- In today's episode, I am showing you a highly,
highly requested video. I am showing you what I personally believe is the easiest way of
turning a single layer image into a multiple layered image. Or otherwise known as
turning a PNG or JPEG file, into an SVG file. So let's, (claps) get crafty. (upbeat instrumental music) Hey, I'm Michael. And this is Mr. Crafty Pants. Your Cricut and crafting channel, where I post Cricut tips, tricks, and tutorials every single week. So if you are new around here, and you're willing to learn or even master your
Cricut cutting machine, well, first off you might wanna consider stamping that subscribe button and then ringing that bell
for all the notifications, because it is absolutely free to do. And you do not want to miss
a single Cricut minute. Now y'all, I am so
excited for today's video because it is a highly,
highly requested one. I am gonna be showing you how to turn a single layer image
into a multiple layer image or otherwise known as turning
a PNG file into an SVG file. Now, there are obviously
more advanced ways in going about doing all of this. And if you'd like to see
a video on all of that using Illustrator or even Inkscape, I'd be more than happy to
create one for you all. Just let me know down in
the comments section below. But as far as this video today, you don't really need a whole, whole lot. You need something to
create your design with like a laptop or a desktop. You would also need a
Cricut cutting machine. Now, obviously I'm using my Cricut maker, but you can also use a Cricut Joy or a Cricut Explore Air as well. And then to some material to layer. Now I will be using vinyl. So obviously I'm gonna go to my go-to, which is the StarCraft HD. HD staining for hide your ability. This is a permanent adhesive vinyl, as you can see right here. And this stuff is amazing,
it is my definite go-to. I love a lot of different types
of permanent adhesive vinyl, but the StarCraft HD is amazing. All of the colors come in both
glossy and matte finishes. It has a five to six year
life span when outdoors. It cuts like butter. It weeds like magic. It's just all around amazing. Not to mention it's super,
super affordable as well. I'm talking like $2 and 85
cents for a five foot roll, which is just mind-blowingly good. And since I am using
permanent adhesive vinyl, I will also be using this
transfer tape right here. This is a medium tech transfer tape. I have tried a bunch of
different types of transfer tape. I've used the Dollar Tree kind. I've used the kind from Dollar General. I've used Duck Brand contact
paper or shelf liner. I've used everything. My top two is the masking
tape transport tape and this stuff right here. The reason I love this stuff so much is 'cause it is transparent and you can see what you are layering through the transfer tape. It's just all around amazing. I'm gonna be doing the
parchment paper layering hack. If you have not yet seen that video, it is an absolute game changer. It will totally change the way that you go about layering vinyl. It is absolutely amazing
all the way around. I will link that for you
at the end of this video, right up here, as well as down in that description box below, because trust me, it is a must see. I will also be using
a pin pen weeding tool because honestly, at this point
I'm addicted to this thing and I can't imagine weeding without it. It's a game changer all
the way around as well. And of course, I'll also be using the
Cricut cutting mat, scissors, things like that as well. Just to make it a whole
lot easier for you all. I will link everything for you all down in that description box below. And I'll also go through
and find some promo codes or coupon codes that you all
can use down there as well. But for starters, I'm just
gonna grab my laptop right here and we're gonna pull up Google. (chuckles) Okay, so the first thing
that I'm going to want to do is actually find an image to use. So let's put in here Mickey. Because why not? (chuckles) And I'm gonna come over
here and select images. Now, the browser that
I am using is Chrome. So if you're not using
Chrome as your browser, this may look a little
bit different to you, but all browsers should
have the same functionality. But what I'm gonna do right now is come over here to tools, and I'm gonna come over
here and select a size and I wanna select large. And the reason for that
is 'cause you do not want any very small image, that's gonna be pixelated and that's just not going
to transfer over very well. So now what I wanna do is come
over here and select color, and then come down here
and select transparent. 'Cause this is gonna work
out a whole, whole lot better if we have something with
a transparent background. Now, the type of image that I'm wanting to try to find is going to be something that doesn't have a whole lot of shading, something that doesn't
look very 3D at all. You want something
that's very, very simple in the way it's drawn. And so just for example, something like this image right here. This will work out good. This image right here of Mickey would work out great as well. Something like this however, if you'll take a look at all the shading, all the gradient in that, something like that could just turn into a nightmare really, really fast when it comes to turning
that into multiple layers and then try and go through and actually layer your vinyl that way. So something like this
as a whole lot better. So what I'm actually
gonna do is select this. I'm gonna right click that and then come down here
and select save image as. And let's just save that as Mickey. All right, so now what I want to do is actually open up a new
tab and then come over here to pngtosvg.com. I will have that link for you down in the description box below
as well, in case you need it. And what I'm gonna do is
just scroll down here, just a hair. And this is what I'm
looking for right here, where it says drag and drop a file, or you could select choose a
