

Both Brother Scan and Cut 2 and Silhouette Cameo are equipped with cutting and drawing abilities. However, only Cameo comes equipped with a Dual-Carriage to perform both jobs at the same time. So, if you were to go with Scan and Cut 2, you would have to set up a multi-step operation that involves manually installing the blade, waiting until the cutting is done, then replacing the blade with a pen and waiting until it finishes writing or drawing the design.

Brother Scan and Cut has a maximum cutting force of 0.77 lbs (350 g), which is more than enough to cut softer materials that are up to 0.08 in (2 mm) thick. On the other hand, Silhouette Cameo is one of the most powerful cutting machines in the market, with a downward force of 11 lbs (5 kg), making it capable of gliding and rolling through materials that are up to 0.12 in (3 mm) thick.

What does this mean for you? If you have a niche business that’s focused on softer materials, like paper, vinyl, and everything in between, you will have no problems by choosing Brother Scan and Cut. However, if you ever want to expand your business and explore thicker materials like foam or wood paper sheets, you must choose Silhouette Cameo.

Speaking of materials, Brother Scan and Cut isn’t that versatile since it supports fewer than 20 materials, such as paper (printer, scrapbook, cardstock, vellum, tracing, poster board), fabric (thin cotton, flannel, felt), and magnetic sticker or seal. But Silhouette Cameo is compatible with more than 100 materials, such as glass-etching cream heat transfer (glitter, metallic, reflective, etc.), vinyl (glossy, matte, whiteboard, printable, etc.), wood paper sheets, cork, and cotton canvas or fabric.

Additionally, Silhouette Cameo has a Crosscutter, which makes it possible to cut vinyl or heat transfer without a mat, as well as to cut finished products so that you don’t have to do it manually by using a pair of scissors.

When it comes to Brother Scan and Cut, you can use the LCD touchscreen display and its on-screen editing features in order to rotate, resize, combine and use more image manipulation options.

It has a high resolution of 600 DPI, scans designs up to 11.7 in (30 cm) wide, and supports both monochrome and colored photos. You can also adjust the number of colors. Unfortunately, it seems that Brother has trouble scanning preserving the sharp colors of images scanned with low contrast.

Silhouette Cameo uses PixScan technology and edge detection to replicate images that you scan or photograph using your smartphone. The designs must be placed on a special PixScan cutting mat.

Silhouette Cameo also has an exclusive design application, which is called Silhouette Studio, and is used by all Silhouette cutting machines. It works with Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS (you can find it as Silhouette Go on the Play Store and App Store).

However, when purchasing Cameo, you will also receive 100 exclusive designs available for download, along with a 30-day free trial to the Silhouette Design Store, where you can explore, download and use even more templates.

There is one key aspect when Brother Scan and Cut overcomes Silhouette Cameo. It comes with more than 1100 built-in designs, 140 quilt patterns, and 15 fonts that you can use in your projects without having to resort to a computer and software application. It’s because it has an internal memory module, which can also remember your designs in case you want to reuse them later.

Thanks to the LCD touchscreen display with on-screen editing options, you can make simple tweaks to the templates before starting the cutting operation. On top of that, Scan and Cut lets you upload designs from a USB flash drive.

You shouldn’t have any problems connecting your computer to the cutting machine since both Brother Scan and Cut and Silhouette Cameo support USB and wireless connectivity. The only difference is that you need to join the same Wi-Fi network on your computer and Brother machine, while Cameo supports Bluetooth connectivity. The type of wireless connection doesn’t actually matter since you still need to be in the range of the cutting machine – you can’t run jobs remotely.

Both cutting machines come in various sizes, models, and prices. The most significant difference is when it comes to the maintenance costs, however. If you want to buy extra blades, mats, and accessories later, you will find them at affordable prices for Silhouette Cameo. However, the accessory prices are outrageous for Brother Scan and Cut.

Plus, you can explore predefined designs on the LCD touchscreen display without having to resort to a computer and a piece of software. There are more than 1100 built-in designs, 140 quilt patterns, and 15 fonts put at your disposal. On-screen editing options are available, too, so that you can rotate, resize or weld images together.

Brother Scan and Cut isn’t that versatile when it comes to the type of materials it can cut (fewer than 20), which is limited by the 0.12 in (3 mm) material clearance. So, if you ever plan on expanding your niche business, you might have to upgrade to a more powerful cutting machine.

On top of that, the LCD touchscreen display doesn’t have a great response time, whether you’re using your finger or the stylus to perform a simple command like clicking a button or opening a menu.

Silhouette Cameo is one of the most powerful cutting machines in the industry, thanks to the 11 lbs (5 kg) cutting force and 0.12 in (3 mm) material clearance. And its speed has been greatly improved since Cameo 3.

Thanks to a Dual-Carriage system, Cameo can cut materials and draw or write on them at the same time, greatly improving your business’ production time. It surpasses Brother Scan and Cut when it comes to the material’s cutting area – up to 10 ft (3 m) long without a cutting mat.

Silhouette Studio is really easy to use and comes with 100 exclusive designs that you can download from the Internet and use in your projects. It works not only with Windows and Mac but also with Android and iOS. There’s also a 30-day free trial to Silhouette Design Store included in the purchase.

Silhouette Cameo is quite large, so it can be tricky to find room for it. Unlike Brother Scan and Cut, it’s not built to perform tasks without its dedicated software. Subsequently, you can’t use its USB slot to directly upload images from a USB pen drive.

The machine is pretty loud, like all Silhouette cutting machines. You won’t be able to use it while others are sleeping or resting in your home, so you have to come up with a fixed schedule or invest in an office space if you want to make your crafting business truly profitable.

