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Hello,

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and welcome to the first of[br]a three part tutorial series

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which will teach you how [br]to use a laser cutter.

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This tutorial series [br]was created at

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the Transformative Learning [br]Technologies Lab at Stanford University.

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In our tutorials we will be using

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the educational [br]edition of CorelDraw

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and an Epilog [br]Helix laser cutter.

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That said, most [br]of the techniques

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and settings that [br]will be demonstrated

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are transferable to [br]other software packages

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and laser cutters.[br]

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In part one of our series,

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we will use CorelDraw to create a[br]cheat sheet of laser cutter terminology,

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part two, will explain the [br]Epilog printing preferences,

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and part three, will discuss

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how to set up the laser cutter hardware [br]for successful cutting and engraving.

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Before we start,

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I would like to mention that [br]certain parts of this tutorial

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will go very quickly and [br]you may need to pause

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and/or rewind to keep up.

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Additionally, if you would prefer[br]to read a transcript of this tutorial

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alongside screen shots,

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please visit the TLTL website[br]where a copy is available.

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Ok, let’s get started,

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first open Coreldraw[br]and start a new document.

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On our computer we have already created [br]a document preset for the laser cutter

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which provides a page

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that matches the [br]dimensions of our cutter.[br]

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If you do not have stored profile,

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you can input the dimensions of your [br]engraver in the text input boxes below.

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In our case this is 24x18 in [br](or 61 by 45.7 cn),

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but different machines might [br]have different cutting areas,

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After your page is correct, press ok.

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Before beginning to add content,

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the first thing we would [br]like to do is set our origin

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to the top left corner

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so it matches the epilog machine.

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Before being able to do this,

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we need to make sure [br]the rulers are visible,[br]

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to check whether they are,

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navigate to the view menu

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and make sure the “rulers” [br]choice has a checkmark next to it.

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Once they are visible,

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move your mouse to the top left [br]where there is a small resize icon.

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Click and drag this icon until you [br]reach the top left corner of the page.

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Once both the vertical and [br]horizontal lines overlap,[br]

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let go of the mouse and [br]your origin will be set.

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After setting the origin,

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we can start to add [br]content to the page.

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Start by selecting the [br]rectangle tool

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and then click and drag to make [br]a rectangle anywhere on the page.

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After completing your rectangle [br]

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navigate to the top left [br]corner of the screen

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where there are two[br]sets of input boxes,

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one for the object’s position

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and one for the object’s size.[br]

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Additionally, you'll find[br]a padlock icon

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which signifies whether the [br]dimensions are locked to each other.

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If the icon is currently locked,

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click it to unlock it now.

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Then change the object size to [br]3 in by 2 in (or 7.5 cm by 5 cm)

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Once the size is correct,

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locate the rectangle in the [br]upper left corner of the page

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by clicking the center [br]and dragging it into place.

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After placing the rectangle,

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proceed to the top of the screen

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and choose“To Fit” [br]

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Which will zoom the [br]screen to our rectangle

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and make it much easier [br]to see our work as we proceed.

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Next we are going to add a circular [br]to the top left corner of the card.

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To do this first[br]select the ellipse tool [br]

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and then drag to create an ellipse.

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You will notice that when [br]you first begin dragging,

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the aspect ratio is [br]not constrained

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and you can make[br]all kinds of ellipses.

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Since we would like [br]to create a circle,

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we need to hold down the control key [br]which forces the tool to create a circle.

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After completing the circle,

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navigate to lock icon near [br]the object size boxes

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and this time make sure the [br]lock is in the locked position.

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Once you have done so,

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change the horizontal dimension [br]to .25 in(or 0.5 cm)

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which will also force the [br]vertical dimension to change.

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Now, move your circle into the [br]top left corner of your rectangle.

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At this point, we are going [br]to ensure the rectangle

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and circle will be cut by setting [br]their outline widths to “hairline”.

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Within CorelDraw,

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“hairline” is the smallest [br]possible outline width

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and if set, the laser cutter will [br]interpret the shape as a cut.

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To set your outline width to “hairline”,[br]

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first select the pick tool which [br]can be accessed using the icon

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or by pressing control, spacebar.[br]

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Then hold down shift

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and click each shape [br]to select them both.

