Contents
- Learning Objectives
- Generators
- Vector Design Software
- Graphic (Raster) Design Software
- Online Miscellaneous Design Utilities
- Graphics and Vector Repositories
- Review
Learning Objectives
This lesson is more of a bank of resources for designing for the laser cutter. There are a lot of ideas here and they will be updated as we learn of and develop more accessible resources. If you want a more of a how to we would recommend checking out the “Follow Along Projects” under the “Laser Cutter” heading on our projects page.
Generators
These are some web apps to quickly generate vector designs to cut out on the laser cutter. All apps can be accessed non visually, however the screen reader friendly apps have all fields labeled and are much simpler to keyboard navigate.
Screen Reader Friendly
NOT Screen Reader Friendly
- Gear website
- Puzzle website
- Maze generator
- Paper box templates note: most fields labeled but cumbersome to keyboard navigate webpage
Vector Design Software
This software is downloadable or web based and can be used to create vector designs
Visual (Not Screen Reader Compatible)
- Inkscape - free
- Laptop (Windows/Mac OSX)
- Illustrator - cost money
- Laptop (Windows/Mac OSX)
- Make sure to uncheck “Responsive” box for scaling issues in glowforge app when exporting SVG file
- Vectornator - free
- Compatible with iOS Mac OSC
- Google Draw
- Web app (cross platform)
- Web app (cross platform)
Non Visual (Screen Reader Compatible))
These options are highly technical but accessible to screen reader users. SVG draw is a java application developed by Professor Dick Baldwin, there are help documents included in the zip file. OpenSCAD is a 2d and 3d design program that is coding (text) based.
Graphic (Raster) Design Software
Raster or graphic files are engraved on the laser cutter. The below apps are all visual. I am not aware of a non visual way to design or edit raster files, if anyone does or have a good work flow for getting images, please let me know!
Visual Graphic Design Software
- iOS photos app (on all iOS devices)
- Photoshop (cost money)
- GIMP (free photoshop alternative)
- Microsoft Paint (on all Windows Devices)
- Screen shots (native application on all operating systems and a great way to capture raster images from online or on your computer screen is to take a screen shot)
- Procreate iOS raster drawing application (cost money on iOS)
Online Miscellaneous Design Utilities
The following are helpful utilities for specialized tasks that you might like to use while designing your laser cut piece.
- Background remover
- Screen reader support: “upload image button” > “download link”
- Outline images (vectorize) for quick raster to vector conversion (screen reader friendly but usually requires cleaning up in a vector program which is visual)
- Screen reader support: “open an image link” > “download link”
- Black and white converter
- Screen reader support: “upload image button” > “convert image button” > “download image button”
- SVG nester - very cool app for automatic positioning of cut files to maximize material usage (not screen reader friendly… yet)
Graphics and Vector Repositories
These websites are searchable and a have a variety of graphic and vector files that can be laser engraved or cut. The quality varies and it is up to the users discretion to determine if they will suffice. Typically you want vector designs to be simple outlines, and graphics to be at least 300 dpi.
- Google Image Search (right click save image as or take a screen shot if its a .webp file)
- SVG repo
- Simple Vector Shapes
Review
In this lesson you learned:
- Visual and non-visually accessible software resources for vector design
- Visual software resources for graphic design
- Graphic and Vector pre-made design web site repositories and generators.