If your image does not have a convenient border or you only want a part of your image use a shape tool located under the Type tool.Īfter you made all of the lines go through selecting each line and in the top left corner where it says "Stroke" in orange type in the value 0.001 this may seem like a meaningless number, but that is the value equivalent to hairline in CorelDraw. If there are gaps in the outline just use the line segment tool to fill in the gaps by selecting the cutting color and dragging from one point of the gap to the other. There will be extra lines around the unwanted area, but that is fine as they wont be cutting into your image. To do this just click the arrows to the right of the box which should not be the same color as your cutting color.ĭo this until you have an outline encompassing your image. You do not want this, but rather an outline that touches the image.
This should fill in the entire area with the color. In order to do this you need to simply select the unwanted area then go to your swatch menu and select your color for cutting. Illustrator does not have a convenient feature for making an outline so instead you will be using all of the unwanted background for it. Most images have some sort of unwanted background such as a solid color. The most important part of cutting out an image is of course cutting it out. When you are happy with a color click OK and drag it in the swatch menu to the right of your folder. Generally good starting colors would be each of the solid colors such as 255 on one color and the other two at zero. The colors need to match what you have set on the laser cutter for the intended job. Color type does not really matter so just leave it on the default. The name is not important, but is a good idea to name it in a consistent manner such as WoodCut1/4th so you do not need to remember what it does. In the new menu that has popped up it will let you create swatches. To start click on the folder paper icon in between the trash can and the folder. So the next step is to start making some actual swatches. While convenient the folder itself will do nothing. This will create a new folder that you should name something convenient such as LaserCut Swatches. With all the swatches gone click on the little folder icon near the bottom it should be 3rd from the right. By default it probably has tons of colors shown, but you don't need any of them so you can either click on each individually and click on the trash can or you can click on the little button in the top right corner of the swatch menu and click "Select All Unused" and click the trash can. Go Window>Swatches this should make a pop up on the right. The next step is setting up your colors or as Illustrator calls them swatches. From now on when making a new document you can change the profile to LaserCut Preset and it will be the same format every time. Finally you move the previously made file into the folder that was opened from clicking "Browse".
Go ahead and go to File>New and Click on the Profile drop down and select "Browse." at the bottom. Name it something useful such as LaserCut Preset so you know what it is. Save this new document to an easy to access spot such as your desktop. Click OK and a new document will be created. From here click on the "Color Mode" drop down and change it to RGB. Next click on the "Advanced" drop down arrow located near the bottom. This will match Illustrator's work place to the laser cutter's bed. 25 shorter than reality to avoid conflict with CorelDraw). You can do this by setting up a few useful tools in Illustrator.įirst of all go to File>New and adjust the width to 39 and height to 23.75 to match the laser cutter(Note that each dimension is. The first step you should take is making life easier for future you.