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Laser Cutting with Illustrator Files

Page history last edited by Tom 10 years, 4 months ago

Overview

Adobe Illustrator can print bitmap and vector graphics, so it is a good application to use for laser cutting as well as engraving.

Document / Page Setup

In the Document Setup dialog (File:Document Setup), set the document size to 24” x 24”. The VersaLaser can only print the objects that appear in the uppermost 18” of the page (ignoring the lower 6”).

Creating / Editing

As you create and edit objects in Illustrator, the key to success is assigning the proper colors and line weights:

• For cutting, assign Stroke (line weight) = 0.001”, Stroke Color = Primary Red (RGB 255,0,0).
• For deep engraving, assign Stroke = 0.001”, Stroke Color = Primary Blue (RGB 0,0,255).
• For engraving, assign Stroke = ANY, Stroke Color = Primary Black (RGB 0,0,0).
• All fills will be printed as engraving.
• Photos and objects with other colors will be reinterpreted as their grayscale value, and the depth of the engraving will increase with the darkness of that value (light colors = shallow, dark colors = deep).

Printing

In the Print dialog (File:Print), ignore the facts that the preview window shows the page rotated the wrong way, and you cannot see the rightmost side of your document. These are software glitches, but your plot will be OK.

Leave the Page Orientation set to Portrait; don’t set it to Landscape. Also, do not scale the document -- you want it to print at full size.