Illustrator is a software program that creates vector images that people can use to design graphics. It's used widely around the world and is a very helpful program. It was made by Adobe. It's a CAD software and it's very easy to use. It's also compatible with UCP that is used to laser engrave things. It also runs with the vinyl cutter. This means you can design decals and then cut them out on the vinyl cutters. Illustrator us very useful to the world we live in today. It makes it easier to engrave things and make posters.
Laser Engraved Key Chain - Step by Step
1. First create your design in illustrator. You should make the border of your key chain red and your design black. The red tells the laser to cut through the material and the black tells the laser to engrave. The red border should have a .0001 width. Once you've finished the design, save it as a illustrator file. This will create a vector image of your design.
2. You can either save the file on a flash drive or you can save it to your h-drive and log in at the computer that is connected. Once you are on the computer then go into illustrator, open your file, and hit print. Click on setup and you should get another tab, on that tab hit preferences.
3. Use a caliper to measure the thickness of the acrylic that you are using and enter that thickness in. After you have done that go to the materials part and enter extruded acrylic. This will be under plastic, then acrylic. Then once you're done with that hit okay and open up the UCP software.
4. When you turn the laser on make sure that the exhaust is on. Line the material up with the edge of the laser and then use the focus tool to line the dot up with the top right corner of the material. Then use the relocation tool to move the actual laser onto your material. To make sure that all of your corners line up use the focus tool and line up the dot with all the corners. Once you've done all of that close the top and then hit the green play button.
5. Take it out and you've got a new key chain!
Vinyl
1. First create an Adobe Illustrator file, then enter your name in the file. You should dimension it because it's a lot easier to know how big to make your text.
2. Then go to cut out and make sure you are minimizing the amount of vinyl your are using by using the orientation button. Before you cut make sure that you have the vinyl cutter set up before you cut. Once you do, cut.
Applying the Vinyl to a Certain Surface
1. Take off all the excess vinyl. Once you have removed the vinyl outside and inside of the text you can apply the transfer tape.
2. Once you have pressed the tape onto the vinyl you can take the tape off and the vinyl should come with it. You can then put the transfer tape onto the the journal where you want it. You should press hard against it to make sure that it is really stuck against the surface.
3. After that you have to remove the transfer tape. Be sure to do this extra carefully so you don't rip the vinyl off the journal. Then you have a completed decal.
What I learned: In this introduction I didn't learn a lot about illustrator because I already new a lot about it due to taking the class graphic design. I did however learn a lot about laser engraving and vinyl cutting. I learned how to use the CAD software that is associated with the laser engraver. I also learned how to use the vinyl cutter. In graphic design the teacher made our decals for us so we didn't actually have to use it. I learned that you had to put the rollers on the bottom rollers or it wouldn't work. I also learned that you should always minimize the amount of vinyl you're using to make it easier for other people. The vinyl cutter is pretty straight forward so it made it easy to learn how to use it. I learned a lot about the actual process of using the vinyl cutter and laser engraving but not that much about illustrator that I didn't already know. Although it did help me refresh my mind on how to use inventor.