The Brother Scan and Cut SDX125E is an AMAZING machine. Unfortunately, it's not very intuitive, and the instructions suck. So after several hours of trial and error, we figured it out. Here's a step-by-step tutorial on how you can scan virtually any image on Earth, crop it, resize it, and then cut it out on vinyl to place it on a cup, window, t-shirt, wall, or anywhere you can imagine. Enjoy!
Find an image you want to cut on vinyl, print it and then scan it:
Print image on white cardstock on laser printer
Used black sharpie to fill in any spots that didn’t come through completely
Place cardstock on mat (I used a Brother standard mat which worked but there is a Brother scanning mat which I plan to purchase and do a comparison)
Place mat on the Brother Scan and Cut machine between the guides
Press load button
From home screen, select scan
Scroll right and select Transfer to CanvasWorkspace
Select start
Scan starts
When scan is done, touchscreen says “finished transferring.” Press ok.
Press unload button to unload mat
Edit scanned image and add text
Open CanvasWorkspace on your computer
Select File --> "Import from Cutting Machine" --> Scanned Image
The image appears in workspace
From the left tools menu, select “Image Tracing”
From the pop-up, select “An Image Scanned by Your Machine”
From the Image Tracing screen, use the blue boxes to drag around the parts of the image you want to use
Uncheck “Paste the Image on the Drawing Area”
From Tracing Options, select “Trace Outer Edge Only”
Select Preview
Select Ok
Back in the workspace, move the scanned image to the reveal the traced image
From the right tools menu, select Layers
Turn off the scanned image by clicking on the eyeball
Click and drag to select all pieces and in the Layers menu, right click on one of the selected layers and select Group
Add some text by selecting the text tool from the left tools menu
Click in the workspace area and type the text you want
A new menu appears at the top as along as the text is selected.
Change the color, font, weight, etc. if you want
Position the words under your image and size down using the blue boxes
Select both the image and the words by clicking and dragging
From the right tools menu, select Edit
From the Edit menu, align the objects center
With both the words and image still selected, go to Layers, right click on one of the selected layers and select Group
Turn the ruler on by selecting the Display menu at the top, select Show Ruler
Size image using blue boxes.
To cut the image on vinyl, select File --> Export Transfer FCM File. A message appears letting you know that hidden objects won’t be exported. Select Ok.
From the Export/Transfer FCM File, select “Transfer FCM File via the Internet”
A message appears say “The registered machine is ready to download the transferred file from the internet." Select Ok.
Time to cut your image on vinyl:
Back on the Brother Scan and Cut machine, select the Home button to get back to the main screen then select “Retrieve Data” from the touchscreen
Select computer with wifi
Drag the image to the upper right corner
Select Ok
Select “Please Select”
Select Cut
Select the wrench
Scroll down to make sure Half Cut is on which is needed when cutting vinyl
Click Ok
Add vinyl to cutting mat
Load mat into machine using the load button
Select Start
Display shows time to complete cutting
When cutting is complete, select Ok then select the unload button
Weed image then use transfer tape and apply image where wanted
Easy peasy!