Meet the Cricut Imagine — Provo Crafts New Paper Die Cutter

For the last several years scrap bookers, paper artists, and arts and crafts lovers have sought out a reasonably priced and easy to use paper die cutting machine that can design, print, and cut their artistic projects.

Provo Craft announced that on September 14th of 2010 they are going to deliver just such a machine. That’s the release date of the new Cricut Imagine. The Cricut imagine is the next generation of paper die cutters offered by Provo Craft and follows in the footsteps of the popular Cricut Expression. The Imagine is being marketed an all in one paper die cutter. This one machine should allow the artist to design a project, print the project, and then very accurately cut the project out automatically. Considered a step up from the Cricut Expression, a die cutter that only outlines then cuts paper art elements, the Imagine has generated lots of buzz in the arts and crafts community.

Provo Craft partnered with HP to build the Imagine. The Cricut die cutting hardware is married to a HP tri-color print suite. HP printers have a reputation for being easy to use, affordable, and reliable, so this machine promises to turn out fantastic results.

Until now artists that specialize in paper creations had to spend lots of money to put together a cutting system that integrated project design, project printing, and design cutting. Before the Cricut Image came along artists had to buy a computer controlled cutter, design software, and invest in a computer. So it is easy to see why any paper die cutter that promises to save money, materials, and time gets lots of attention by crafters and artists.

Provo Craft tells us they packed a ton of helpful features into the Imagine, of course the most important is the ability to add imagery, dimension, and colors to projects at the touch of a few buttons. This will probably be a powerful selling feature for the Cricut Imagine. Right now paper artists are forced to keep reams of different color paper in stock just to get different color project elements. Being able to create projects on nothing but white paper is a huge advantage and money saver.

Trade show spies say the design theory behind this paper die cutter printer is practical and aimed at keeping existing Cricut customers loyal. The Imagine leans heavily toward being completely compatible with all current Cricut accessories you may already own. So all the Cricut artwork and element cartridges you already own will work fine with the Imagine. The cutting blade housing, the Gypsy design studio software, and Jukebox storage units are also fully compatible.

If you are not familiar with the Cricut line of products here is a quick recap. The Cricut Gypsy is a handheld portable design software studio which allows the user to mix and match art and texture elements from various cartridge themes into one unit. The Cricut Jukebox lets users connect up to six cartridges to a Cricut cutter at once. Normally only one cartridge can be used at a time and the user has to swap cartridges to get different art work.

Provo Craft could have easily “updated” the style of cartridges to a new design forcing existing customers to buy their favorite old artwork designs in a new package. In a classy move they made sure crafters with a huge library of expensive cartridges can use their investments on the Cricut Imagine. Provo Craft is going to launch a lot of new artwork for the Imagine. Plans are to have about 25 cartridges ready for the Imagine upon its release.

If you already use a Cricut cutter one change to note is the new type of cutting mat. This new mat incorporates black borders which help the cutter reference itself to ensure accurate cuts. Old style mats cannot be used in the Imagine, but the new mats can be used on the Cricut Expression. With all the other compatible features of the new Cricut Imagine this is a very minor issue.

The machine is controlled by a color LCD touch screen which also lets the user perform basic image editing. Hopefully the clear and bright LCD screens seen at the trade shows make their way into the production models. The LCD controller also gives the artist some basic design and color options for their projects. There is also a color hue selection wheel that allows you to select different colors other than the one the company artist picked for a design, that’s another nice option that hopefully will make it to production models.