Hello all!

[David Arana]

Hello all, just wanted to introduce myself.

Im David, I have a sign and now laser engraving business in lower alabama. Near Fort Rucker.
Im skilled in photoshop,illustrator,flexi sign pro, and I dabble in Corel (Least Favorite program)
I consider myself an expert at vector(cut contour) files. If anyone needs help. Please shoot me an email and I'll see what I can do.

It took about a week but I finally have been given access to make posts and replies on the forums.

I look forward to learning and contributing to the knowledge and friendliness of these forums. I have learned so much in the past week.

I just recieved my laser wich I purchased from Rob and Diane Bosworth

Great people over there! I highly recommend them to anyone searching for a trustworthy and friendly website to make a laser system purchase.

Thanks for having me!

Heres some samples of my first jobs. I hope I did this correctly, I apologize if the files are too large.

[Ted Owen]

Thank you for showing your work, David. I have been doing scroll saw marquetry for about a year and have just learned a bit about the use of lasers instread. So I don't yet own one.

A friend who owns an Epilog Helix 45-watt unit was describing his sytem for me. He said everyone uses Corel rather than Adobe Photoshop. Beginning with a photo or other graphic, he uses Corel's Contour feature to mark lines for cutting, then laboriously traces those lines to create vectors. Can this be correct--you must copy the lines with a mouse?

Then he adjusts the size of the field and insert pieces to provide a .002" gap and cuts the pieces. I've also reviewed archived threads here that describe a similar procedure. So I think I generally understand the process with Corel.

But we have recently purchased Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended for other purposes, so I'd rather use that. Can Photoshop can be used instead of Corel?



Say I started with an image such as above and wanted to prepare it for cutting and assembly in a marquetry piece. What are the exact steps, if possible in Adobe?

Also, could someone please update this thread from a few years ago for any recent developments?
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=26908

I realize I've asked a lot, but I'm trying to gain a quick understanding of what items I would need to purchase and their costs.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help with advice. And good luck, David, with your work.

Best, Ted

[David Arana]

I do know its possible with photoshop to create contour lines.
Although I have not tested it with the laser. I do know for a fact it works with my vinyl cutter.
I know for sure you can create the entire work file from photoshop and transfer it over to Corel. So all you have to do in corel is setup the print options and hit print.

Heres how you do it. I hope this is correct. Im not on my work computer at the moment so I hope all of this is correct.

First select your pen tool.
Then go to the top left of the photoshop screen and select the paths button.
Draw your path. Make sure your path is completed or this will not work.
Once your path is drawn. Go to the top of your photoshop bar and
click on Window and make sure that the paths option is checked on.
The paths window should open up.
There you must double click on the blue bar that says Work Path.
When you double click, it will ask you for a save name.
Then go to the top left of the screen. File/Export/Paths to Illustrator
When you export it. Make sure you export it somewhere easy to find,
such as desktop.

Now that essentially has saved the path file. The path WILL work in Corel. The path will be invisible when you transfer it to Corel so you will need to give it a stroke in corel so that you can actually see it.
Now save your photoshop artfile as a jpeg and transfer it over to corel and overlay the path on top it. And thats it!

The path will be the same size as your art file as long you do not resize the artfile after the fact you have drawn the path.

Hope this helps!

[Doug Griffith]

If you don't yet own Corel and are familiar with Adobe's interface, then I suggest you go with Illustrator. You can copy and paste from both Adobe apps and what you want to do can very easily be done in Illustrator.

You can not set line weight on paths in photoshop so you will not be able to vector cut with it.

Cheers,
Doug

[David Arana]

I agree, although you can set the line weight of the exported path in Corel. Thats just adding more steps. So its actually easier to use a combo of photoshop and illustrator.

The way I do my full print sign work with contours is.
Edit in photoshop. and draw the lines in Flexi Pro.

[George D Gabert]

In corel you can import the picture and then auto trace the bitmap picture. The higher resolution the original the higher quality of the vector cutting lines.

The resolution of the attached picture was pretty poor, but here is an auto trace of it in corel V10. The contours can then be ungrouped and then cut each seperate part.

There has been some previous posts showing other peoples work.

GDG

[Ted Owen]

Looks like I'll need to get Corel in any event. Thank you, everyone.

Best, Ted

[Doug Griffith]

That's odd. There's nothing I can't do with a laser and I don't have Corel.

I can't download sample files from SMC and there is a smaller user base here for me to get help from but that's about it.

[Dan Hintz]

Check my signature... notice Corel is not listed in there. In fact, there's not a single program in there that cost me money.