file and upload it that way. But since I'm using Chrome
and my download file is right down here at
the bottom of the screen, I can just click that and then drag that right over top of that. And then there is our image. Now what I wanna do is I should go through here and actually
count the number of colors, because that is what I'm gonna change the number of colors right here too. So let's see, we have black,
we had this cream, tan color. We have white, we have red, we have this gold on his shoes. And yeah, I think that's
it. So five total. And so that's already selected to five, so that's good already. Now let's come over here and take a look at the palette, okay? So for this palette, let's
see we had this cream color. Now, if I wanna make sure that it has the right color of cream, I'm gonna select it
and then come down here and use this little dropper
tool to select the exact color. And yeah, looks like that is
the exact color that's needed. So it has the cream
color, it has the gold, it has the red, it has the black, but it's missing the white. Instead of white, it has
this weird gray color. So I'm gonna select that and then come down here
and select the white. Just like that. So just to make sure that our
palette is set up correctly, that way it's gonna turn
this one layer image into a multiple layer image
with all the correct colors. And now what I'm gonna do
is just select generate. And this may take a minute or two, it really just depends a whole lot on how fast your internet speed is. But here is our image right here, and I'm just gonna select download SVG. And then right down here at
the bottom left-hand corner of the screen, since I am using Chrome, here is our downloaded image. So now what I want to do
is actually come over here to Cricut Design Space. And come over here to the left-hand side of the screen and select upload. And then I wanna select upload image. And then I'm gonna I select browse. And here is our image right here. So this is the original
image that we saved, this is the PNG file. But then this right here is our SVG files. So this is the one that
we're going to want to open. So I'm gonna select that and then come down here and select open. And there's our Mickey Mouse right there. So I'm gonna change the
name of this to Mickey. And then come down here towards
the bottom right-hand corner and select to save. And then there's Mickey right here in the recently uploaded images. So I'm gonna select him
and then come down here towards the bottom right-hand corner and select insert images. And there we go. So there is Mickey right there. Now, just to let you know that using a service like
pngtosvg.com or convertio.co websites like that, that actually turn a one layer image into a multiple layer image like this. Usually isn't 100% accurate. There's usually a little
default or flaws here and there. So we're gonna go through here and see if this image has any of those. And then we can just work on
adjusting that accordingly. So what I'm gonna do is
actually come over here to the right-hand side of the page where the layers panel is. And first off, let's just slot
this white layer right here, which is his gloves and his eyes. And then I wanna come down here towards the bottom right-hand
corner and select contour. All right, so again, remember, this is supposed to be
his gloves and his eyes. And you can already see there are these little dots here and here. Let's see if there's anything else, got this little random dots right here on the outside of his gloves as well. Over here... Yeah. So again, it's not perfect,
but that's all right. It's actually still the easiest way to go about this, in my own
personal opinion anyway. So what I want to do is
actually come over here and select hide all contours. And that's basically
removing everything, right? And so now I want to is
actually come back in here and select his eyes because
this is kind of turning that layer back on. Basically we're removing everything, but then going back in here and just putting it back in the spots, the parts that we want to keep. So this part right here stays selected. And I'm actually gonna wanna go ahead and select these little lines right here inside of his glove, to turn those on, just to make sure that that Cricut cuts those lines out of his glove. Here are his buttons. I assume those are buttons on his shorts. I'm gonna turn those back on because those are supposed
to be white as well. Just like this glove. And yeah, there we go. So it looks like everything
is looking all right. So just to make sure I'm
actually gonna come down here and zoom out a little bit. Yeah, so it looks like everything that we want to be selected is selected. So I'm gonna go ahead and click outside of this contour box. And now it's connected
here to the next layer, which is this black layer right here. So now for that, what I'm gonna do is come down here towards
the bottom right-hand corner and select contour again. And what I'm actually gonna do is select hide all contours. Now I can already tell that
this is not looking the best. So what I'm gonna do is actually come down here and zoom in. So yeah, take a look at this. So this line surrounding Mickey, it is not a clean, smooth line whatsoever. That's still okay. That's still all right. What we're gonna do to
get around that actually is actually removing
this layer altogether. So to do that, I'm gonna come over here to the right-hand side of that layer and select this little eye. And what that is actually gonna do is just completely hide that entire layer. If we went ahead and
selected make it right now, it would not cut out
that layer whatsoever. But we need something to come in here and replace that layer, right? And so to do that, what I'm gonna do is come back over here to upload. I wanna select upload image again. I wanna select browse. And this time I'm actually wanting to select this Mickey PNG, the original image that
