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Contourvio · Professional Print & Cut Preparation · Windows

From Artwork to Production.

Turn customer artwork into production-ready vectors, cutlines and print files. Trace logos, clean up backgrounds, add cutlines, bleed and white ink, then send the job to VersaWorks, all in one native Windows app.

Download free trial Explore features
  • 14-day free trial
  • CutContour, RDG_White & RDG_Gloss
  • Works offline
  • PDF · EPS · SVG
Contourvio in Wizard Mode: a woman cut out of a photo of two people on a sofa, with the background removed and a smooth magenta CutContour line 1 mm inside her outline. The sidebar shows the cutting border at -1 mm, cutline smoothing at 3 mm and the recommendation to use a negative offset for traced images.

Real screenshot of Contourvio 1.0.9 in Wizard Mode. Smart Select ran on this PC; nothing was uploaded.

Wizard Mode

From a photo to a cut file
in five guided steps.

Wizard Mode walks anyone through a print-and-cut job, from import to a file VersaWorks understands. Switch to Advanced Mode at any time for every control; both work on the same artwork.

  1. 1

    Import

    Drop in a photo, logo or existing PDF, AI, EPS or SVG.

  2. 2

    Choose a job

    Cut Only, Print & Cut Sticker, or Print, White & Cut. The layers are set up for you.

  3. 3

    Prepare

    Remove the background, click a photo subject, and adjust the cut with a live preview.

  4. 4

    Preview

    Check the printed artwork and cutting outline layer by layer.

  5. 5

    Export

    Save a print-and-cut PDF or EPS, or send it straight to your VersaWorks folder.

Close-up of the cut-out woman: the magenta CutContour line follows her hair, shoulders and arms smoothly, slightly inside her outline, on a transparent background.

Cut a person out of a photo

Click the subject. Get a clean cutline.

Smart Select, running entirely on your PC, picks out a person, pet or product from a few clicks, even against a busy background. Click to keep, click to remove, then apply.

For photos and traced images, the cutline starts 1 mm inside the edge and is smoothed by 3 mm, so stray edge pixels and background halos stay off the finished sticker. Existing vector artwork keeps its exact shape: no offset and no smoothing. You can change both at any time.

The Prepare panel: Cutting border -1 mm, the recommendation 'A negative cutline offset is highly recommended when cutting traced images', and Cutline smoothing 3 mm.
Contourvio Wizard step 2: choosing Print & Cut Sticker for a photo of two people on a sofa.
2Choose a job
Contourvio Wizard step 3: three clicks on the woman select her in the photo with Smart Select, shown as a purple highlight.
3Click your subject
Contourvio Wizard step 4: the cut-out woman with Printed artwork and Cutting outline layers listed for inspection.
4Check the layers
Contourvio Wizard step 5: Save Print & Cut File as PDF, Save EPS, Save editable SVG and Send to Print & Cut folder.
5Save or send to VersaWorks

Real screenshots of Contourvio 1.0.9. The photo is AI-generated for this demonstration.

Before / after

A JPEG goes in.
Cut-ready vectors come out.

Customers send screenshots, low-resolution JPEGs and logos saved from websites. Contourvio rebuilds them as clean vector shapes, lifts them off the background and puts a cutline around every sticker.

After: traced vector stickers on a transparent background, each with a magenta CutContour cutline.
Customer JPEG Vector + CutContour
Input
stickers-sheet.jpg
Shapes
50 vector paths
Background
Removed automatically
Cutline
CutContour, 2.0 mm out

How it works

Four steps from customer file
to a job on the printer.

The jobs that used to mean an evening of redrawing in a vector program, done in one window.

  1. 01

    Import artwork

    Drop in whatever the customer sent. JPG and PNG files are traced into vector shapes straight away, with every control on Auto. PDF, AI, EPS and SVG files open as they are, with nothing retraced.

    • JPG
    • PNG
    • PDF
    • AI
    • EPS
    • SVG
    Contourvio after opening a JPEG sticker sheet: tracing controls on the left, original and traced vector side by side.
  2. 02

    Prepare and refine

    Remove the background in one tick, then click any shape to remove or restore it. Adjust colours, smoothing and corners if you need to. For photos, Smart Select picks out the subject with a click.

