The Fastest Way to Generate CutContour PDFs Online

If you are making stickers with a Roland printer cutter, you need a CutContour spot color in your PDF. Most people use Adobe Illustrator or SAI Flexi for this. CutContour does it automatically in seconds, right in your browser.

How Other Tools Handle CutContour

Adobe Illustrator ($22.99/month)

Illustrator is the industry standard for creating CutContour paths. Place your PNG, trace or draw a path, offset it, create a spot color swatch named “CutContour”, export as PDF with separations preserved. It works, but it takes 10 to 30 minutes per design and costs $275/year. You also need to know how spot colors and PDF separations work, which is a steep learning curve if you are just starting out.

VersaWorks Job Assistant (Free, built into VersaWorks 6.13+)

Roland added a Job Assistant feature that can generate cut lines inside VersaWorks itself. The catch: it only works with vector data (SVG files). If your sticker designs are PNGs (which most are if you use Photoshop, Canva, or Procreate), Job Assistant cannot generate a cut path from them. You would need to convert to SVG first, which is its own process.

Roland Designer (Free, browser-based, VersaWorks 7)

Roland's newest option is Designer, a browser-based tool available through Roland DG Connect. It can generate cut lines from uploaded PNGs and SVGs. It is free and works on Mac and PC. However, it requires a Roland DG Connect account, is tied to the VersaWorks 7 ecosystem, and is still a relatively new tool with limited offset control compared to dedicated cut contour solutions.

CutContour App ($19.99 lifetime)

CutContour does one thing and does it well: turn your PNG into a VersaWorks-ready PDF with a proper CutContour spot color. Upload, adjust the offset and size with precise sliders (including bleed/inset cuts), download. No vector editing, no spot color configuration, no PDF export settings. Works on any device with a browser, even your phone. One-time payment, no subscription, no Roland account required.

What Makes a Good CutContour Generator?

Accurate edge detection. The cut line needs to follow your artwork precisely. CutContour analyzes the alpha channel of your PNG to find exact artwork edges, even on complex shapes with holes, thin elements, and irregular outlines.

Smooth vector output. The cut path should be smooth bezier curves, not jagged pixel-traced lines. Smooth paths mean cleaner cuts, less blade chatter, and longer blade life.

Proper PDF color space. VersaWorks is very specific about how the CutContour spot color is defined in the PDF. It must be a /Separation color space with the name “CutContour” exactly. If the PDF uses a process color or a named color that does not match, VersaWorks ignores it.

Full quality image embedding. The PDF should include your original image at full resolution. No downsampling, no re-encoding. What you upload is what gets printed.

Adjustable offset. You need control over the border width between your artwork edge and the cut line. Standard kiss cut offsets range from 0.06 to 0.15 inches. Bleed cuts use small negative offsets like -0.02 inches.

Works with Every Roland Model

CutContour generates standard CutContour spot color PDFs that work with any Roland device running VersaWorks: BN-20, BN-20A, BN-20D, VS-300i, VS-540i, VS-640i, TrueVIS VG series, TrueVIS SG series, and any future models that use the CutContour convention. The PDF format is the same regardless of which machine you use.