The Non-Crafty Crafter

Friday, February 13, 2015

CRICUT: What's new in Design Space 2 - Part 4

More on searching for images.

The updates to the Image search functions in Design Space show that Cricut has been paying attention to our feedback. Let's go into the image search feature in more depth.

As I showed earlier, the Insert Images screen has had a major face lift.
More images can be viewed on screen and we can now zoom that screen to see the images in more detail.

Currently when you hover your mouse over an image in Design Space, after a few seconds you would see a larger preview of the image. And sometimes you would get a preview of an image that you didn't actually want.

In the image below my mouse is hovering over the top left image, but the preview is showing the Halloween Window cling image instead of the Sweetest Wishes image

That problem has now been fixed.

Now when you hover over an image you won't see a larger preview. That's because you can use the zoom button to make all your images larger. So no need for a larger preview.

But what about the information that was contained in the preview? Previously you would see the image name, the image number, which image set (cartridge) it came from and whether it was a purchased, subscribed or free image. It also indicated whether it was a print ready image (for Print then Cut.)

That information hasn't disappeared!

The image still has a printer icon if it's a print ready image. But it also shows the price of the image if you don't own it.

In the bottom right of the image you will see an information icon (the circled i). When you click that icon you will see the other information about the image.

There you'll see the Image name, number and image set. And you can purchase that image from right there.

Just click the (i) again to change back to the image preview.

To insert an image just click on it (you'll see a green check mark).

It will be added to the image queue at the bottom of the image screen. Click Insert Images to add it to your canvas.

Searching:

Searching for images is easy! And you can search by All Images, Categories or Cartridges.

All Images

Just type your keyword in the search box and press Enter.

The images will appear on screen and the search box will tell you how many results there were.

In this case there were 80 results for the keyword "cow". (As a comparison there were 1092 results for the keyword "bird"!) ☺

You can filter those results by clicking on the funnel in the top right corner of the screen. If you just want to see results for images that are part of the subscription then check the subscription box. Now you will see that there are 53 results.

If you're looking for a certain type of image just check those boxes. I've selected 3D Objects, Borders, Card & Envelopes and Phrases and now have 21 images.

Across the top of the images you will see a box for each type of image it searched for. You can click the X on any of those boxes to remove those results.

You can still search for images using the image number if you have it. Just type the image number including the #M in the search box. Don't know what the images number are all about? You can find out in this post!

Categories

Click on Categories then select one of the listed categories to search from. You can still narrow your search by typing in a keyword. And you can have DS only search by Ownership, Type or by Layers. Here I've searched for golf images in the Father's Day category.

Cartridges

Clicking on Cartridges will show you all the available cartridges in alphabetical order. (Yay!)

If you are not logged in be aware that some cartridges (such as Creative Memories and Close to My Heart) won't appear. If you own those cartridges you must make sure you are logged in to see them.

Click on any of the the images or on the "View all... images" box to open that cartridge.

Like the cartridge names, the images are now also in alphabetical order.

Here's some of the images from the Baby Shower cartridge.

The images in order are Airplane, Baby, Baby Shower, Baby Tree, Banner, Bird.... and so on.

To search for a particular type of image within a cartridge you can use the keyword search eg. Card.

More searching hints

Looking for cartridges with "Card" in the name? Just type "card" into the search box, and select the Cartridges option.

Looking for an envelope?

Select All Images, type envelope in the search box and... hello 818 images!

Remember, just click on the (i) on any image to see which cartridge it comes from.

Still to come: Upload Images, Add Text and setting a Canvas.

Happy crafting! ♥

This website and its posts may contain affiliate links. If you purchase a product using the link I may receive a small commission.

I only participate in affiliate programs for products that I use and love.

Using the link is totally optional! If you don't wish to purchase through the link, you can go directly to the website and purchase from their shop. Please note there is no price difference to you between using the affiliate link and purchasing direct from the website. ☺

Any commission I receive is used to offset the costs of maintaining this website (domain fees etc) and file/photo storage fees for files that I share with my readers. It also goes towards the cost of giveaways and postage at Cricut Lovers Guide to Design Space Facebook group.

I have affiliates with Cricut.com, MightyDeals and InLinkz ♥

CRICUT: What's new in Design Space 2 - part 3

Continuing on with the February 2015 changes to Design Space.

