Two files, one design. The SVG is for Cricut Design Space and design software; the DXF is for Silhouette Studio, including the free edition. The shapes inside them are identical — take whichever your machine reads and ignore the other.
Which file did you get?
Cricut, and most design software
Opens at the right sizeEvery layer is its own shape, filled with the colour you chose. The lettering has already been converted to outlines, so there is no font to install and nothing shifts when the file is opened on another computer.
- In Design Space:
Upload → Upload Image, drag the.svgin, then Save as a Cut Image and add it to your canvas. - The layers arrive as separate coloured shapes. Cut each one from its own card, then stack them.
- The file states its size in millimetres, so it should arrive at the size shown in the export panel. Check the width before you cut anything expensive.
Silhouette Studio, including the free edition
No upgrade neededSilhouette Studio's free Basic edition cannot open SVG files — that is part of the paid Designer Edition. It does open DXF, which is the whole reason this file exists.
File → Open, orMergeto drop it into a page you are already working on, and choose the.dxf.- Set the size. DXF does not carry its measurements from one program to another, so Studio brings the design in at its own scale. Type the width from the export panel into the size box with the aspect ratio locked.
- Each part is on its own named layer:
TEXTfor the lettering, thenBASE-1for the piece directly behind it, counting up to the largest at the back.
File → Save As → Silhouette Studio V3. It reopens at that size from then on. Save to SD Card (GSP) writes a file the Cameo can cut on its own with no computer attached.
The picture to print and cut
Paper, not plasticYou get this one when your topper has a picture pocket — a shallow recess sunk into the front face for a photo. It is not for the 3D printer: it goes to an ordinary paper printer.
- Open the
.pdfand print it at 100%. Turn off fit to page or scale to fit — that is the whole point of the sheet, and it is the one setting that will ruin it. - Cut along the pink line.
- Glue the picture into the pocket on the printed topper. The pocket is cut a fraction wider than the picture so it drops in rather than having to be forced.
Stacking the layers
Cut each layer from its own colour
The layers are concentric, not side by side: BASE-1 is the smallest and sits just behind the lettering, and the highest number is the largest, at the back. Cutting each from a different card is what gives the finished topper its outline.
Glue back to front
Start with the largest layer face up, glue the next size down onto it, and finish with the lettering on top. A glue stick is enough for card; use a spray adhesive for vinyl so the thin strokes do not lift.
Mount it on the cake
The spikes along the bottom edge are sized to be pushed into a cake. In card they are better treated as a guide — tape a food-safe pick or a wooden skewer behind them and push that in instead, so nothing paper touches the cake.
Most downloads are a single file — drag it straight onto the build plate. Only STL · Parts arrives as a .zip; right-click it and choose Extract / Unzip first, because Bambu Studio can't read files while they're still zipped.
Install & set up Bambu Studio
Download Bambu Studio (free) from bambulab.com, open it, and select your printer model at the top (A1, P1S, X1C, etc.). Everything here works the same in OrcaSlicer.
Import your file
Drag the file onto the build plate, or use File → Import → Import 3MF/STL/STEP/OBJ…
Which file did you get?
Layers with colours built in
Any printerOne file holding every layer as its own object, already coloured and already sitting flat on the plate. Nothing to unzip.
- Drag the
.3mfin. The colours you chose come through automatically. - The layers are spread out so they don't overlap. Press
A(or the arrange button in the top toolbar) to tidy them onto the plate. - Large toppers won't all fit at once — see Printing in batches below.
- Print the layers, then stack and glue them. No AMS needed: each layer is a separate single-colour print.
One model, every colour
Best with an AMSOne file, one object, with a part per colour already assigned to its own filament slot.
- Drag the
.3mfin. In the Objects panel you'll see the parts listed — Base 1, Base 2, Text, and so on. - Check each part is pointing at the filament you actually loaded, and change it there if not.
- With an AMS, the whole topper prints in one job.
- Without an AMS this prints as a single colour — use 3MF · Parts instead.
Layers without colour
A .zip of .stl files — the lettering plus one per base layer. STL can't carry colour, so you assign it yourself.
- Extract the zip, select all the
.stlfiles and drag them in together. - When asked "Load these files as a single object with multiple parts?" → click Yes. This keeps every layer aligned.
- In the Objects panel, click each part and pick a filament.
Single-piece topper
One .stl, one colour. Import it, check it's lying flat on the plate, then slice and print.
Also got a PDF? That is the picture sheet for a topper with a picture pocket — paper, not plastic. It lives under Cut files ▸ The picture to print and cut.
Messages you may see — and what they mean
"The 3mf file has invalid config, load geometry data only"
Shown by Bambu Studio when you open a 3MF.Expected — click OK and carry on. It means the file carries your model but not a print profile. That's deliberate: your own printer, filament and quality settings stay exactly as you had them instead of being overwritten by ours. Your colours and parts still load correctly. Bambu's own sample models show the same message.
"Multi-part object detected"
Asks whether to load the file as a single object with multiple parts.For STL · Parts, answer Yes — it keeps the layers aligned to each other. You shouldn't see it for 3MF files.
Arranging & printing in batches
Arrange everything onto the plate
Press A, or click the arrange button in the top toolbar. Bambu packs every object onto the plate and warns you if something doesn't fit.
If the layers don't all fit
A wide topper can be larger than the plate once its layers are side by side. That's normal — print them across a few jobs:
- Right-click the objects you're not printing yet and choose Delete (your download keeps the originals, so you can re-import).
- Arrange, slice and print what's left.
- Re-import the file and repeat for the remaining layers.