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Ferlin

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I just designed cutesy animals and insects in illustrator to go in a childs room. The architect wants these to be very slick. These designs will go to a laser cutter where the overall shape will be cut out and all the defining lines like the eyes mouth stripes will be scored bu the cutter.
All I have is vague information that these designs have to be in a cad program for the laser cutter. These will be made of plexiglass.
Can I send an illustrator file - and if so what format- to someone who works on a cad program and have that cad program easily translate my illustrator file into lines for the cutter. I know nothing about auto cad.
Maybe this should be in the general subjects..
Hope someone knows about this kind of stuff Thanks in advance
 
(PSD) Sergiy

Hello Bud :)
I`m not sure that i can help...?
"AutoCAD" have a format wich is dwg. ... its actualy a 3D animating
programm, so i`m thinking that most of 3D formats will go... \:]
But i may be wrong.
Try to save it in Illustrator as dmg. (if it has this one)
I haven`t work with this programm ever, and i never had.
Good Luck Ferlin. ;)
 
Illustrator doesn't save .dwg formats. Your best bet is talking with the person doing the work, if possible. Maybe they could use a PDF?
 
Ferlin
If the shop uses an older laser or Vector cutting laser only, it will probably require a CAD format.
If the laser drivers are New generation, ie Laser built in last 5 years or so, they work like a printer in terms of how they handle output from computers. This means that whatever format your printer could handle, the Laser could handle as well(jpg, bmp, etc). The problem is these formats are raster information and used for engraving, not cutting.

If laser is a Raster/Vector capable laser, it will probably handle AI. (illustrator) which allow both raster and vector information in same file. It sounds like you just want to cut an outline around a shape, so Illustrator AI format is probably best, as it allows vector information.
Be aware that most laser shops use Corel products(I don't know why, other than that's what they always have used) but they will accept Illustrator format as well.
You will have to ask the laser shop what format they want, but at least you have an idea what to expect.

shreck
 
Illustrator doesn't save .dwg formats
Click to expand...
Sure it does, just go under "export" instead of "save". It's the first option. ;)

Everyone is on the right track though. While most cutting systems I've dealt with will accept or convert Illustrator files, you will have to format them in a special way. Only the shop that will be doing the cutting can tell you for sure what you need to do and provide. You need to get in the habit of always contacting the output shop first thing when you know where it will be going. That's rule number one in professional output. There are standards, but even so, it's hard to know which ones they are even using. Talk to the shop and they should be able to tell you exactly what format to provide them and any special requirements that they will have for the job.

Good luck.
 
I totally forgot the export options. Oops!
Click to expand...

I know, it throws me off too sometimes. Why we need two options to do the same thing is beyond me. Just make it a "save" operation and leave the specific engineering mumbo jumbo behind the scenes. :)
 
Thanks

Thanks for all the info. Never had to deal with this before. I like making my own stencils and don't like to lose control of a project this way, having it out of my hands. No shop involved -but it is good to know these things for the future. My friend teaches at a tech college and can do the laser cutting for me there. Hope he knows what he's doing. He says it has to be done in cad so I have to find someone who knows cad to translate my illustrator files. I can see my 1/3 deposit for the job frittering away.. \:] \:]
 
Each tech college will have at least one person who can work with autocad etc. But Ferlin: cad means Computer Aided Design, and is *not* a file type. You don't need any .cad file!. the .dwg is the correct one, but I cannot tell you anything about it as I have neither a cad prog, nor Illustrator.
 
He says it has to be done in cad so I have to find someone who knows cad to translate my illustrator files.
Click to expand...

Did you miss the part where I told you how to export Illustrator files as AutoCAD files? [stuned]
 
Didn't miss it.

I get it MB. I appreciate your instructions and have printed them out. I've found a student who will trace my illustrator designs in cad . I sent him Jpegs and it's out of my hands now. If this comes up again and we deal directly with a sign shop or whatever I'll have a better idea of what to do. The laser cutter has to have color coded lines on seperate layers for it to be able to tell which lines are scored and which lines are to be cut through. Since I designed these with none of this in mind it would be too laborious to go through and edit these designs again. Thanks again ;)
 
Yes, MB is right on!

Usually, the cutters are piloted by proprietary programs. At school, we did use Easy Sign...

I'd say that the generic Vector format is .eps , it is accepted in every vector app I know of (Illustrator, Corel, Freehand, Easysign... it can also be exported from Visio, Autocad, etc...), be imported in Word... think of it as the .bmp of vector.... but most of those apps accept also .ai files, in a smaller extent.

The most important thing is to save it in different .eps versions, for instance V7 and the latest possible by your version of Illustrator (it is best to include it in the name like: filenameV7.eps and FilenameV9.eps) . Do the same for .ai files and you should be trouble free... almost. The best is to be there when they import it in their program, so you can check if the files are not corrupted somehow...

And ALWAYS get in touch with the shop that output your works,would it be in print, vinyl cutting, silkscreen, etc... to make sure that your follow their guidelines.

Also, most cutting apps have a tracing function, so they may accept raster files, that they would vectorize. Of course, it is not safe, as there are "rounding" of the shapes, the result can be very different from your design.
 
Printed

The first time I've ever had anything printed professionally was today. I decided I wanted the clients to be able to see what they looked like life size and that is the format we used - The EPS version 8. Thats what the print shop asked for. You can't beat vector for crystal clear crisp and sharp! I'm not a professional graphic artist nor do I intend to be, so this was a treat for me. [excited]
 
Re: Printed

Ferlin said:
The first time I've ever had anything printed professionally was today. I decided I wanted the clients to be able to see what they looked like life size and that is the format we used - The EPS version 8. Thats what the print shop asked for. You can't beat vector for crystal clear crisp and sharp! I'm not a professional graphic artist nor do I intend to be, so this was a treat for me. [excited]
Click to expand...

Not what the clients themselves looked like lifesize - for they would know that - but what the artwork would look like lifesize..... Just wanted to clarify that. :D
 
(PSD) Sergiy

MindBender said:
I totally forgot the export options. Oops!
Click to expand...

I know, it throws me off too sometimes. Why we need two options to do the same thing is beyond me. Just make it a "save" operation and leave the specific engineering mumbo jumbo behind the scenes. :)
Click to expand...

I think that "Export option" is pretty usefull.
When you working in Flash or In Cinema 4D. To convert your
animation into movie... you HAVE TO go to "Export" setting,
because there, you canno`t "Save!" your work in wma, avi, mpeg
etc... you have to Export it

Good Luck :)
 
I think that "Export option" is pretty usefull.
When you working in Flash or In Cinema 4D. To convert your
animation into movie... you HAVE TO go to "Export" setting,
because there, you canno`t "Save!" your work in wma, avi, mpeg
etc... you have to Export it
Click to expand...

I just find it irritating. Plus, you can save your work in Illustrator as other files besides AI... so to make the deliniation between export and save if there are other options in save seems silly to me.
 
psdsergiy

I just find it irritating. Plus, you can save your work in Illustrator as other files besides AI... so to make the deliniation between export and save if there are other options in save seems silly to me.
Click to expand...

H-m-m? You maybe right, but still ... this other options is very usefull ;)
 
this other options is very usefull
Click to expand...

Sure it's useful. I'm not disagreeing with that. All I'm saying is that they should just put it in one menu so we don't lose track of it. ;)
 
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