xkcd1.JPG
tree.png
Christmas time is here, that means your favorite webcomic will most likely make an x-mas themed comic.

This happened with XKCD, and it made me laugh. I thought it was so clever i wanted to make an ornament so i can hang a little big of nerdyness on my tree this year. All this took was a laser cutter and acrylic!

You can use this to transfer any comic into a fun and festive ornament!


 
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Step 1: Preparing your images

ornament.png
The first step is to prepare you images for the laser cutter.

I had to first take out the color from the image using an image editing program. Next i used illustrator to put the image into curves.

Putting the image into curves allows the laser cutter to make the lines more clean and crisp.

Lastly i used corel draw to layout how it would be engraved and cut. I had a nice border and a hole for an ornament hook.
Dr.Bill says: Jan 12, 2011. 9:38 PM
I gonna use one of those car air fresheners ( Christmass Tree Kine ) and make it an orneryment .
craftyv says: Jan 2, 2011. 2:38 PM
I have used the original xkcd "tree" as my screen saver and it makes me smile every time I see it. It is , in my eyes, beautiful and very witty. Frenzy. I love your "etching" and am jealous of your skills. I will never own a laser cutter and most certainly don't have the skills to use one. Very good work all round.
scienceguy8 says: Dec 17, 2010. 6:46 PM
Considering this xkcd went up a mere 20 hours ago, that is pretty darn impressive.
TheGeek1984 says: Dec 17, 2010. 10:42 PM
I have an XKCD gadget on my desktop, I hadn't checked it all day. That is impressive!
craftyv says: Dec 22, 2010. 5:56 PM
What is a xkcd gadget please? I want one.
D00M99 says: Dec 17, 2010. 7:58 PM
...
I don't quite get the comic...
Clayton H. says: Dec 18, 2010. 12:54 PM
A "heap" is a computer term where B is a child of A. So referring to the comic, A is the large present and B is the smaller present, and if you can remember back to a kid, you always wanted to open the big present first, so take away A and B, C, and however far it goes, dies because B can not exist without A in computer terms. And about the tree, I don't know
surrealdreams says: Dec 20, 2010. 10:33 AM
The Christmas tree is a binary tree, a common data structure in programming. Each node on the tree can have 0, 1 or 2 "children" below it and one "parent" above it, with a special exception - the "root" node has no parent. The root is actually at the top, and there can only be one root.
2muchfreetime8 says: Dec 17, 2010. 9:40 PM
its a logic tree joke or something.
here's where i found out: http://www.explainxkcd.com/
ERCCRE123 says: Dec 17, 2010. 8:08 PM
The "tree" is a bunch of lights hung on the wall with "presents" hung underneath them.
hintss says: Dec 19, 2010. 11:27 PM
what about last year's christmas xkcd?
Kiteman says: Dec 18, 2010. 9:28 AM
This is fine, but I'd prefer to see an actual version on somebody's wall (before you ask, I have already been banned...)

frenzy (author) says: Dec 19, 2010. 9:03 AM
Yes, kiteman, we would LOVE to see this ;-)

actually if you do it, i'll send you a patch
hintss says: Dec 19, 2010. 11:26 PM
I might. probably not, but I might...
Kiteman says: Dec 19, 2010. 9:26 AM
As I said, I've already been banned - Kitewife said no.
bowmaster says: Dec 18, 2010. 5:40 AM
Someone's a speed-builder!!! Good job.
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