After weighing the advantages and disadvantages of each cutting machine, we can confidently say that Silhouette Cameo is better than Brother Scan and Cut 2. Here’s why:

Comes equipped with an intuitive design software solution (Silhouette Studio) that helps you quickly create and upload designs for printing and cutting

At the moment, the best vinyl cutter in the market is Cricut Maker 3. It’s followed by Silhouette Cameo 4, Cricut Explore Air 2, USCutter 28-Inch Titan 3, Brother Scan and Cut, Silhouette Portrait 3, and Cricut Joy.

Although Brother Scan and Cut has some unique features, like cutting designs straight from a USB flash drive and without using a software application, we think that Cricut Maker 3 is better. It supports a wide range of tools, can cut through over 300 materials, and its accessories are really affordable.

Yes, you can connect an iPad to Silhouette Cameo 4 as well as download, install and use Silhouette Go from the App Store to create, prepare and send designs for cutting.

The bottom line is that Silhouette Cameo is better than Brother Scan and Cut in almost all aspects. Its cutting force is unmatched, even better than Cricut Maker 3. You can use it to cut over 100 materials, including thick ones like foam or balsa wood.

Cameo tweaks blade settings almost completely automatic and can cut designs that have been already processed. You can also use it to scan images, cut and draw simultaneously, and create matless cuts up to 10 ft (3 m) long.

Furthermore, Silhouette Studio is super intuitive and doesn’t require any kind of graphic editing experience. Finally, Cameo is significantly cheaper than Scan and Cut when taking into account the cost of maintenance (tools, mats, materials, etc.).

Whether you decide to purchase Silhouette Cameo or Brother Scan and Cut, make sure to return to this page after taking the machine for a spin and leave us your feedback in the comment section below.

Everyone knows Cricut is synonymous with crafting so let"s see what it has to offer and how it will stack up against the Silhouette Cameo 4 and the Brother ScanNCut.

We’ve compiled this ultimate guide to getting started with Silhouette Cameo that will take you right through from setup all the way to some complex print and cut functions!

Unless you’ve bought a bomb diggity bundle deal (check those out here), here’s what you can expect to find in the box:Silhouette Cameo 3 cutting machine

Now head on over to the Silhouette site where you should see a turquoise rectangle in the top right hand corner of the screen saying ‘update software’.

If you’re on Mac, you’ll be directed to drag and drop the Silhouette Studio icon into your applications folder while Windows users will need to follow the on-screen prompts to install the software.

Once everything is installed, you’ll be able to activate the Cameo 3’s Bluetooth capability, which will allow you to connect the cutter and your computer together wirelessly.

In the upper left corner of the LCD screen on your Cameo, there should be the Bluetooth symbol. This shows that Bluetooth is connected and working. If not, you will need to turn Bluetooth on by touching the settings menu (the gear icon) on the screen and activating it.

From there, open up the Silhouette Studio software again and, along the tabs at the top of the page, click on Silhouette, and scroll down to ‘Add Bluetooth Machine’.

Select your Silhouette Cameo 3 from the list of Bluetooth devices that appears and the machine and your computer will start to sync together. It’s finished once the screen shows ‘Ready’.

Next, find your Cameo 3 in the list of Bluetooth devices that appear and click ‘Pair’. It should take a few seconds before it shows that your devices are now connected.

If you want to change the page dimensions for whatever reason, you can adjust these via the Page Settings ribbon, which is running down the right hand side of the screen. This will be useful when you want to create longer designs or use an extended cutting mat, for instance.

You can also add text to your designs within Silhouette Studio, and use the software to change the font, size, weight, spacing, justification and position of the text.

Before you send your design to Silhouette, it’s a good idea to adjust your cut settings so you can be sure of the most accurate and high quality cutting.

This will bring up the Cut Settings menu on the right hand side of the screen (replacing the Design Page Settings that you can see in the screenshot above).

You can also select what tools you want to use from this menu, which will come in handy when you decide to use the Cameo 3’s dual carriage function (don’t worry — we’ll cover this in a bit).

Once you’ve selected your settings and are happy to go ahead with the cut, click on the Send to Silhouette button either at the bottom or in the top right hand corner of the page.

Once the document is printed, load it onto your cutting mat, being careful to align it correctly, and feed the mat into the machine when pressing ‘Load Cut Mat’ on the LCD screen.

The Cameo 3 should automatically detect your registration marks at this point, but if it doesn’t you can click ‘Retry Manually’ in Silhouette Studio after clicking ‘Send to Silhouette’.

That’s right: it’s not quite so simple as pressing a few buttons within the software — you need to make sure that the Silhouette is as ready to start cutting as you are.

Your Silhouette Studio software will be able to direct you how to position the material correctly according to the dimensions of your design and how to minimize material wastage.

You’ll then need to turn your Cameo on and feed the cutting mat and material into the machine. Lift the lid of the Cameo and align the left edge of the mat against the alignment mark on the left side of the machine, pressing the mat into the rollers and pressing the ‘Load Cut Mat’ button.

The AutoBlade is the main blade to use here and, like its name suggests, it adjusts its speed and thickness automatically according to what media type you select within the Silhouette Studio software.

One of the major selling points of the Cameo 3 is the fact that it sports a dual carriage which can hold two tools at once, allowing you to draw and cut, draw and score, or score and cut simultaneously.

Like we were saying earlier, you can decide which tools are to be used for what part of your design in the Cut Settings menu within Silhouette Studio.

So under the ‘File’ tab at the top of the page, select the ‘Library’ from the drop down menu, which will take you to a new screen that looks like this:

Thanks to the Silhouette Cloud, all your designs will be available regardless of what device you’re using provided that they’re all connected and synced together.