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.