GAME CHANGER: Cuttle.xyz launches Auto Trace feature -

WooHoo!  Did you see Cuttle.xyz's latest beta feature!  AUTOTRACE! 

Cuttle's most recent addition of an AUTO TRACE feature reinforces my belief that Cuttle listens to its customers and is dedicated to meeting our needs as it continues to improve its product. 

Just last year, I was asking Toby from Cuttle.xyz if an AutoTrace feature might someday be added to Cuttle. He responded that it was something they would like to add. He asked more questions about how we would like to use that feature.  I shared a recent project where students created journal covers that were inspired by nature .  I also sent him some sample sketches we would like to auto trace for our journal covers. I was so excited to see the AutoTrace feature has recently been added.  Let's test it. 

In our journal cover project,  the students were asked to sketch some shapes they noticed in nature that might be used to create interesting patterns. 

Back in the classroom, we asked them to select one of those shapes and use a dark marker to recreate it on the back of an  index card. Here are a few examples.

Our goal was to create repeating patterns that would make interesting journal covers inspired by nature.  The patterns could then be cut out from one of the two pieces of cardstock we used to cut our two color journal covers.  Complex patterns cut better on a laser cutter, but most patterns were able to be cut using a craft cutter (Cricut or Silhouette). 

Prior to AutoTrace, we used several steps and online tools to crop the images, remove the background, and convert to SVG.  That's ALOT of file management for our Grade 4-6 students.  But they persevered!  

I just tested some of their images with Cuttle's AutoTrace feature. It worked great with the images drawn on white index cards.  Here's a quick video of the test. 

The AutoTrace feature will save so many steps, next time we try this project.  Note: Since AutoTrace didn't work quite so well with colored index cards, I'll make sure to only hand out white index cards for students to draw on next time.  We'll also be a little more careful to only photograph the index card (not the table) next time.  

This feature opens up possibilities! And is one more reason, why I will continue to introduce Cuttle.xyz as a must have tool for our school makerspaces.  Not to mention, the fact that it works on Chromebooks; they have signed student data privacy agreements with our schools, and they have affordable  classroom and school licensing pricing.

Thanks to Toby and his team for being so responsive to our feature request and supporting the needs of our schools in growing the next generation of innovators.