Preparing your file for laser cutting

Working in TAPlab

Before you start:
The information on this page is designed for people who have some experience with the relevant software or are comfortable with doing most of it without help. If you don’t already know how to do this, don’t be scared off. Just come in on one of our open times and we will help you, it really isn’t as complicated as it looks.

Software

Our laser cutter workstation has Inkscape, Affinity and Corel Draw. You can prepare your file in any other vector based program, export it and then open it from one of these programmes on our computer to laser cutter it.

Commonly used file types: SVG, DXF, Ai (Adobe Illustrator), EPS, PDF

What programme should I use?

Inkscape is a free vector based graphic program, we recommend using it. If you have a suitable programme that you already use, you can use that instead.

Graphic design software: Inkscape, Affinity, Adobe Illustrator and Corel Draw
CAD software: Fusion360 and AutoCAD

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Basic settings for preparing your file

  • Laser cutting area: 726 mm x 432 mm
  • Use RGB not CMYK
  • Set your colours to:
    Red (#ff0000) = cutting
    Black (#000000) = engraving
  • Cut lines must be paths/vector lines. The stroke width shouldn’t matter but it’s usually better to work with hairline or thin lines, this keeps your design more visually consistent with how it will look in the laser software when you cut it.
  • Engraving can be vector paths or bitmap (you can engrave from a JPG or PNG).
  • It’s generally safer to turn your text into paths to avoid any font compatibility issues with our computer.
  • Overlapping cut lines can end up being cut twice. To avoid this happening either remove the double ups or leave them and make sure you use the setting to remove overlapping cut lines it the laser software.