we downloaded, right? So I'm gonna select that and then come down here and select open. I always just by default select complex. And now I'm gonna come down here towards the bottom right-hand
corner and select continue. Okay. So now we'll come down
here and such continue again. I'm gonna select save as a cut image. So this image right here. So this is just a cut preview of what that's gonna look like. So now I'm gonna come down here towards the bottom right-hand
corner and select save. And now here's our Mickey right here. So I'm gonna select that and then come down here towards
the bottom right-hand corner and select insert images. There we go. So now what I want to actually do is resize this Mickey Mouse to be the same size as
this Mickey right here. And to do that, what I'm going to do is just select this Mickey Mouse back here. And we can see that his width is 5.477. So what I'm gonna do is actually come over to this new Mickey Mouse
layer, this black one, and change that with 25.477, to be the exact same size
as the other Mickey Mouse. So to do that, I'm coming up here towards
the top of the canvas, right up here, where it says size, and we'll clear out these
numbers next to width, and then we'll type in there 5.477. Hit enter. And there is our Mickey. So I can go ahead and right click him and then select send to back. And he is going to be our base layer. So basically, he's gonna
serve the exact same purpose as what I would have done
with that other black layer. The one with all the weird squiggly lines, that's outlining Mickey mouse. So this will work out perfectly for him. So I'm actually gonna go ahead and just drag this out of
the way, separate the two. So I can see this a
little bit more clearly. And now what I'm going to do is actually move on to the next layer. And that layer is this
red layer right here. So now that I have selected that layer, I'm gonna come down here towards the bottom right-hand
corner and select contour. And yet again, I'm gonna
select, hide all contours. And as you can see, it's basically locked his
trousers or his shorts and hidden everything else. So what I'm gonna do is
actually click on his tongue because obviously we need his tongue. I'm gonna come down here
and zoom out just a hair, so I can see everything a
little bit more clearly. So this part of his
shorts, as you can see, it has that light gray appearance to it. So we obviously want that
to be part of the image. So I'm gonna select that, and it going to turn into darker gray. So that's letting us know that that's going to part of our image now. Everything that is lightly grayed out like this right over
here, that is all hidden. So that's not gonna be part
of our image any longer. All right, so now I'm going to zoom out just a little bit more just to
make sure I have everything. And yeah, it all looks good. So I'm gonna click off of this and let's move on to our next
layer, which is his shoes. Now, what I'm gonna do is come down here towards the bottom
right-hand corner again. Select contour. And as you can see, there are a lot of these
little dots and dashes, kind of cluttering up this image. So again, what I'm going
to do is come over here and select hide all contours. And whenever you do that, it has to leave at
least one thing showing. And in this case, it is part of his shoe. So what I'm gonna do is
just kind of go in here and unhide the rest of
his shoe, just like this. All right, so as you can see right here, this little slice in shoe
that is supposed to be black. Right now, it's light gray, meaning that the Cricut
is not gonna cut that out. However, we want it to cut out so we can see the black coming in from the base layer behind it. So I'm gonna select this. And just like that, we
should be pretty good. So I'm gonna click off this little box. And yeah, so far so good. So now all we need to do
is select this next layer. Now this layer is the one
that's really, really cluttered. So now what I wanna do is come down here towards the bottom
right-hand corner again, select contour, and it looks like this one is just taking a little bit longer to load and I'm sure that's probably because of all those
little dots and dashes cluttering up that layer. All right, so the first thing I'm gonna do is actually select hide all contours. And let's see, I'm going to
zoom in on this just real quick. All right, so now we
have everything hidden except for his face, which is what we're wanting to go for. However, as you can see where his eye is, that's not gonna be cut out. We want that to be cut out though. So what I'm gonna do is
actually just select it, just like that. And you can see how it
turned a darker gray color, meaning that the Cricut
is now gonna cut that out. So that's exactly what
we were wanting it to do. So now I'm gonna click
off of this contour box and let's just zoom in now. All right, so this looks
really, really good. So what I'm actually gonna do is come over here and grab
our Mickey, the base layer and then distribute that right
behind our Mickey like so. Just like that. Super, super cute, right? So as you can see, we have taken a one layer image, of one layer PNG image file and we've turned that
into multiple layers. We've more or less turned
that into an SVG file. Now, granted, we did have to make one adjustment to one of the layers because
it was just not acting right, but that's all right. We still have multiple layers and we can still cut this out
on multiple colors of vinyl. So mission accomplished. So now what I'm gonna do is come up here towards the top right-hand
corner and select make it. And as you can see, here are all of our
different layers of vinyl or all of our different colors, each color being assigned its own mat. So now what I wanna do is come down here towards the bottom right-hand
corner and select continue. All right, so now it's time
to set our base material. The material that we will be cutting out with our Cricut cutting machine. Now, if you don't see
this page right here, the exact same way I do, you're probably using
