There are many different ways you could open RD Works, you could find it on the home screen, use the search bar, or in our case, it is hidden in our C drive. First, click your files, go to your PC tab, and there you should see a folder with a C on it click into that and you should see another folder with RDworks on it. Scroll down until you see the rd works copy and double click. 

Alright before we get too far into RD works go to my website just to the right of the video and click download stencil. Click back over to RDworks. This is going to be your build space this is where you will line up all your images and drawings and put them into a format the laser will understand. The first thing we are going to do is import the file we just downloaded. To do this click the little image with an arrow on it in the left-hand top and scroll to class bookmark click on it and hit open.  Now that our stencil is in our build space we are going to scale it to the correct size. For this, we are going to highlight the bookmark and make sure the little lock icon is selected, and in the top left you should see the width and height we are going to change the width to 2 and the height should be 6. 

You've covered some fundamental tools in RD Works for working with your bookmark design. In the upper right, you explored move tools to reposition objects, and you practiced placing the bookmark in different locations. On the left side, you delved into basic lines and polygons for creating shapes. The square and circle tools help visualize your piece of wood, and you demonstrated how to adjust their dimensions. The text tool allows for adding text, selecting fonts, scaling, and rotating. Finally, the view tool lets you preview the laser tool path. Now, you've got the basics down for using RD Works. Awesome work!

Now that we know the basic tools, and have most of our design done let's go to our web browser and find a good image. The laser program works best if you use a black and white PNG for example I am going to look up “Mountain Cabin black and white png” and find an image you like Once you find an image you like you are going to right-click and in the pop-up menu, and click save image as. Now click back into the program and in the left top we are going to use the import button. If you can't find your file you may be in the wrong folder to change it click the top drop-down and scroll until you find downloads. once in there find your image and hit open. To scale the image to fit into the bookmark click on it or click and drag over it and use the little boxes in the corner. An alternative way to rotate things is by double-clicking the object and using the little turn symbols in the corner to rotate it. Now finally to move it into your bookmark by clicking it and dragging. Make appropriate adjustments. Nice job we are almost done with the design stage! 

You've finished the bookmark design, and now you're diving into the layer tree, burn properties, and exporting process for laser cutting. The aim is to have the laser cut the outline and hole, while lightly burning the text and image. Different colors represent various layers, and you're selecting lines for cutting and the bookmark outline, turning them red. The layer tree on the top right is crucial for editing burn properties. You're adjusting speed, min power, max power, and priority for the red layer. Laser scan is for images, and you're setting specific values. After configuring burn properties for other layers, you're previewing the file before exporting it to a USB stick. Finally, you save it with your name and are ready for the laser-cutting phase. Great job! 

Okay, it's finally time to laser. The first thing we are going to do is turn on the exhaust fan in the corner of the fab lab by hitting the leftmost switch. Before you start the laser take your USB stick and put it into the slot labeled u drive. Take the key and turn it and then right away hit the red escape key 4 or 5 times to reset the laser. Let's download your file onto the laser. Click the file button and hit the right key to get to the menu. Click down into udisk+ and hit enter. Then hit enter on the read u disk file hit the left button and scroll until you see your first and last name button to make sure your name is still selected. Hit the down arrow and now copy to mem should be selected Hit enter and wait for it to download. Hit escape twice and then hit enter. Now you are going to use the arrows to move the laser head over our board. Next to the laser, you should see a grey stick, this shows the correct height the laser should be away from the board, Let move the laser table up by clicking the up button and use our measuring tool to check it. All right now move the laser head to the top left corner of the board and press the origin now hit frame to check if the design size is right now close the hood. And once you are ready hit start. Once it's done open the hood and take it out. Good job you know how to use the laser.