Create a Medallion

[jared5]

Hello all,
Total beginner at the Glowforge, but I was wondering how to create a medallion like the one Glowforge advertised:

Thanks for any help!

[eflyguy]

You need a greyscale image that can be “3D engraved” (which uses the Vary Power option to provide depth to the engraving.)

The darker parts will be engraved at higher power, resulting in a deeper engrave in those areas.

[evansd2]

The type of image that eflyguy is referring to is commonly called a “heightmap” or a “depthmap”, sometimes as a “greyscale heightmap” or “greyscale depthmap”. Googling is a good place to start to find some samples and how-to’s.

Also, welcome to the forum, I’ll keep an eye out to see if you post your medallion when it’s all done!

[GrooveStranger]

A big part of these kinds of projects will be finding the right material. I can tell you that Draftboard (MDF) sucks for this, it creates a lot of residue. The best material I have found for 3d engraves is basswood.

Also that photo is so clean that I don’t see how it can be an engrave in progress as the image suggests, haha.

[PrintToLaser]

@GrooveStranger

Also that photo is so clean

Oh, yeah. That was cleaned and positioned for the picture for sure.