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Home/Affinity SVG for Cricut and lasers: 72 DPI, text as curves and size

Affinity SVG for Cricut and lasers: 72 DPI, text as curves and size

Affinity’s own advice for cutting machines: set the document to 72 DPI, export text as curves, merge curves you want kept in place, and export SVG with the default settings. LightBurn reads 96 DPI unless set to 72, so match the two or the design lands at three quarters of its size.

Set the document to 72 DPI and export text as curves; then set LightBurn’s SVG import to the same DPI.

Affinity’s settings for a cutting machine

SettingWhereWhy
72 DPIFile > Document SetupAffinity sizes an SVG from the document’s DPI, and its help gives 72 for cutting programs
Export text as curvesThe SVG export settingsLetters become shapes, so the cutting program needs no font
Merge CurvesThe Vector menuCutting apps may rearrange separate shapes to save material; curves merged into one keep your layout, as one shape of one color
Use DPIThe SVG export settingsOverrides the document’s DPI for one export, to suit a program that reads another value

Why 72 DPI, and what LightBurn does with it

The DPI is the number of the file’s pixels that make one inch. Affinity’s help asks for 72 for cutting programs. LightBurn reads an SVG at 96 DPI unless you choose 72 in its import settings, and a file made at 72 and read at 96 lands at 72 ÷ 96 = 0.75 of its size. Either switch LightBurn to 72 DPI, or set Use DPI to 96 for that export.

A worked example

A 76 × 42 mm label, the size of our rounded rectangle pantry label, is 215.4 × 119.1 pixels in a 72 DPI document. Import that SVG into LightBurn at 96 DPI and it measures 57 × 31.5 mm; switch LightBurn to 72 DPI, import it again, and it measures 76 × 42 mm. Divide the size you got by the size you wanted: 0.75 or 1.33 means a DPI mismatch, not a damaged file.

Export the SVG

  1. Set the document to 72 DPI in File > Document Setup before you size your design.
  2. Convert text to curves (Layer > Convert to Curves), or tick Export text as curves when you export.
  3. Choose File > Export, pick SVG and keep the default settings, as Affinity advises.
  4. Import the file into your cutting software and compare its width and height with your design before you cut.

LightBurn’s SVG import setting →

Find the cause of a wrong size from the number →

Check the exported SVG for text and size →

From the maker’s documentation: Affinity: working with SVGs, Affinity: export settings, Affinity Designer 2: file formats, LightBurn: settings and preferences.