Vectacle can now remove any colour from your design (click its swatch, or pick it from the picture) and add a white sticker border with a slider. Both work in the colour modes and both are free.
Two tools landed in the converter this week, both asked for by people making stickers and cut files.
What does “Remove a colour” do?
After a picture is traced, the panel on the right lists the colours Vectacle found. Click a colour to remove it everywhere in the design, or click Pick from image and then click the spot in the picture you want gone. Removed colours stay in the list, crossed out, so you can click them again to bring them back, or use Bring all back.
It’s handy for:
- A coloured background that isn’t plain enough for Remove background.
- A watermark, a shadow or a texture you don’t want in the cut.
- Splitting a design: remove everything except one colour to get one vinyl layer at a time.
The colour is dropped before the shapes are traced, so the SVG gets real holes where it was. Small specks of that colour left floating inside go with it, while pieces of an outline that touch a bigger shape of their colour stay.
What does “Sticker border” do?
Move the Sticker border slider and Vectacle draws a white border around the whole design: one smooth shape under it, with the gaps inside the design filled, so it cuts as one clean sticker. The page grows by the border’s width in every download (SVG, PNG and PDF), so nothing gets clipped.
For the best result, switch on Remove background first, so the border follows the design and not the picture’s rectangle.
Which modes have them?
| Mode | Remove a colour | Sticker border |
|---|---|---|
| Auto | Yes | Yes |
| Clip art / stickers | Yes | Yes |
| Logo / 1 colour | No (already one colour) | No |
| Line art | No | No |
How do I make a Print then Cut sticker with them?
- Open the sticker converter and drop your picture in (Clip art / stickers and Remove background are already on there).
- Remove any colour you don’t want, such as a drop shadow.
- Drag the Sticker border slider until the white edge looks right.
- Download the PNG (transparent background) or SVG and use your machine’s Print then Cut. The outer edge of the border becomes the cut line.
As always, nothing is stored: your picture and the result are forgotten when you close the page.
Questions
Can I bring a removed colour back?
Yes. Removed colours stay in the list, crossed out. Click one to bring it back, or use Bring all back.
Does a removed colour leave a hole in the cut file?
Yes, a real one. The colour is taken out before the shapes are traced, so the SVG has true holes where it was, not white shapes painted on top. That is what cutting machines need.
Why is the sticker border greyed out in Logo / 1 colour?
The border is for full-colour stickers. In the one-colour and line-art modes the design is already a single cut shape, so there is nothing to put a border under.
