Ferlin

I just designed cutesy animals and insects in illustrator to go in a childs room. The architect wants these to be very slick. These designs will go to a laser cutter where the overall shape will be cut out and all the defining lines like the eyes mouth stripes will be scored bu the cutter.
All I have is vague information that these designs have to be in a cad program for the laser cutter. These will be made of plexiglass.
Can I send an illustrator file - and if so what format- to someone who works on a cad program and have that cad program easily translate my illustrator file into lines for the cutter. I know nothing about auto cad.
Maybe this should be in the general subjects..
Hope someone knows about this kind of stuff Thanks in advance

(PSD) Sergiy

Hello Bud
I`m not sure that i can help...?
"AutoCAD" have a format wich is dwg. ... its actualy a 3D animating
programm, so i`m thinking that most of 3D formats will go... \:]
But i may be wrong.
Try to save it in Illustrator as dmg. (if it has this one)
I haven`t work with this programm ever, and i never had.
Good Luck Ferlin.

Welles

Illustrator doesn't save .dwg formats. Your best bet is talking with the person doing the work, if possible. Maybe they could use a PDF?

shadyman

Ferlin
If the shop uses an older laser or Vector cutting laser only, it will probably require a CAD format.
If the laser drivers are New generation, ie Laser built in last 5 years or so, they work like a printer in terms of how they handle output from computers. This means that whatever format your printer could handle, the Laser could handle as well(jpg, bmp, etc). The problem is these formats are raster information and used for engraving, not cutting.

If laser is a Raster/Vector capable laser, it will probably handle AI. (illustrator) which allow both raster and vector information in same file. It sounds like you just want to cut an outline around a shape, so Illustrator AI format is probably best, as it allows vector information.
Be aware that most laser shops use Corel products(I don't know why, other than that's what they always have used) but they will accept Illustrator format as well.
You will have to ask the laser shop what format they want, but at least you have an idea what to expect.

shreck

retired_paddza

Sure it does, just go under "export" instead of "save". It's the first option.

Everyone is on the right track though. While most cutting systems I've dealt with will accept or convert Illustrator files, you will have to format them in a special way. Only the shop that will be doing the cutting can tell you for sure what you need to do and provide. You need to get in the habit of always contacting the output shop first thing when you know where it will be going. That's rule number one in professional output. There are standards, but even so, it's hard to know which ones they are even using. Talk to the shop and they should be able to tell you exactly what format to provide them and any special requirements that they will have for the job.

Good luck.

Welles

Good save, MindBender, thanks. I totally forgot the export options. Oops!

retired_paddza

I know, it throws me off too sometimes. Why we need two options to do the same thing is beyond me. Just make it a "save" operation and leave the specific engineering mumbo jumbo behind the scenes.

Ferlin

Thanks for all the info. Never had to deal with this before. I like making my own stencils and don't like to lose control of a project this way, having it out of my hands. No shop involved -but it is good to know these things for the future. My friend teaches at a tech college and can do the laser cutting for me there. Hope he knows what he's doing. He says it has to be done in cad so I have to find someone who knows cad to translate my illustrator files. I can see my 1/3 deposit for the job frittering away.. \:] \:]

Bacardi

Each tech college will have at least one person who can work with autocad etc. But Ferlin: cad means Computer Aided Design, and is *not* a file type. You don't need any .cad file!. the .dwg is the correct one, but I cannot tell you anything about it as I have neither a cad prog, nor Illustrator.

retired_paddza

Did you miss the part where I told you how to export Illustrator files as AutoCAD files? [stuned]