Rotation-ation!

This outcome had several things that we can begin to use in the digital workshop from now on, Enjoy!

We finally got around to completing the Geometric pattern tutorial that was posted on here aeons ago - which we totaly pwnd and did a much better job at ;)



Following up from the preview of the rotational engraving samples - here be a rundown of the process with added pics for you all to see!



all starts here - select rtation attachment in the printing preferences, this will as for the diameter of the object, and the height of the document.



This is the view from trotec before we're ready to press go.



In trotec we have to define certain perameters for the functioon to work.


Alt + Ctrl + S will open up this dialog box allowing you to select rotation as an assessory



And this one - select no moves which should stop the laser head from colliding with the rotation axis. (Important!)

One thing we discovered was that your stock needs to be bigger than the artwork to allow for the laser to run off each edge without collisions.









The next step would be using different materials, and also marking and cutting which I whink would look great!

Tips for file creation

Make a fill from a stroke weight - Object  > path  > Outline stroke



For text, always create outlines! type > select outlines

Engraving pixel based artwork



Open your Jpg, bmp, png etc :)



Select the image, and choose embed to leave it as a pixel image or live trace to vectorise it.




Edit > convert to grayscale



Once grayscale, to achive a high quality engrave it may be neccessary to adjust the colour balance and increase the contrast.



Alternativly, use the live trace to vectorise the image. Use with caution as it can alter your artwork dramatically.

File Setup for Trotec Laser

Hello!

Just a friendly reminder on quick file setup for your lasering needs!





Make a new file! On startup of Illustrator you should see this dialog box, or File - New!

Specify the size of the artboard, either default paper size or a custom measurement.

You can also choose how many artboards you want to work with. (see additional Blog Entry!)



If your docuement isnt already set to RGB, do so by File > Document Colour Mode > RGB.



There is a chance that colour mode will not have changed within the colours pallet - so that will need to be updated.



All marking and cutting strokes to be set at 0.01mm

I'd reccomend removing strokes from fill engraves and text.




For strokes that are to mark, change to red 255



Cutting strokes change to blue 255



For fill engraves, change to black 0,0,0



If you have loads of empty space in your document - edit the artboard size as to reduce material and the overall size of your job.

Get your work as close as 1mm between objects for maximum efficieny.




Get really fancy - share lines from other parts of your drawing to reduce time and increase effiency in the lasering! You must ensure that you have no double lines in the document.



If you have double lines, use the direct selction tool to select and delete.



Save your work!

Current accepted file types are Adobe Illustrator CS5 or a PDF.

Boom! Rotation!

What better way to spend a Friday than at the Airshow Lasering in the fourth dimention axis! Here's a preview:

Tesselations

In this post I'll be looking at (again) repeat patterns. For some reason I just cannot get enough of them!



Some shapes made in Illustrator - The top row is of a simple kite shape, duplicated and set up ready for a batch of lasering later today!

the bottom of that picture you can see a 'Sierpinski Triangle', which is one of those shapes I can draw, but not have any clue as to the mathematical algorithms behind it. As Wikipedia puts it, a Sierpinski triangle it a confined recursion of triangles to form a geometric lattice.



Tessellation of a shape - maximising material usage!

Spherical Infinity:



There are quite a few variants on circular fractals, but this is one my puny brain could understand!

A progressional view of the creation of this shape.



Shape generation showed here with the lasered examples.

Patterns

Sneek peek at what will be a feature post, but early developments require a post of their own!

I have been working with Preeti our printmaking technician, and was given the brief to create some one of a kind lino prints, that could only have been produced by applying high end technology, in this case applying the use of Adobe Illustrator and our Trotec Laser cutters.







Our preliminary plan is firstly to build links between the two departments, in doing so exploring the benefits of applying digital technology to a well established discipline whilst producing some interesting artwork and discussion!

See you next time!

Multiple Artboards

Ok,

So the new version of Illustrator, CS5, allows for multipul artboards, and we can take full advantage of this with the lasercutter!

The below image shows the setup of the file, simply copy the original artboard within Document Setup as many times as you need, and layout the work for each image.



The completed Illustrator File. Make sure all the fiels are corectly setup using the File Setup PDF.



Print the document as normal, if nessesary use the Printing and Trotec PDF.



The first job will appear in the Job Control printing cueue.



You can begin printing whilst the remaining jobs are sent to the cueue.



So there you have it, a very quick and efficient way of sending multipul jobs to the laser! Happy Printing!

Note: This process will only be of use if you are using the same size stock on all your jobs!