I get lots of questions about how to get the grunge or distressed look in Silhouette Studio and I think I finally have a good solution for you! Download my new free distress kit file here and watch the video below to learn how to use it to easily add a fully adjustable level of distress to your cut files. For those of you who like written instructions, here are the general steps.
-Open the distresskit.studio file. -File>Merge to add your image to the distress kit document. (Instructions assume a black image.)
-Size your image to the desired size.
-Place either of the distress overlays (bounded in pink) on top (right click and Bring to Front or, if using V3DE, open the layers panel and drag your image layer to the top of the list) of your image and size to fit. Note: The overlay on the bottom is lower density and seamless.
-Adjust the scale, angle and position of the overlay using the Pattern Fill>Advanced settings. Multiple overlays can be overlapped for different effects.
-When your image looks satisfactory, click the Trace button and select Trace Area, being careful to avoid the overlay’s pink boundary.
-Uncheck the High Pass box and click Trace.
-Separate pieces and copy your newly distressed shape to a new document for cutting.
I can’t get it to open 🙁
download, unzip/extract if necessary. open silh studio and then open the file from there
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!! I really appreciate the distressed kit and I cannot wait to learn more from you!!!
Bless you!
This is amazing! I’ve used mine over and over on different projects! I do want to remind everyone, as you did in your video…even if it looks awesome, remember you have to weed!!! Even a little distress will save lots of time and still look great!! Thank you for providing such a great option for the distress look!
When I downloaded the file it open in my Cameo but when I put my image on the pink box nothing happens. I have tried bring to the front as well.
Make sure you follow the instructions exactly. If you have an older version of Designer Edition you may have to rearrange the layers to be sure that your image is really at the back.
Is there anyway to convert the distress pattern to svg ? I tried the Ideas R Us convert but the pattern does not convert to svg – just the rectangles and your blue text, which is not distressed ?
Thanks,
Cathy
Follow the instructions to distress your image, then you can convert that to SVG. This technique intentionally does not use a vector distress texture so that it works faster and does not crash Silh Studio.
OK – thanks – I only have the free version of SIL which does not have the pattern icon so I cannot create it in SIL – so I am assuming I cannot use this file because of that and the software I have is SCAL is why I needed an svg.
Thanks for the help,
Cathy
This works with the free version of Silh Studio and only with Silh Studio as it is an automatic generator, not just a texture.
How do you convert to a svg?
The file itself can not be converted to an SVG in a way that still works. However you could use the file to distress your image, then copy that to a new file and convert that to an SVG with an online converter.
This is great….thank you!! I can’t wait to start using it and see my results!!
I have used your download before and it worked beautifully. I lost all my files during a silhouette upgrade. Now when I try to use the distress kit it will not work. I re-downloaded it and cannot make it into a cut file.
Be sure to open it directly instead of trying to put it into your library and follow the video instructions. I just rechecked it last week and its working correctly.
OK thanks – I could not find a pattern generator icon you showed in video will do some more research. Thanks again,
In Version 4 it is under the Palette icon on the right hand toolbar.
ooooo just what I am looking for thank you so much.
This is GREAT. Thank you!
when ever i trace my picture after distressing it. No object is there when i separate the pieces. What am i doing wrong?
Is your original image black? If not you may need to adjust threshold to get a trace.
I was wondering how I would go about deleting the pink box around the distress area. I have a design that I would like to distress a little more in just one area on the edge of the design. When I trace, it traces the pink line also. Hope this makes sense. Thank you! Love the distress kit.
Sure, just change the line color of the pink box to none.
Do I have to download every time? How do you save it to silhouette software to pull up again? Thanks!
no, you can re-open it from your hard drive again any time after you download it.
cannot get this to open!! any idea’s if I go back into files try to unzip it just takes me to another page to open!!
The file is not zipped, so if you are unzipping something then you have the wrong file. From Silhouette Studio, select Open from the File menu and navigate to where you saved the file, usually the Downloads folder to select the file named distresskit.studio
Thank you so MUCH! I so much appreciate this info and video!
Wow thank you so much for the time it took you to create this file, upload a how to and lovingly give it to us! Have a great day
Thank you so much! I used the distress kit on a Mardi Gras t-shirt for a friend & she really liked it!
I have used your destress kit in the past and have loved it. But today I wanted to change the color from white to brown and first couldn’t get it to work but I watched you video then bingo I figured it out.
I used the trace feature, then released the compound path, removed the outer cut lines. Then I was able to change all of the little dots and marks to color of choice. I mostly make cards so I will need to turn off cut lines and do a print and cut.
I just love the Silhouette because you have some many options when designing (maybe too many).
Thank you for the work you do to inspire our own creativity.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS IS THERE A WAY TO TAKE A SVG I HAVE CREATED THAT IS FOR DISTRESSED AND MAKE IT INTO THE FILE LIKE YOU DID SO IT DOESNT CRASH MY SIL STUDIO ANYMORE I JUST LIKE TO HAVE MORE DISTRESSED PATTERNS
You can try the Simplify command.
Change the distress bits to white in color, and save as transparent PNG.
I keep trying to download the file-and it only gets to 99% and stops. Any ideas I love this kit!!
Hi Keesha. Sorry you are having a problem with the download. I just verified that the download is working correctly, so you might want to try a different browser.