In order to use the laser cutter, you will need to provide your own material. However, you will need to purchase your own project materials. The equipment, software, and tools needed to do a laser cutting project are absolutely free.
Your design will need to follow certain guidelines for the laser cutter to know whether to cut, score, or engrave certain design elements. You may use the laser cutter computer to create your design but this will reduce the amount of time you have to actually cut. Laser cutting requires that you create a design in vector software such as Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw, or Inkscape. However, they will set-up, maintain, and troubleshoot lab equipment. Be advised that lab staff do not provide one-on-one instruction. Lab members will have access to a small library of instructional materials such as books, in-software tutorials, as well as online classes through LinkedIn Learning and NicheAcademy. For those members who do not have any experience with our offerings, the Octavia Lab provides the perfect venue for self-guided learning. Illustrator has an active community and you will find lots of free tutorials on youtube that can help you get started in a jiffy.As a DIY Makerspace, we expect that most members have a passing knowledge of how some of the software/equipment/tools works. The main reason being that you can use this software on any device and you can use it for lots of other non-laser engraving projects as well. Overall, if we could only choose one software, it would be Illustrator from Adobe. Or, if you’re already in the world of laser engraving and looking for new and better software, give one of these a try! If you’re new to the world of laser engraving and not sure where to start, any of the options above are great starting points. This software also has advanced features such as a “hairline” option that allows you to control line width when you print your design – which is exactly what you want when doing laser engraving. This software is great for turning common file types such as JPEG or PNG’s into vector lines, curves, angles, and much more.
DraftSight is a design software that helps you create an image that you can upload to your laser cutter and put your design on your desired object. If you love 2D laser engraving software, you need to give DraftSight a try! It has the same attention to detail as all the laser engraving software, if not more.
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