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Now, navigate to the[br]outline pen menu,

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and choose “Outline Pen”.[br]

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After the dialog box appears, [br]choose hairline as the width,

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set the color to red [br]and then press okay.

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Next, right click the objects [br]and choose “lock object”

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which will prevent us from [br]accidentally moving the shapes

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as we continue to add content.

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Now, we are going to add a [br]small data table to our card.

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To do so, we need [br]to access the pen tool

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which may be hidden [br]under the freehand tool.

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This is a good time to point out [br]that many of the tools on the left

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have little arrows in the [br]bottom right corner.

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These arrows signify other [br]tools are available

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if you click and hold [br]on the visible tool.

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As you can see, the Pen tool is [br]located in the freehand tool menu.

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After selecting the pen tool draw [br]two vertical lines and two horizontal

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lines in the middle of your card.

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The pen tool works [br]by single clicking [br]

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the point where you[br]want the line to begin,

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and then clicking again where [br]you want the line to end.

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If you want to keep the lines [br]vertical or horizontal,

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hold down shift before [br]clicking the second time.

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After making a line segment [br]you will notice the pen tool

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attempts to continue the line [br]as you move your mouse away.

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To stop it from doing [br]so press escape,

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now start a new line[br]with a single click,

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hold down shift and[br]single click to end.

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Press esc and start again, click,[br]hold shift, click, esc. Click, hold shift,

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click, esc.

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When you are finished,

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choosing the pick tool

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and then dragging a rectangle [br]that is larger than all the lines.

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By doing so,

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the software will select all of lines[br]

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with in the boundaries [br]of your selection rectangle.

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Once all of the [br]lines are selected,

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press F12 to access [br]the outline properties

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and then assign a [br]with of 0.02in(or 0.5cm).[br]

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Now choose the text tool which [br]will bring up the text properties

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in the top tool bar.

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Before clicking inside our rectangle,

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change the font size to 16 pt.

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This change will bring up a box which [br]informs you that if you proceed

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all new text will also be 16 pt.

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This is fine so just press ok.

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Now click in to top left section [br]of your table and type “Corel”.

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Next continue to use [br]the text tool to fill

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the remaining cells with:

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Epilog, Result,[br]

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Hairline, Vector,

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Cut, >0.001in. or 0.0025cm,

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Raster, and Engrave.

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When they are all entered[br]you may need to adjust

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the placement of some of your lines [br]or text so there is no overlap.

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When everything looks good, [br]

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we are going to assign different [br]outline widths to the lines

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and text.

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First select the top horizontal line

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and assign it an outline width[br]of 0.04 inches (or 0.1 cm).

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Next choose the three words [br]along the middle line:

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:“Hairline”,[br]“Vector”,

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and “Cut” and assign them [br]a red hairline outline.

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Also, remove their fill

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by selecting the fill tool [br]and choosing “no fill”.

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Next select the [br]bottom three words,

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“>0.001”, “raster”, and “engrave”

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and assign them a black [br]outline of 0.015 in (or 0.04 cm)

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additionally remove [br]their fill using the tool.

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We can now see the value [br]of setting our hairlines to red

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since it provides us with [br]a simple visual reference

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as to which words will be cut[br]versus those that will be engraved.

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With that complete, we are now [br]finished with this tutorial

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and have created [br]a simple table.[br]

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which will help us to remember [br]whether our lines will be cut

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or engraved by the laser cutter.

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The chart reads from left to right

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with the top line being the categories.

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As we can see,

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if we assign a [br]hairline to a shape

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within Coreldraw the laser [br]cutter will consider it a vector

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and the result will be a cut.

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On the other hand,

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if we assign an outline that is[br]anything greater than 0.001 in

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(or 0.0025 cn) the laser cutter will[br]consider it a raster

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and engrave the shape [br]instead of cutting it.

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That concludes the [br]first tutorial.

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Remember if the video [br]went too fast for you

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please consult the written [br]documentation on the TLTL website.

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Once your file matches ours,

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please proceed to the next tutorial

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where we will discuss the printing [br]preferences of the laser cutter.

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Congratulations on making it this far!