I just got my new Cricut Cake and love love love it! I want to do more with it than what the cartridges allow. Is there any way to cut images without buying tons of cartridges or using SCAL/MTC? Can I use a free file I find online without these programs? If this has been asked before I am sorry! Thank you for any and all responses.

I have SCAL. Both allow you to take images from your computer and trace them into your current project, then cut it out with your Cricut. Look for clear, black & white line drawings or SVG files for best results.

[quote="cakedivamommy"]I Is there any way to cut images without buying tons of cartridges or using SCAL/MTC? quote]

Nope they got us (consumers) where there want us.... You have to buy and use one of the above to use the cricut.

oh sry, i totally misread your question.

i'm patiently waiting for other people to reverse engineer the cricut. there are a few people who like fiddling with that kind of hardware, but so far i haven't seen anyone post any progress with "hacking" it. there's some free software that knows how to control CNC machines via USB but i'm not sure if it can successfully "talk" to the cricut.

hope i redeemed myself :b

There is no free software - it's either the cartridges or SCAL/MTC. However you can download either or both of these programs for a free trial. If you try to cut with the free SCAL - it cuts stripes thru your cutout so it is not usable - however it gives you the opportunity to play with it, see how it works, see how it cuts with Cricut and see if it meets your needs before you pay $75 to activate it.

Inkscape is a free program to help you draw and create images - but you will still need SCAL or MTC to actually cut anything that you design in Inkscape. I find Inkscape fairly complicated - I have had better luck downloading images from the web, cleaning them up in Paint (which is part of Microsoft Windows & already on your computer) - then importing them into SCAL to cut.

I just got SCAL today, vs 2. I was able to open a clipart directly into SCAL and it created the cut file directly. On a couple of pix, I did take them into Adobe Photoshop to black out some areas, etc. Paint should work for this also. I did download Inkscape, but am not sure I even need it.

it's worth downloading the demo of DesignStudio. It will allow you to manipulate the images on your current cartridge for free without marring the end result cut.

If you happen to know a programmer who will write you your own program and they'll do it for free -