Project 4
Laser Engraver
Software and hardware
The software used for designing the acrylic would be adobe Illustrator.The software UCP was used to see if the design would fit onto the space provided by the acrylic and to finally engrave out the design onto the product. The machine used was Universal Laser Engraver to cut and engrave the 1/8 in thick acrylic.
User and Customer
This project would be desirable to users because it allows them to cut and engrave on a variety of materials such as acrylic, wood, leather, picture frames,glass and cardboard.This allows the user to advertise their product in different way which allows them to reach out to a larger target market. A desirable customer would be someone who wants to be able to use the product in an effective way while being able to advertise the product represented on the product. Overall this project allows for a wide variety of ways to put an idea onto a product. For example my product made would be good for customers looking for a fathers day gift and likely to live in Minnesota because of both the deer hunting season and vikings helmet.
Obstacles
One obstacle I faced during this project was finding a font that would be legible on the acrylic. I overcame this obstacle by searching through the fonts to see which one would best fit with the design and be legible. If I were to complete this assignment again i would try to design the letters rather than using one of the fonts that's provided.
Facts
I was proud that deer that was designed came out the way I wanted it to along with me actually being able to design something that looks like a deer. What I found interesting was how fast the laser moves and that it can be very precise with the cutting and engraving at the same time. What I learned was that both the laser engraves read the colors of the image based off of a gray scale, which than indicates the intensity that the laser will be set at. Another thing I learned is that not all materials are able to be engraved on like metal unless there is a paint coating over it because the metal will reflect the laser.