    • Remove background
    • Smart Select
    • Edit as Vector
    Contourvio with Remove background ticked: the traced stickers now sit on a transparent checkerboard.
  3. 03

    Add cutlines and print effects

    Generate a CutContour around each sticker or one outline around the whole design. Set the offset in millimetres, add vector bleed, trim to the cut, and lay down white ink or gloss.

    • CutContour
    • Bleed
    • RDG_White
    • RDG_Gloss
    Contourvio with each sticker trimmed to its own cutline, a cream border, 2 mm of vector bleed and magenta CutContour lines.
  4. 04

    Export, or send to VersaWorks

    Export a print-ready PDF or EPS with real spot colours, or press Print & Cut to drop the job into your VersaWorks hot folder. No re-checking layers in another program.

    • PDF
    • EPS
    • Print & Cut
    The Export menu in Contourvio offering SVG, PDF, EPS and PNG, next to the Print & Cut button.

Features

Everything between “here’s my logo”
and a sticker off the cutter.

Raster to vector

Clean vectors from
rough customer files.

Built for logos, cartoons, signs and flat-colour illustrations: the artwork customers actually send. Contourvio picks out the flat colours, ignores JPEG noise and keeps sharp corners sharp.

  • Every border between two colours is traced once and shared, so shapes never gap or overlap.
  • Colours, smoothing, noise, corners and simplify each have an Auto mode that shows the value it chose.
  • Seamless output for printing with no hairline seams, or Editable shapes with real holes for editing.
  • Runs on your PC, on the CPU, and gives the same result every time.
Contourvio tracing a JPEG sticker sheet, with the Colours, Trace smoothing, Noise removal, Corners and Simplify sliders set to Auto.

Existing vector artwork

Already have a PDF?
Use it exactly as it is.

Vector files skip straight to background removal and cutlines. Contourvio reads the file’s own shapes, works out the outline from everything that is painted, and builds the cut from that.

  • Opens PDF, PDF-compatible AI, EPS and SVG files without retracing anything.
  • PDF exports write the original artwork back unchanged, colours, spot colours, fonts and images included, and add only the layers you choose.
  • Old cut paths in the file are recognised and left out of the new outline.
  • Edit as Vector turns a trace into the same kind of document, so traced JPGs get every vector tool too.
Contourvio with a 24-shape PDF opened as vector artwork, with a cutline around each shape.

Background removal

Lift the artwork
off its background.

Removed areas become real transparency in the file, not a white box. The cutline then follows what is left.

  • Automatic: finds the background colour around the edge and removes it, while matching colours inside the design stay.
  • Click any shape to remove it or bring it back. Every change can be undone.
  • Smart Select for photos on busy backgrounds: click the subject and it is selected.
  • Smart Select runs entirely on your own PC, using your graphics card when it can. Nothing is uploaded.
Contourvio with the sticker sheet's cream background removed, leaving the stickers on a transparent checkerboard.
The Background & Cut panel: Remove background is ticked, with the subject selection button below it.

Automatic cutlines

Cutlines in millimetres,
not in an afternoon.

Contourvio draws the cut around every sticker automatically. Set the offset, choose round, mitre or bevel corners, and switch between a through-cut and a perforated cut. Try it below.

CutContour · +2.0 mm

Cut type

CutContour spot colour. VersaWorks cuts straight through.

+2.0 mm

Special inks (Roland)

Every line in this demo was exported from Contourvio at that setting. Nothing was redrawn for the website.

Individual or outer silhouette

One cut per shape,
or one around the lot.

Lettering and multi-part logos fall apart as individual stickers. An outer silhouette keeps them on one piece of vinyl.

  • Individual shapes: a cutline around each separate piece.
  • Outer silhouette: one outline around a whole design. The join distance (0–20 mm) bridges gaps between pieces.
  • Designs further apart than the join distance keep their own cutline, so a sheet of logos still cuts as separate stickers.
  • Edit by hand: select and delete contours, remove internal holes, straighten a wobbly edge, undo and redo.
  • Cutline smoothing irons out jagged edges in millimetres, keeping corners and size.

