Introduction: Lasercut Your Portrait! :)

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About: As a student of Creative Technology at the University of Twente I like to get my hands on projects. Slowly but surely I am preparing myself for a master in Computer Science.

We all know printed portraits. Although they can be beautiful, they aren't that original.

With a small effort you can be way more unique by lasercutting your portrait!

Follow the steps and you will be guided on how to do so, it is fairly easy and a lot of fun :D

Step 1: Have a Portrait

You can either shoot a picture of your face or most likely you just need to scroll through your selfie collection.

For the best effect, the portrait should have dark outlines with a background of a lighter color.

It doesn't have to be black and white.

Step 2: Create a Dithered Image

You can use the program I made to create a stippled image of your portrait:

http://ewi1473.ewi.utwente.nl/~s1572431//stippelGe...

Play around with the settings to create an image that still shows the contours of the face while having a minimum amount of stipples. My image took around 15 minutes to lasercut.

Step 3: Save the Output As a Pdf

If you are happy with the result of your stippled portrait, press the key 's' to save it to a new tab.

Then you can go the print settings on your browser to save it as a pdf.

Chrome: file -> print -> save

Safari: file -> print -> PDF -> save as PDF

Internet explorer: download another browser

Step 4: Prepare for Lasercutting

Use software such as CorelDraw to prepare the PDF.

You can color the dots red for lasercutting or blue for engraving.

Be aware that the stipples might be difficult to trace. Therefore use high quality and accuracy with a low smoothness.

Ps. Trace the silhouette with a red line to cut out the face.

Step 5: Lasercut Your Portrait

Depending on your choice to engrave or lasercut, you now have a wooden portrait.

You can use it as a a gift, business card or in combination with some background LED lightning.

I am very curious to hear about your results :)

Best of luck!

Wood Contest 2016

Participated in the
Wood Contest 2016