LASER FILE PREPARATION 

 

TEMPLATES

Download template files for Illustrator and Rhino.

 

COLOR CODE

  • GREEN  -  FRAME/BORDER

  • BLACK  -  RASTER

  • BLUE  -  SCORING

  • RED  -  CUT

Advanced users can create multiple layers to achieve varying degrees of strength for scoring and rastering.

  • ORANGE  -  LIGHT RASTER

  • BLACK  -  NORMAL RASTER

  • MAGENTA  -  STRONG RASTER

  • CYAN  -  LIGHT SCORE

  • BLUE  -  NORMAL SCORE

  • YELLOW  -  STRONG SCORE

LINE WEIGHT

In Illustrator, lines (vectors to be cut or scored) should be set to .001 pt. 

In Rhino and AutoCAD, lines (vectors to be cut or scored) should be set to hairline.

Any lines that have different thicknesses will be processed as raster engraving by our software, so if you would like a thick line appearance, you may set the lines to the desired weight and these will be engraved.

 

SCALE

Use inches and save files at 1:1 scale for the final physical model. Create a border rectangle the size of the material around all pieces to be cut. An easy way to check that the scale is correct is by simply measuring your border rectangle.

Our daily format machine maximum bed size is 18" x 32". We offer larger format laser cutting size 48" x 96", custom order request.

 

ORGANIZE

Multiple sheets may be arranged within one document, side by side. Remove any unnecessary objects or layers and double check to make sure there are no duplicate lines.  In Illustrator, please use multiple art boards to differentiate between sheets to be cut. 

In Illustrator please make art-boards landscape, and remove clipping masks and compound paths.

 

SAVE

Use .3dm (Rhino), .dwg, .dxf, .ai, or .eps. Your file will be opened and cut from Rhino or Adobe Illustrator.