The projects
We were given three projects to design to be put in a laser cutter to cut and engrave. We had to design a notebook cover, a water bottle design, and a 3d object to be assembled after cutting.
The notebook
While thinking of a design for my notebook, I had trouble finding an idea that I really liked. I decided to keep it simple since that seemed like my favorite option. I liked the idea of having my name on both sides and a big M cut out of the front.
Front cover Back cover
To make this design I had to make to rectangles with red outlines and appropriate sizes. Then I had to use the text tool to write my name and the M. Then I used a tool to trace the M so I could make the outline red and the inside white so it would be cut out. Then all I had left was to arrange the design how I wanted.
The water bottle
For my water bottle design I had a little less trouble than I did with the notebook. I liked how the note book cover looked so I decided to make my water bottle look simple as well. I decided to make the water bottle represent who I am a little more than I did with the note book. For the water bottle I decided to put a twitch logo to be engraved and my twitch user name to show how I stream on twitch sometimes.
Bottle design
The 3d object
The 3d object I decided should be a little more complicated than my two previous designs. I found the design online for a die to be cut out of a laser cutter and assembled afterwards. I really liked that the die could have an actual use other than to just look cool so I went with the design I found online
Dice design
To make this design I had to paste in the black and white image I had found online and then measure the parts to make sure it would work with my material. After that, I had to change the picture so it would cut out the parts instead of just engraving them. To do this I had to make the outlines red instead of black. Then after I had done that and I was happy with it, my die was done.
Summary
While doing my individual laser cut projects I learned some important things about illustrator. The first thing I learned was that only specific designs found on google can be used to cut out on the laser cutter. If you use a picture that is more than just black and white you will run into problems. If you have a black and white photo you can leave it how it is to engrave the design or change the black to red if you want to make a cut on the design. The final thing I learned about the laser cutting design process is that with the right knowledge of tools, you can make almost anything with a laser cutter, ranging from a simple keychain to a complex 3d laser cut dinosaur.