How Do I Cut Around Pieces of an Image For Alignment of a 3d Art Application?

[jbmoore047]

I have a letter size image of a poster that I want to break up into multiple pieces to then reassemble into a 3d style art. I started by breaking the image apart in Photoshop. I have 5 total pieces of the main image. The goal is to spread each image (creating white space between each piece) across two letter size prints. I’ll then glue the prints on a letter size board and have the laser cut around each piece. When done, each piece would have a thick backing which would give the depth effect when reassembling in a shadowbox.

Please note: this is a full color poster with lots of details which is why I am cutting and separating pieces.

Here’s my problem, I need for the laser to align and cut around each piece of the image which is why I am leaving white space. Once the image is in 5 pieces from Photoshop, what needs to be done to it then in Illustrator to create the cut lines around the outside edges only? I would like to place painters tape over the print (which is glued on a board) and then use the laser for cutting to try and avoid burn lines.

I don’t need to engrave anything. I basically need to place the broken image print board in the glowforge and the laser cut around each piece.

Steps I’ve tried in Illustrator:

I’ve embed the image and clicked the trace button with ignore whitespace in Illustrator. The results are hundreds of squiggly lines. I feel like I am missing one key step but just can’t place my finger on what it is. The second attempt I tried color overlay of each piece to black but once complete, I was unable to get a perfect alignment using the camera of the glowforge and the imported file.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I have access to inkscape as well.

[jbmanning5]

Basically a bunch of print and cut?

Have Snapmarks been enabled on your machine yet?

[jbmoore047]

Not sure as I’ve only used the machine for a few days now.

[Jules]

It’s going to be a snap (pardon the pun) if Snapmarks are available on your machine, if not, the alignment for Print & Cut files is extremely tedious. To check to see if you have Snapmarks enabled, look for a little magnet on the top row in the app.

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[jbmoore047]

I do not see this feature is this something randomly unlocked for users?

[Jules]

No, it’s in Beta right now and hasn’t been rolled out to everyone yet.

Hmm…okay if your design is time sensitive, you can try using one of the alternate methods for alignment. (That involves use of jigs or something called Kentucky Windage.)

A way to improve object placement

Here is the method I use to compensate for the slight offset I currently experience with object placement. This method will probably be obsolete when precision alignment is available but in the meantime it can help if you want exact (or at least extremely close) placement of artwork on the bed. Using this file: [image] Upload it to the GFUI. Set up a score. Attach a piece of graph paper (here I’m using 1 inch grid divided into tenths) to a piece of card stock and measure the thickness w…

It’s fiddly, but it gives pretty good alignment around cuts that have no other relation to the file in the interface. (That’s the problem with Print & Cut files, since everything happens relative to the other features in an SVG file, you need a way to include the image printed on another printer into the mix.)

Although, if the cut sections are simple rectangles, you might find it easier to just cut the poster with an exacto and a ruler, and then glue down the pieces on the cutouts from the wood. (Might be quicker.)