Adjusting a Picture of the Eagles

In this example we will be lasering an image of an eagle onto black laser tile. Figure 1 shows a photo that I bought off the Internet. I am using this image because I want to see what the effect of having our background image being a bit out of focus and to see how it appears on the tile.
… Continue Reading

Cermark / Thermark Metal Marking Spray

The TherMark process utilizes marking materials, or “inks,” available in various forms, which are applied to surfaces to be marked. The ink is then selectively fused – using patented laser marking technology – to the surface with a regular industrial marking laser. Finally, any excess ink is easily cleaned from the surface. The inks are scientifically formulated to make a permanent, chemical bond to surfaces, without compromising or damaging the material being marked.

TherMark marking materials are available as paintable liquids, aerosols or adhesive transfer tapes. The paintable liquid may be applied to surfaces with a brush, sponge or air sprayer. After fusing with the laser, any excess paintable liquid or aerosol spray can be cleaned from the surface by simply rinsing with water. Tapes are applied to surfaces using their own light adhesives. After fusing with the laser, the tape is lifted from the surface, carrying away any excess marking material. The used tape is then discarded.

Regardless of the application, the end result is a durable, high-contrast and high-resolution mark. (as appears from the Thermark web site) … Continue Reading

Working with CorelDraw’s Object Manager and How It Controls Your Engraver.

The object manager can be found in the “Tools” menu. See Figure 1. Note: for this example, make sure you have no objects on your page – so start a new file. … Continue Reading

Creating an Auto Layout in CorelDraw

Help File – Autolayout

Level – Intermediate to Advanced

For anyone who has owned a rotary engraver the one feature that we miss when we go to CorelDraw is a simple auto layout.

What is Auto Layout? Well basically it is a command that was controlled by one key. When you pressed this key your text and or logos would automatically space themselves out on the engraving plate.

CorelDraw can do this put it lacks the one-keystroke approach that we had in our rotary engraving software.

In this tutorial we will show you how to create a couple of an Autolayout a couple of different ways.

Once we have created the Autolayout we will create a one-button hotkey to activate the Autolayout.

To do this we will need to create what is known as a Macro. … Continue Reading

Now let me ask you – how many people come into your shop and say “I need you to reproduce my logo and to make it easy here is some good quality black and white artwork”. Not often. What do we get?

• Low quality gif and jpeg files (images from the internet)
• “Faxed” artwork – the ones with the “jaggies”
• Business cards
• Full colour images

The list goes on. So what can we do? Typically what I see is that dealers scan the bad image into the computer, vectorize the artwork and then sometimes spend hours “cleaning” up the logo. This may be a suitable way of doing artwork for some but not me. I would rather spend my time doing something else. So let me offer you an alternative that will give you a good clean vector image and hopefully do it in a lot less time. … Continue Reading

Getting Started – Creating a 1 by 3 Name Badge

When we are looking at using CorelDraw we have to start some where. For most of us this means creating some sort of layout. When you are working in CorelDraw everything you do is a layout. In this section we will look at creating two different products. These exercises are intended to be easy and straight forward. The first product will be a basic 3 line engraving name plate. There will be no logo just text. The second lesson will deal with creating a laser engraved plate which incorporates a logo and some text. … Continue Reading

CPE Show Seminar – Saturday November 4, 2000

Topic – Scanning techniques and Image manipulation in PhotoPaint and Photoshop

What will be covered:

1. What is the optimal scanning resolution (dpi)
2. What is the optimal file size (inches) to work with
3. Working with Brightness and Contrast in your scanner
4. What is RGB? What is CYMK?
5. Optimal Tools to Work with – Levels and Tonal … Continue Reading

Figure 1

Colour Filling

Colour filling is a term used within the awards and engraving industry to describe a variety of techniques used to add colour or contrast to engraving. Even though there are a wide variety of engraving materials available that come in a multitude of colours, thickness and finishes, there are often times when it is desirable to colour the engraving to make it stand out or enhance the overall appearance of the product. … Continue Reading

DOVETAILING

DESCRIPTION … Continue Reading