Brother ScanNCut FCM Converter (Beta)

Brother ScanNCut files, both ways

.fcm is the file format of Brother ScanNCut cutting machines. Few programs other than Brother's CanvasWorkspace open it, so a design bought or downloaded as .fcm is hard to use with a Cricut, a Silhouette, a laser or Inkscape. Going the other way, an SVG or a Silhouette Studio design has to become an .fcm file before the machine can cut it from a USB stick.

This converter does both, depending on the file you upload.

What you get

FCM to SVG and DXF

• True size and position. The SVG page is the cut area of the mat, and every piece sits where it sits on the mat, in millimetres.
• A layer per kind of line: cut lines, draw (pen) lines and rhinestones, plus emboss, foil and perforation lines when a file has them. Lines that Brother marks as both cut and draw are on the cut layer. Filled pen drawings are shown filled.
• Pieces stay apart. Each piece is one path per layer, named after its label (A01, A02…) when the file has labels.
• Rhinestone templates: every stone is a circle of the hole size stored in the file.
• Print-and-cut files: the cut lines and the registration marks, on a layer of their own. The picture that gets printed is not stored in an .fcm file, so it cannot be included.
• DXF (AutoCAD 2000, millimetres) with the same layers, as fine polylines or exact splines (More options).

SVG and Silhouette Studio to FCM

• Shapes: paths, rectangles, circles, ellipses, lines, polylines and polygons, with groups, transforms and reused symbols. Curves stay curves.
• Size: taken from the SVG's width, height and viewBox (mm, cm, in, pt; plain numbers and px count 96 per inch, or 72 for Adobe Illustrator files).
• Pieces: every top-level object or group becomes one piece you can move on the machine; letters and shapes with holes stay together.
• Mat: Automatic picks 12 × 12 in when the design fits, otherwise 12 × 24 in. The design keeps its place when it lies on the cut area and is moved onto it when it does not. A design that is too big is not scaled: the file is made and the result shows its size next to the cut area.
• Cut or draw: every line becomes a cut line, or a draw line for a pen.
• Text: SVG text is cut as letter outlines, drawn with the fonts installed on our server. When a font is not installed, a font with the same letter widths is used where one exists (Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman, Courier New, Calibri, Cambria), otherwise a plain sans-serif font, and the result names the font that was used. For the exact letters of a special font, convert the text to paths in your editor first.
• Silhouette Studio: text arrives as letter outlines, because Silhouette Studio stores them. Shapes set to "No cut", pictures and Silhouette's own registration marks are left out.
• Left out, with a warning: pictures and invisible shapes. Clipping paths and masks are not applied.

Print and cut

Choose Print & cut (A4) under the mat and you get two files: an .fcm print-and-cut file and a PDF page to print with the four ScanNCut registration marks, laid out like CanvasWorkspace's print-to-cut files for A4 paper.

• The page shows the design as it looks (colours, pictures, text), at 300 dpi, with the marks. The .fcm file holds the cut lines and where the marks are, so the machine scans the marks and lines up the cut with the print.
• A design drawn on an A4 page keeps its place when its cut lines stay clear of the marks; otherwise it is centred between the marks (204 × 251 mm of space).
• Silhouette Studio Print & Cut designs work too: their pictures are printed and their cut lines cut, with ScanNCut marks instead of Silhouette's.
• Print the PDF at actual size (100 %, not "fit to page") on plain white paper, put it on the mat with the bars of the marks at the top, and load the .fcm file from a USB stick. This needs a ScanNCut model that can scan registration marks (the DX series).

New files use the cut area and file layout of CanvasWorkspace for PC. Each file is read back after writing, and the preview is drawn from what was read.

Supported files

.fcm files from CanvasWorkspace web, CanvasWorkspace for PC/Mac and from the machines themselves (designs saved after scanning), for the 12 × 12 in and 12 × 24 in mats, cut files and print-and-cut files. The reader was tested on more than 1,100 real files. Silhouette Studio files from version 2 to 5 and SVG files from Inkscape, Illustrator and other editors are read.

Using the files

• On the ScanNCut: copy the .fcm file to a USB stick and open it on the machine, or import it into CanvasWorkspace and send it from there.
• Cricut Design Space: Upload → Upload Image, choose the SVG and check the size.
• Silhouette Studio: every edition opens the DXF; the SVG needs the Designer Edition or higher.
• Inkscape, LightBurn and other software: open or import the SVG or the DXF.

Limitations

• New .fcm files are cut, draw or A4 print-and-cut files: no rhinestones, seam allowances, emboss or foil, and print and cut only on A4 paper.
• Seam allowances stored in quilting files are not drawn; the lines are shown as stored.
• A design with more than 200 separate shapes is combined into 200 pieces.

Anything that could not be read or converted is listed as a warning next to the result.

Design licences

Converting a file does not change its licence. The designer's or shop's terms still decide what you may make and sell with it.

Privacy

Your files are only used for the conversion. The upload is deleted as soon as the conversion finishes, and the converted files are deleted automatically after 30 minutes, or immediately when you click "Delete now". Nothing is sent to Brother, Cricut, Silhouette or anyone else.

Brother, ScanNCut and CanvasWorkspace are trademarks of Brother Industries; Cricut and Cricut Design Space are trademarks of Cricut; Silhouette and Silhouette Studio are trademarks of Silhouette America. This converter is independent and not affiliated with them.