1 cutline · join distance 14 mm

Vector bleed and trimming

Bleed that follows
the artwork’s own colours.

A little bleed means no white slivers when the cutter is a fraction out. Contourvio builds it as vector shapes, so it stays sharp at any size.

  • Vector bleed from 0 to 5 mm continues each edge’s own colour beyond the cut, including multi-colour edges.
  • The cutline never moves, and neighbouring stickers meet half-way.
  • Trim artwork to cutlines turns artwork that keeps its background into separate stickers.
  • Nothing is rasterised, and spot colours are kept.
Six stickers each trimmed to its own cutline, with a cream border, a magenta CutContour line and a dashed 2 mm bleed outline.
Cutting controls: Include interior holes and Trim artwork to cutlines ticked, and a 2 mm bleed slider.

White ink and gloss

Spot colours VersaWorks
recognises, on their own layers.

CutContour, PerfCutContour, RDG_White and RDG_Gloss are written as real Separation spot colours, each on its own layer and set to overprint, so they never knock out your artwork.

  • White underprint and gloss overlay, set independently.
  • Apply each to the whole artwork or only to the shapes you pick. Shift-click selects every shape of one colour.
  • Special inks never spread into the bleed.
The Special Inks (Roland) panel with White underprint ticked for the whole artwork.
  1. CutContourStroked path · overprint · the cutter follows this
  2. RDG_GlossFilled spot shape · overprint
  3. RDG_WhiteFilled spot shape · overprint
  4. ArtworkYour CMYK artwork, unchanged

Export and Print & Cut

Straight to the RIP.
No detours through other software.

Point Print & Cut at the folder VersaWorks watches once. After that, one click sends the current job to the printer queue.

  • PDF and EPS with real spot colours for printing and cutting. SVG and PNG for everything else.
  • Exact sizes: the page grows to fit an outward cutline or bleed.
  • Print & Cut writes the job into your VersaWorks hot folder or queue folder with a unique name.
  • Each file is written in full before it appears, so the RIP never picks up a half-written job.
  • Tested with Roland VersaWorks 7: PDFs import, CutContour, RDG_White and RDG_Gloss are recognised, and jobs arrive through the hot folder.
The Export menu: SVG for web and Illustrator, PDF for vector print, EPS for RIP and sign software, PNG raster preview.
Settings: output folder and the Print & Cut folder where VersaWorks picks up jobs, as PDF or EPS.

Under the hood

Fast, local and yours.
No subscription, no cloud.

810 MB

A real Windows app

The complete installer, with Smart Select included. No .NET, Java or Python to install, and no graphics card needed. Updates download only what has changed, usually around 40 MB: Smart Select isn’t downloaded again unless it changes.

Works offline

No account, no sign-in, no cloud. Your customers’ artwork never leaves your PC.

Same result every time

Tracing runs on your processor and is deterministic: open the same file, get the same vectors.

Activate without the internet

Paste your licence key or import a .tslic file. Signed keys are checked on your PC, with no hardware lock.

Signed updates

Check for updates from the title bar. Each release is digitally signed and verified before it installs.

Your originals stay untouched

Source files are never modified, and one-click saves always write a new file instead of overwriting.

Pricing

Buy it once.
Use it for good.

A lifetime licence, activated offline. Try every feature free for 14 days first.

Launch offer

Founder's Offer: Buy Standard now, get Pro free when it launches.

Buy Contourvio Standard during our launch and you will receive a free upgrade to Contourvio Pro when Pro is released. Your upgrade is recorded against your licence at purchase, so there is nothing to claim later.

Pro includes true-shape nesting, which is still in development. No release date has been set; Pro will be released only once nesting is complete and tested.

Contourvio Standard

£179One-off · lifetime licence

Everything you need to prepare artwork for print and cut, today.

  • Raster-to-vector tracing
  • Open and prepare PDF, AI, EPS and SVG artwork
  • Background removal, with Smart Select for photo subjects
  • CutContour and PerfCutContour cutlines
  • Offsets, smoothing and manual cutline editing
  • Vector bleed, white ink and gloss layers
  • PDF, EPS, SVG and PNG export
  • Print & Cut to a VersaWorks hot folder
  • Offline activation

Includes the Founder's Offer: free upgrade to Pro when it launches.

