Print & cut · 10 tools

Print-and-cut files

Contour cut lines, registration marks, crop marks, bleed, sticker and label sheets, and layouts that make the most of a printed sheet.

Print-and-cut is two machines that must agree: the printer lays down the artwork and the plotter cuts around it, guided by marks it reads with an optical sensor. The file has to carry the artwork, a bleed beyond the cut line so a small misalignment does not show white, a contour line the plotter follows, and registration marks in the style that plotter's sensor detects.

These tools build that file. The contour generator offsets the artwork by a printable margin; the mark generators place registration and crop marks at the size and spacing common plotters read; the sheet makers tile stickers and labels with gutters; the layout optimiser fills the printed sheet. Cut lines go on their own layer, in the spot colour the RIP expects.

Try it here

Print and Cut File Maker

Open the full tool

Artwork, contour cut and registration marks together.

How a print & cut job runs

Load the artwork

PNG, JPG or SVG. Print and Cut File Maker sets the finished size in millimetres and keeps the raster for printing while it generates vectors for cutting.

Add bleed and contour

Bleed Generator extends the artwork 2 to 3 mm past the cut line. Contour Cut Generator offsets a cut path 1 to 2 mm outside the artwork with rounded joins.

Tile and mark

Sticker Sheet Maker, Label Sheet Maker and Multiple Sticker Layout tile copies with gutters. Registration Mark Generator and Crop Mark Generator add the marks at the corners.

Export for print and for cut

A print-ready file with bleed and marks, and a cut file with the contour and kiss/die-cut layers. Kiss Cut + Die Cut Generator exports both contours when stickers must peel from a backing sheet.

All print & cut tools

10 tools · Contour cuts, registration marks, bleed and sticker sheets.

Print and Cut File MakerArtwork, contour cut and registration marks together.Contour Cut GeneratorCut contour for printed stickers.Registration Mark GeneratorOptical registration marks for print-and-cut.Crop Mark GeneratorTrim marks at the corners.Bleed GeneratorBleed outline outside the cut line.Sticker Sheet MakerCopies laid out on A4/A3 with kiss-cut lines.Label Sheet MakerGrid of rounded labels on a sheet.Multiple Sticker LayoutMany stickers on one sheet.Kiss Cut + Die Cut GeneratorTwo contour lines on separate layers.Print Layout OptimizerBest arrangement on the print sheet.

On the machine

Registration marks

4 mm circles with cross hairs at each corner are read by most sensors; Roland and Mimaki prefer their own square marks, Graphtec its L-shaped marks. The generator offers the common styles; check the plotter manual for spacing limits.

Bleed and offset

2 mm bleed and a 1.5 mm cut offset outside the artwork absorb the 0.5 to 1 mm registration error typical of desktop print-and-cut. On a die-cut sticker with a white border, make the border the bleed.

Cut line colour

Roland, Mimaki and most RIPs look for a spot colour named CutContour on a separate layer; the export names the layer and colour accordingly, and keeps it out of the printed artwork.

Sheet gutters

3 mm between stickers on a sheet lets the kiss cut clear the neighbour; 5 mm for die-cut sheets that will be weeded.

What usually goes wrong

Contour hugging the artwork with no offset. Any misregistration shows a white sliver.
Registration marks printed at a size or spacing the sensor cannot read. Use the plotter's style and keep marks at least 20 mm from the sheet edge.
Cut line inside the printed layer. The printer prints it and the plotter cannot separate it.
Stickers tiled with no gutter. The kiss cut wanders into the neighbour.
Low-resolution artwork scaled up for print. 300 DPI at finished size, or the sticker looks blurred beside a sharp cut edge.

Common questions

Which plotters read the marks?

Graphtec (ARMS), Roland (Quadralign), Mimaki, Summa (OPOS), Silhouette and Cricut print-and-cut, and the common Chinese cutters with a contour sensor. Choose the mark style that matches; the generator lists them.

What is the difference between crop marks and registration marks?

Crop marks show a guillotine where to trim a printed sheet; registration marks are read by the plotter sensor to align the cut. Print both when a sheet is trimmed after cutting.

Kiss cut or die cut for sticker sheets?

Kiss cut for sheets the customer peels stickers from; die cut for individual stickers handed out singly. Kiss Cut + Die Cut Generator exports both on separate layers for a sheet of die-cut singles.

How many stickers fit an A3?

Print Layout Optimizer tries the rotations and gutters and reports the count. As a guide, 50 mm round stickers with 3 mm gutters fit about 40 on an A3 with marks.