You just scan you pictures and cut. You can also scan your fabric and fussy cut, or cut intricate curve piecing that you really don't want to rotary cut. I love mine. It does have a learning curve but can see many years of use for quilting and scrapbook card making. you do need to really read and watch online videos prior to cutting to not cut through mats, many people just go by the manual which is a sure fire way to cut through your mat. It is fun though and they are now starting to offer classes at road to ca quilt show. I just enrolled