Start free trial Buy £179

Contourvio Pro

Coming soon

£249One-off · lifetime licence · coming soon

Everything in Standard, plus true-shape nesting. Not yet available to buy.

  • Everything in Contourvio Standard
  • True-shape nestingPlanned
Start a Standard trial Coming soon

Prices in GBP. One-off payment, no subscription. No VAT is charged: SC Laser Ltd is not VAT registered. Secure card payment by Stripe; your licence key arrives by email straight away. Contourvio Pro cannot be bought yet: it will go on sale only when true-shape nesting is complete and tested.

FAQ

Questions,
answered plainly.

Which file formats can I open and export?

Open raster artwork as PNG, JPG, WebP, BMP, GIF, TIFF or ICO and Contourvio traces it to vectors. Open PDF, PDF-compatible AI, EPS and SVG/SVGZ files as they are, without tracing.

Export PDF, EPS, SVG or PNG. For printing and cutting, use PDF or EPS: they carry the cutline and white/gloss layers as real spot colours. PDF works with every file; EPS can’t hold an opened PDF or EPS that you’ve edited if it contains photos, gradients or text, and Contourvio tells you to use PDF for those.

Which versions of Windows does it run on?

Windows 10 and 11 (64-bit). Contourvio is a native application of about 38 MB; the complete installer is about 810 MB because it includes everything Smart Select needs to pick out photo subjects. It does not need .NET, Java, Python or a graphics card.

Does it need an internet connection?

Working in Contourvio is offline. Website trial codes need one online activation after email verification. Existing signed licence keys can still be pasted or imported offline, and there is no online check while you work.

Internet is also used if you choose to check for updates. Smart Select is included in the installer and works offline.

How does the free trial work?

Free trials run for 14 days and include every feature of Contourvio Standard. When you buy, enter your full licence key in Settings → Licence and the trial is replaced straight away, with no reinstall.

How does it work with Roland VersaWorks?

Exports use the Roland special-colour names VersaWorks expects: CutContour and PerfCutContour for cutting, RDG_White for white underprint and RDG_Gloss for gloss. Each is a real spot colour on its own layer, with overprint.

Print & Cut writes the finished job straight into a folder you choose, such as a VersaWorks hot folder or queue folder. Files are written completely before they appear, so the RIP never picks up a half-written job. Contourvio has been tested with VersaWorks 7.

Do I need a Roland printer?

No. Contourvio is useful for tracing, background removal and clean PDF, EPS and SVG export whatever you print on. The spot-colour names follow Roland VersaWorks conventions, so the print-and-cut workflow is designed around Roland equipment; whether another RIP recognises those names depends on that RIP.

How do licences and updates work?

A full licence is a one-off purchase that does not expire. It is a signed key checked on your PC, with no hardware lock or activation server.

Updates are delivered from inside the app: the update button checks for a new release, verifies its digital signature and installs it in place.

Is nesting available?

Not yet. True-shape nesting is being developed for Contourvio Pro. Pro is not on sale and will be released only once nesting is complete and tested; everything currently available is included in Contourvio Standard.

What is the Founder's Offer?

Buy Contourvio Standard (£179) during the launch and you get a free upgrade to Contourvio Pro when Pro is released. The upgrade is recorded with your licence when you buy, and your Pro licence will be issued to you when Pro ships.

Pro is not yet available and has no release date. Your Standard licence works in full in the meantime.

Try Contourvio
free for 14 days.

Every feature included. When you buy, paste your licence key and keep working: no reinstall.

Download for Windows

Contourvio-1.0.91-Setup.exe · ~810 MB

Version
1.0.91
System
Windows 10 and 11 (64-bit)
Size
About 810 MB installer, with Smart Select included
Licence
Offline use after activation
SHA-256
556eee7e91c0640cfe72fce751dc95f23e61ad2ffc5b7ea08e4b881d5b2cb2a4

Contact

Questions about your workflow?

Tell us what you print and cut, and what your customers send you. Email us at support@contourvio.com.

Email support@contourvio.com