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Illustrator For Lasering (view source)
Revision as of 20:15, 26 September 2015
, 20:15, 26 September 2015Created page with "Jason Shanfield and Burton Kent are interested in teaching "Illustrator for Lasering" Some topics to cover include: * Adapting/editing existing designs quickly * Hotkeys * P..."
Jason Shanfield and Burton Kent are interested in teaching "Illustrator for Lasering"
Some topics to cover include:
* Adapting/editing existing designs quickly
* Hotkeys
* Precision placement/scaling/sizing of cuts/holes/joints - essential, especially if working in 3 dimensions/fitting things together.
* Parametric boxes
* Project boxes
* Living hinges
* Wood hinges
* Gluing acrylic
* Vector hatch fills (faster than raster cutting, looks better too) http://www.cuddleburrito.com/blog/2014/6/16/vector-path-crosshatching-in-illustrator-to-speed-up-laser-cutting
* Finding/using vector graphics
* Etching using the rotary tool (and compensating for distortion if it's not a cylinder)
* Kickass joins (good for CNC routers too) http://makezine.com/2012/04/13/cnc-panel-joinery-notebook/
* efficiently using the pathfinding tools — not so basic as it turns out
* joins, compound paths, and clipping masks — again, not so basic as it turns out
* locating stray points and paths that can cause the machine to re-trace certain lines, which can ruin some of the work I do — tedious and non-intuitive
* using the alignment tools re: relative placement of the cutting head and generally — sometimes overlooked
* accurately setting the machine's absolute origin to desired tolerances — advanced
* using jigs for repetitive procedures (I set it to ~.005-.010 so people get cuts against the rulers rather than the machine leaving whatever raw edges were on the piece, if that makes sense) — advanced
* rubber stamp mode for stamps, dies, and simple engraving (fences and mirroring) — medium advanced
* color mode — advanced — requires some knowledge of PS threshold, posterization, or color separation strategies.
* Photoshop strategies for cleaning up raster images to get good results with the Illustrator image trace tools, and image trace cleanup/path smoothing/pathfinding. I do this a lot for preparing images for silk screen printing.
Some topics to cover include:
* Adapting/editing existing designs quickly
* Hotkeys
* Precision placement/scaling/sizing of cuts/holes/joints - essential, especially if working in 3 dimensions/fitting things together.
* Parametric boxes
* Project boxes
* Living hinges
* Wood hinges
* Gluing acrylic
* Vector hatch fills (faster than raster cutting, looks better too) http://www.cuddleburrito.com/blog/2014/6/16/vector-path-crosshatching-in-illustrator-to-speed-up-laser-cutting
* Finding/using vector graphics
* Etching using the rotary tool (and compensating for distortion if it's not a cylinder)
* Kickass joins (good for CNC routers too) http://makezine.com/2012/04/13/cnc-panel-joinery-notebook/
* efficiently using the pathfinding tools — not so basic as it turns out
* joins, compound paths, and clipping masks — again, not so basic as it turns out
* locating stray points and paths that can cause the machine to re-trace certain lines, which can ruin some of the work I do — tedious and non-intuitive
* using the alignment tools re: relative placement of the cutting head and generally — sometimes overlooked
* accurately setting the machine's absolute origin to desired tolerances — advanced
* using jigs for repetitive procedures (I set it to ~.005-.010 so people get cuts against the rulers rather than the machine leaving whatever raw edges were on the piece, if that makes sense) — advanced
* rubber stamp mode for stamps, dies, and simple engraving (fences and mirroring) — medium advanced
* color mode — advanced — requires some knowledge of PS threshold, posterization, or color separation strategies.
* Photoshop strategies for cleaning up raster images to get good results with the Illustrator image trace tools, and image trace cleanup/path smoothing/pathfinding. I do this a lot for preparing images for silk screen printing.