The Layers, Edit, Sync and Canvas panels

Not much has changed with these panels other than that you can undock and dock them.

Layers

You can still open and close layers by clicking on the down arrow next to the layer name. (Very useful if there's a lot of pieces in a layer - you don't have to scroll down as far if you're looking for a layer that's right at the bottom...) Click on the arrow again to reopen the layer.

A handy little addition here is the ability to Tab between the layers. Click on one of the layer names and press the Tab key on your keyboard. Each time you press Tab it will move down a layer. Use Shift+Tab to move backwards. ☺

And of course you still click on the scissor icon to change between Cut, Write, Score and Print.

Edit

The Edit box hasn't changed much.

The Width & Height boxes still round up/down to two decimal places. (I'd really like to see 3 decimal places for when I'm using 1/8" measurements.)

The Rotate dial from the old version doesn't appear in the new version. I actually found it useful, but I guess a lot of people didn't.

And finally something that I've been hoping for ever since Design Space was released... You can now tab between the Height & Width boxes and the X & Y boxes! It's something small but makes such a difference!

Sync:

There's no change to how things work in the Sync box. ☺

Canvas:

It looks like the canvas options are working much better now. The sizes are able to be changed and those changes are saved!

Happy crafting! ♥

Thursday, February 12, 2015

CRICUT: What's new in Design Space 2 - Part 2

Next we'll look at the Insert Image Screen

You'll find this looks a lot different.

Under the ALL IMAGES menu you'll find lots more images on the screen!

And you can zoom in and make them bigger...

When searching for an image you can filter to get different results. Just click on the funnel:

My Images: You'll find anything you've uploaded, anything you own and any freebies.

Uploaded: Just those jpg/png/svg etc files you have uploaded into Design Space

Free: Any current freebies (how cool is that!!)

Subscription: Just those images that are part of the subscription. If you're not logged in or don't have the subscription you will see a price under the images.

Purchased: Any images you have either purchased digitally or by linking a physical cartridge.

You can narrow your search down further by checking the boxes in the Type and Layers categories.

(Each time you click on one of the check boxes Design Space thinks for a few seconds. You can then click the funnel again to check another box.)

To quickly un-check all the boxes click on Reset All Filters.

Clicking on the CATEGORIES menu allows you to choose from different categories such as Baby, Birthday, Christmas, Wedding and lots more.

Plus you can also choose from different designers such as Anna Griffin, Disney, Lia Griffith and more.

Click on CARTRIDGES to see a preview of all the Cricut Cartridges.

Type a word from one of the cartridges in the Search box to easily find what you're looking for.

You can purchase the cartridge right from this screen by clicking on the Buy button. ☺

You'll find more info on using the Insert Image screen in this post:

http://www.thenoncraftycrafter.com/2015/02/cricut-whats-new-in-design-space-2-part_13.html

Happy crafting! ♥

CRICUT: What's new in Design Space 2 - Part 1

Sometime in the next week Design Space is being updated to provide a better user experience and to improve performance and stability.

Here's some of what you can expect to see in the new version...

The first time you open Design Space after you have installed the plug in you'll see this page. You can watch the short video or you can click the green Done button to progress to the next screen. To ensure that you don't get this screen again make sure you check the "Do not show again" check box first.

Next you'll see the Make it Now projects screen. You'll see a lot more projects on this screen that in the old version.

Just like the old version you can still select a project category from the drop down list in the top right corner of the screen.

Hover over any of the images to see its name.

Click on the image to see more information about the project. You'll find photos, the materials list, instructions plus you'll see the cost of the images/fonts that are required in the project if you don't own or subscribe to them.

At this point you have two options. You can click Customize if you wish to alter the design. For example you may want to swap out a font that was used in the design for one that you own. Clicking Customize takes you to the Design Space canvas.

All the pieces to the project are laid out on the mat.

You'll notice that the Layers/Edit/Sync and Canvas menus have been pinned to the right side of the screen. Clicking on one of the menus brings it to the front.

You can unpin the menus and move them to any position on the canvas if you wish.

Just click on the top of the menu and drag it over to the canvas.

Release the mouse and your menu will be unpinned.

Just reverse the process to lock it back to the right hand menu panel.

You can also completely hide the Menus. Just click on the arrow on the left of the panel.