Laser: Mobile and Inkscape
In this workshop you will create a mobile by creating shapes in Inkscape, cutting them on the laser cutter, and cutting and bending the wire frame to your liking.
A sample using the star shape is shown below.
Determining Design
Take a look at the samples and determine what shapes (circle, star, polygon) and colors (of acrylic) you will use. You will use three colors of acrylic.
Open Inkscape
Shortcut: Windows > Type "Inkscape"
Tools for Today
Setting up our workspace
The measurement default in Inkscape is set to pixels. Pixels are very useful for web designers, but because we are printing a physical object, let's change the default to inches.
File > Document Properties
Change to Inches
Creating our shapes
Use the Circle or Star/Polygon Tool to draw out six shapes of varying sizes. If you hold down CONTROL as you drag your shape, it will keep the Width and Height perfectly proportional, which is helpful with Circles (so you don't get an oval).
Use the Selection Tool to arrange your pieces.
You can use the Lock Tool to keep the Width and Height proportional when it is time to resize.
Your largest shape should be about 3.5 inches. Your smallest shape should be about 2 inches.
Add hanging holes
Now that you have your shapes, consult your design and add a small circle to a shape. Activate the Selection Tool. Use the Tool Controls at the top to resize the small circle to Width = .1 inches and Height = .1 inches. With the small circle active, go to Edit>Copy. Hover your cursor over the next shape where you want the hole. Hold down CONTROL + V to paste the next hole. Repeat this until each shape has a hole.
Change fill and stroke style (width)
Now that you have your six shapes and holes, we are going to change the Fill and Stroke. By doing so, the laser cutter software will recognize which lines are cut lines, and we won't waste time with the insides of the circle.
Go to Edit>Select all. All of your shapes should now have a dashed line around them. Go to Object> Fill and Stroke. There will be a dialog box on the right. We will set the Fill to the first option, which is No Fill. For Stroke Style, change Width to 0.003 inches. (We will change Stroke paint in a moment.)
Grouping shapes and holes
Click to activate the Selection Tool. We're going to group a shape and its hole. You can do this by clicking and dragging from one corner of the shape to the opposite corner, or by pressing CONTROL and SHIFT while clicking on the line of the shape then the hole. Once you a shape and its hole selected, go to Object>Group. Repeat this for each shape and its hole.
Stroke paint: Red, Blue and Green
We will use the colors RED, BLUE and GREEN for our pairs. Consult your design.
Click on the first pair of shapes and go to Object>Fill and Stroke. We already changed the Fill and Stroke style. This time we will change the Stroke Paint. Go to the Stroke paint, the second tab, click on the second box, and drag the R slider all the way to the right. The first pair should now have a red stroke line.
Click on the second pair of shapes. Repeat the steps above, but this time, pull the R slider back to the left, and drag the G slider to the right.
Click on the third pair of shapes. Repeat the first steps, but this time, pull the G slider back to the left, and drag the B slider to the right.
You should now have three pairs of RED, BLUE and GREEN shapes.
Final grouping
Edit>Select all then Object>Group.
Saving
Save your work to the Desktop with your name, and the file type as SVG. We'll walk around and collect files for cutting.