a Cricut Explore Air 2, and all you'll need to do is just turn your dial over to custom. And in this page, it should
populate automatically. But what I highly, highly recommend for the StarCraft HD permanent vinyl is to come up here to the
top right-hand corner, where all the popular materials are set. And I wanna select the
browse all materials. And what I'm wanting to do is
actually find premium vinyl. Now, personally, I feel like
the premium vinyl setting is what works out the best for me, whenever I'm cutting these StarCraft HD permanent adhesive vinyl. However, always, always,
always do test cuts. Always bring a shape onto your canvas, usually about half an inch or so. I usually select a star,
go ahead and cut that out and see how it cuts out,
see how it weeds out. Make sure that it cuts
all the way through, but also make sure that
it doesn't cut too deep. And then based upon that,
change your pressure settings, change your vinyl settings if you need to, or your material settings if you need to. Basically, you wanna go through and do that entire process to make sure that you are not going to waste
a whole bunch of material. I know it can seem like
a bit much at first, but I promise you that it's gonna save you so, so much time and so many
headaches in the long run. All right, so here I am. I've selected premium vinyl. I'm gonna search for that and I'm gonna come down here
and select premium vinyl. And then come down here and select done. Now I'm leaving my
pressure set to default. Again, do your test cuts. See if that's the right setting for you. You might need to change
your pressure to less or more depending on what your test cuts say. All right, so now all I need to do is just load my cutting mats
and we'll get started cutting. Okay, so I'm gonna go ahead and speed through my
vinyl layering process, but if you wanna see a very
detailed step-by-step tutorial on how I go about layering my vinyl, I promise you, if you do
not know this trick yet, it will completely completely change the game on layering vinyl for you. It literally makes every
vinyl layering project come out looking so,
so clean, professional, pristine, it just looks
amazing all the way around. Again, I will link that for
you at the end of this video, as well as down in that description below. So here is our final project right here. Now, I obviously did
not think this project far enough in advance to know what service I was gonna apply this Mickey Mouse to. So I went ahead and grabbed my iPad and just applied it to the back of my iPad case, just like so. But you get the idea, right? (chuckles) Again, in my opinion, this is by far the easiest way to go about turning a single layer image into a multiple layer image, where you can then go and
take those multiple layers and layer your vinyl into
something just like this, or really whatever
you're wanting to create. It's all up to you and your
imagination and creativity. Now, if you liked today's video, or if you learned something new, it would honestly mean the world to me, if you went ahead and
stamp to that like button as well as job to comment down
in the comment section below. Both of those things
help me out tremendously here on YouTube. And honestly, it would just mean the world and be so, so, so appreciated. So thank you so much in advance. Again, if you're wanting to learn how to layer vinyl like a pro, I will go ahead and
link that video for you at the end of this video, as well as down in the
description box below. Because honestly, I feel like it's a hack that everybody needs to know. It completely changes your
Cricut game entirely. I promise. Now, speaking of Cricut game, if you're wanting to level
up your Cricut skills and do that in an
awesome, upbeat, positive, uplifting environment, then you definitely need to be in our Cricut crafting
community Facebook group. It is just all around an amazing group where you can ask your
Cricut related questions, get some answers, show off
your finished projects, if you'd like, and get plenty, plenty
of Cricut inspiration. I also love to go live in
there from time to time, get y'all's opinions on things. Show y'all a little sneak
peeks, behind the scenes or get y'all's opinions on
upcoming future projects, all that awesome crafty goodness. So be sure that you go ahead
and request to join today. All you have to do is click that link that is down in that
description box below. Answer three very simple questions that should take you less
than 10 seconds to answer. And you'll be on your way. In most cases, all of the requests are approved the very same day. On top of that, if you
gained value from this video, you may wanna consider
stamping that subscribe button as well as ringing that bell
for all of the notifications, because it is absolutely
free to subscribe. And Hey, you won't have to
miss a single Cricut minute. Also just one last thing, just to make things a
little bit easier for you, I have went ahead and
rounded up everything that I used or mentioned in today's video and listed all that for you down in that description box below. I've also went through and rounded up some promo codes or coupon codes that you can use, down there as well. Also just because it was
so, so, so highly requested, I have listed all my favorite or top Cricut products down there in that description box
below for you as well. I get asked at least a few
times a day between YouTube, my Facebook group, my
Facebook page, Instagram, all those different platforms, I get asked at least a few times a day, what my product recommendations are, all that good fun stuff, and just make it a whole
lot easier for everyone. I've went ahead and compiled a list and linked that for you down
in that description box below. Thank you all so, so much
for watching today's video. As always, I am just so
immensely, incredibly grateful for each and every single one of you all. And until next time. (claps) Stay crafty. (closing music)
