For several months, scrapbookers and paper crafters have been hearing about ProvoCraft's newest release, the Gypsy. For a long time, available information was scarce, and speculation ran rampant about exactly what the Gypsy was. Now, ProvoCraft is planning their official release of the Gypsy in September 2009.
What is the Cricut Gypsy?
ProvoCraft, manufacturer of the Cricut personal cutting system, has announced that "The Gypsy is a portable, personal design studio for use with your Cricut. It allows you to store Cricut® cartridge content, design with that content and then connect to your Cricut® to cut."
The Gypsy connects to the Cricut digital paper cutting tool via a USB cable. The screen on the Gypsy then acts as the controls for the connected Cricut. The crafter can access an electronic version of the cutting mat on the Gypsy's screen, and can use this virtual mat to lay out and resize shapes. The Gypsy does not have to be connected to the Cricut to use the design functions. The crafter can take the Gypsy anywhere, create a cutting layout, and then connect the Gypsy to the Cricut later to cut.
Cricut Gypsy Functions
The Gypsy allows crafters to upload the contents of Cricut cartridges that they already own, eliminating the need to swap cartridges. To prevent cartridge sharing, the serial number for the Gypsy will be recorded onto the cartridge after the contents have been copied to the Gypsy. The cartridge will not be able to be copied to any other Gypsy system. The cartridges can still be used directly in any Cricut machine.
Crafters can use the Gypsy's search function to find shapes and fonts in memory. Shapes from multiple cartridges can be added to the cutting layout at the same time, providing more design freedom than was available on the Cricut.
Cutting layouts in process can be saved to memory and accessed later. This can be useful to crafters who create specific cutting layouts over and over again.
The Cricut Gypsy eliminates the need for the keypad overlays currently needed for each cartridge when using the Cricut directly.
Limitations of the Cricut Gypsy
The current Gypsy system will not support the use of images outside of Cricut cartridges, such as SVG files or true type fonts. If the Gypsy crashes, the crafter will have to contact customer service, and will not be able to use their cartridges in another Gypsy.
When Will the Cricut Gypsy be Available?
The Cricut Gypsy will be exclusively released through the Home Shopping Network (HSN) on September 24 at 12:01 AM, with a special exclusive product package available only for HSN customers.
The Cricut Gypsy will allow Cricut users to put away all of their cartridges and perform design tasks that previously required a computer. Scrapbookers who take their Cricut to crops will enjoy not having to sort through all of their cartridges and risk losing them.
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