Thursday, April 10, 2014

Laser Cut

Laser Cut Machine! 

Michelle told me that Wilson was a product student and thankfully we were in the same Art History group last year, so I plucked up my courage to ask him on how to prep my files for laser cutting. (Note to self:// Export in eps format). He was kind enough to show me the ropes on using the machine when he was around in the lab (which was after 5pm, LOL. You know why.). So much thanks goes to him and his awesome teaching skills.

I was genuinely trying to contain my excitement as it rasterized the images. I must say, I was quite impressed after feeling the imprint on clear acrylic. (I love it by the way hahaha)
  • I learnt from Wilson that product designers usually flip the rasterized image over (for clear acrylic) and stick the rasterized side downwards so that the entire surface is smooth. I hope that made sense. I'm still deciding on whether I should do the latter because the feeling of being able to run your fingers over the text gives the totem an added dimension of touch. It's a strange feeling- sometimes it feels like you're gently scratching porcelain with your finger tips. That uncanny link between nausea and dubiousness is how people in the modern age usually feel about superstition, or in this case telling the future.


I think having the mirror behind the clear acrylic works because it reflects the text with duplicity when angled from certain perspectives. It's makes it harder to read, but my intention of that is to help create more depth and a subtle 3D effect and movement as the user spins the dial. I wasn't able to cut out the dial that day though, because an FYP student was rushing to use the machine and I figured that since I was an illegal Product Lab refugee, I had no right to be hogging the machine. So... I voluntarily surrendered my rights to the laser cut. 
What else to do for the Prototype:
1- Nut and bolt the middle of the dial and the backing
2- Screw the mirror and clear acrylic down so they would flail around as we use it
3- Fine tune the alignment of "Totem of Luck" because it's clearly not centralized (my bad)




Couple of things to remember when laser cutting and rasterizing in the Product Lab:
Create outlines for all fonts
Export in EPS, import into Coral
Vector setting = Cut through
Rasterize setting = Rasterize


And for my own reference: I just had to take a photo of the settings because I'll probably forget.

No comments:

Post a Comment