It’s all hand cut with an x-acto knife. The trick is to not push too hard. If you do that, the knife will dive deeper into the self-healing cutting mat. That way it’s harder to cut round shapes. Some people apply extra pressure when they do concentrated cuts. I did that too. But it makes it harder to cut clean. I use 160 g/m paper and I trained myself (pay attention) to cut with the least pressure needed. Also, replacing the blades for every new project. I use about two blades per week.