Calligraphy and software

I have a calligraphy business and am having trouble taking my designs from Procreate and using Adobe illustrator. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Trying to navigate the learning curve of getting my machine to cut and engrave all in one design and cut.

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I don’t use those particular programs, but presumably you’re engraving your calligraphy and then wanting to cut around it? If not, can you be more specific as to what you’re trying to accomplish and someone here can definitely help!

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Not sure of your knowledge level, so excuse me if you already know this stuff:
Procreate is a raster program, and Adobe illustrator is mainly for working with vectors, although raster images can be embedded or traced.
The glowforge engraves raster images, and can cut or engrave vectors.

Is it correct to assume you want to engrave the image you drew in procreate onto some wood and then cut it out, either as a square or as a contoured shape?

I made a tutorial-ish kind of a thing doing something like this. It’s not great, but it’s something. The post also links to another tutorial that might be more intelligible.

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Yes, I want to engrave my work then cut it out. For example, milestone wooden circles for babies. Engrave the design then cut out the circle all at once.

Hi Casey! Welcome to the forum. :sunglasses:
The glowforge UI uses colors to distinguish different operations, so you would have the raster for engraving in one color and a vector for cutting in a different color. Which colors dosn’t matter.
The left sidebar of the bed image will have a thumbnail for each color, and the operations will be accomplished in order from top to bottom. You can drag the thumbnails to reorder them.

You made a wise choice to come here and ask for help, the forum is the best accessory for your new laser. For example, JBV is a professional graphic designer. :+1: This place is populated with people eager to help.

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I think it’s worth mentioning that you may be trying to run before you crawl. Or at least a brisk walk. What you’re trying to do is fairly simple, but only once you know the basics.

Have you done the first steps? You might want to go through #1 here:

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