Quality In = Quality Out!
Lasers are capable of engraving incredible detail, but they will only do as they're told! It's all about the artwork, by using the latest design software our in-house design team are skilled in creating laser specific files. We can create and produce any artwork required if it can't be provided, the price for this starts at £30.00 + vat. depending on the amount of drawing required. We are used to working with anything from full digital drawings to doodles on paper, so no need to panic if you don't have the resources to create the files yourself.
We would ideally work with vector graphics, but we can and do also work with BitMaps, however this is very dependent on the resolution of the graphic.
Below are high resolution photos engraved onto anodised aluminium to show what we can do when presented with high quality images.
Raster vs Vector.
BitMap / Raster Images: Common formats are .JPG .GIF .PNG .BMP .TIFF
Bitmap or Raster images ( They can be called either) save the shape in one resolution as a series of co-ordinates with a colour value. They work well on the web because all screens work on a 72 DPI (Dots Per Inch) resolution. They pixelate or “fall apart” when you attempt to scale them larger. PRINT output is commonly 300 Dpi PLUS : therefore to make an image look as good in print you need your image to be at LEAST 5x larger.
Lasers on the other hand can produce tiny single points of light and a resolution of 2400 dpi -
about 35-40 times the resolution of what you see on a computer screen! In other words, an image that is 10cm square on your
computer screen would need to be 3.5 meters square on your screen for us to engrave it as well as we can!
Vector graphics use maths to describe the lines and shapes as a complex formula - but the critical diference is that when you scale a vector image it scales PERFECTLY and you maintain smooth curves and sharp output. Common vector image formats are .AI .EPS .SVG and possibly .PDF
We frequently have to start with a bitmap type graphic and remake it as a vector so that we have a design that our lasers can work with - but of course it does take time, expertise and therefore has a cost element.
How can I get my logo / graphic as a vector?
Normally, just ask the person who designed it for you...
I don’t know who designed it - what next?
Give us as much information as you can -especially any font names: that can be hugely helpful,
We'll take care of the rest.
A quick word about CAD software:
Cad software output is close/similar to vector but not quite the same. CAD output actually only uses straight
lines so to make a circle CAD output is actually a series of very small straight lines joined together. We can
usually convert these lines to a vector format - but obviously if you can save us this step you will save money.
Can I just import the image to a vector capable program and resave it as a vector?
Unfortunately - no! All that will do is make a vector type file with a raster/bitmap type image embedded in it.
It’s actually worse than supplying just the raster image in the place!
We’re here to help! If you have ANY questions please do not be afraid to ask...
