I was able to make laser cuts for both my first and second design. In my first design of the lizard, I had found that some of my pieces were cut so thinly that it might become too fragile while being worked with. In my second design with the astronaut helmet I added a border to make the piece more stable. This would help make the piece pop and be more physically stable. However, due to time limitations and finding issues in the Retina Engrave software, I was unable to cut the second design. I wrote more about the issues and testing below.
I did several mini experiments of three cubes, one for raster engraving, one for vector engraving, one for vector cutting. I found that I preferred a lighter raster cut at about 10%, vector engraving at 10% as well, and 3 passes at 33% worked well. I will have to do further experimentation to find a better cut. The wood is partially warped sometimes and can cause some concern about proper cuts after the pieces sinks a bit. However, this may not be too much of an issue with acrylic due to the less moisture reliant stability of the material.
There were issues with importing my raster shapes as well. This is likely because of how many objects there were in the file. I got around this by separating what I wanted to be raster engraved and my vector lines. I hid the vector lines and left the black areas that needed to be engraved. I then exported these shapes as a high resolution PNG file and placed it underneath the other lines I had separated. This left me with just my vector lines above a PNG of what I wanted to engrave. It allowed for me to put more information into one file as I chose to print and made hitting print from Inkscape a lot easier.
I noticed the lines on the lizzard’s body really give it a space suit vibe.
I really appreciate your drive and willingness to experiment and troubleshoot your designs. Bleep came out wonderful and looks awesome atop of the galaxy backdrop!
First I was struck by the use of a background for your featured image of the cut piece. I appreciate the way you described the creation process of the physical piece and how you tested for this piece which will probably help and save time in the future for the material.
Hi Kat! I love your tiny lizard- especially the details like the hands and plants came out so nicely! He is very cute
Hey Kat! I was struck by how it looks like your lizard is traveling the galaxy. It also looks like it is wearing a spacesuit with plants inside which is incredibly creative! Nice job!
Hi Kat! I noticed how intricate the space lizard design is,and think its super impressive that all of the thin parts of the design stayed together so well! Both cuts came out great!
Hi! I am so glad I finally get to see how your design came out! I appreciate the addition of natural branches into this si-fi lizard astronaut. I am struck by the visual impact from the blue space background, it gives the guy life!
This lizard is so cute! I’m really pleased by the plants inside the helmet, and surprised at how thin you could make the stems.