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BEST OF BREED

ONLYTHE

BEST

laser cutter is one of the most

versatile tools in a makerspace;

its speed, precision, and the vast

array of materials it can score

and slice make it an ideal choice

for prototyping. No matter what

brand or power of laser cutter you have, it’s a sure bet

that its software will require using a vector file, which

is literally a series of paths that the laser can follow.

Most people are familiar with bitmap (or raster)

images, which are composed of thousands (or

millions) of coloured pixels. Vector images, on the

other hand, are defined by maths. Remember at

school when you plotted points on a co-ordinate grid?

Vector art is that – a collection of points and rules that

define how they are connected, coloured, and styled.

The most common graphics editing programs, like

Photoshop or GIMP or MS Paint, have a toolset that

is best suited for creating bitmap or raster images.

So for vector image design, your best bet is to use

software that was built with vectors in mind.

WHAT SHOULD A GOOD PRODUCT DO?

Vector design comes down to the nitty-gritty of

your art – tinkering with the points and lines that

define your image and allowing for their precise

manipulation. The ideal software will get you up and

running quickly by helping you create basic geometry

with exactly the right parameters (size, shape, and

placement) in just a few clicks. You should be able to

adjust all of these numbers at any time and, ideally,

the rest of your design should not be affected.

The control points (also sometimes called anchors)

lie along your lines and control how the lines behave

as they pass through them. Control points should be

A

easy to manipulate, add, remove, and align. Tools to

control alignment of everything, in every way, are a

must-have. Having the ability to create compound

shapes with Boolean operations, which is combining

shapes into new ones or subtracting shapes from

each other, will save lots of time.

For all the talk about vectors, you may actually want

to include raster images in your file for your laser

to etch on to your piece. Good vector software will

allow you to include raster images and should let you

convert them to vector format if you want.

Finally, the ideal software should create a ready-to-

laser file with all the correct settings for your specific

laser cutter. These usually include precise stroke

widths and colours, and a standard vector file format

such as SVG, EPS, or PDF.

Save time by using the right software for the job

Vector design programs

for laser cutting

Right

Inkscape’s UI takes

getting used to, but

the descriptive icons

take away some of

the pain of finding

the tool you’re

looking for

Below

Adobe’s standard

icons, layout, and

keyboard shortcuts

keep you focused on

the product and not

the process

By Mike Fischthal mikefish

Vector design programs for laser cutting