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Introduction
Do you want to build a snowman?
I wanted an ornament that had pictures of my family for christmas. Here's how I did it.
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Basic Information
SoftwarexTool Creative Space
MachineM1
Laser Module Output Power10W
Material UsedBasswood Plywood
Material InfoBrand: Vicenpal Size: 12x12 Bought From: Amazon
Making Time(mins)105
Step1: Setup XCS for Basswood
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Select Basswood 3mm material from the material options in XCS.

Step2: Choose a circle
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Select the Circle tool from the insert option on the left toolbar.

Step3: Draw a Circle
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Hold down the shift key on your keyboard while drawing the circle on the drawing area. This ensures a perfect circle.

Step4: Change settings to Inches (optional)
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In XCS settings (upper left icon), select inches as unit.

Step5: Adjust Width or Height
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With the circle selected, Adjust Width or Height (they should be the same) to the inches you want your base of the snowman to be (I'm using 5 inches).

Step6: Copy Circle
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Right click on the circle and choose copy.

Step7: Paste Circle (x2)
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Right click on the XCS background and paste the circle twice so you have 3 circles on the screen

Step8: Change Size of 2 circles
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Select one of the pasted circles and reduce by one inch. In my case that would be 4 inches.

Select the other pasted circle and reduce by two inches. In my case that would be 3 inches.

Step9: Align the circles
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Align the circles so they are somewhat centered and overlap each other a little.

Step10: Select all circles and Horizontally Align
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Select all three circles (hold down your mouse at the upper left of the top circle and drag to bottom right of bottom circle). 

Select the align option on the top toolbar and choose Horizontal align center.

Step11: Distribute Vertically
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With the 3 circles selected, select the align option on the top toolbar and choose Distribute vertically. This ensures each circle has the same overlap as the next.

Step12: Unite Circles
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With the three circles selected, choose Combine from the top toolbar and Unite.

Step13: Create a flat bottom base (optional) - Select a rectangle
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From the left toolbar, select Insert and choose rectangle.

Step14: Create a flat bottom base (optional) - Draw a rectangle
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Draw a rectangle covering the portion on the bottom of the snowman you want to remove to make the base. 

Step15: Create a flat bottom base (optional) - Select Snowman outline and rectangle
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Select both the snowman and the rectangle (if the rectangle is already selected you can hold down shift and click on the snowman to select it too).

Step16: Create a flat bottom base (optional) - Subtract rectangle and Snowman
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Select combine from the upper toolbar and choose subtract. This will leave just the part of the rectangle where it touches the circle sides and remove everything below creating a line across the bottom.

Step17: Create Outline of Snowman
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I typically revert to millimeters at this point. You can refer to step 4 if you don't remember how to change the unit.

With the snowman selected, choose outline from the top toolbar and set your preference. I like to use 5mm. 

Make sure to press the OK button.

Step18: Change outline to a different color (optional)
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With the outline selected, right click and choose a color. I'm using red and will refer to the outline as the red snowman and the original as the blue snowman.

Step19: Creating the Ornament Hanger - Draw a rectangle
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Draw a rectangle around the red snowmans top circle. If you forget how to draw a rectangle you can refer to step 14.

Step20: Creating the Ornament Hanger - Adjust rectangle
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For this step you will need to unlock the width and height constraints (first picture).

With the width and height contraints unlocked and the rectangle selected, adjust the left and right sides of the rectangle so they barely touch the outer side of the red snowmans upper circle (second picture).

Adjust the upper part of the rectangle to allow a little space above the red snowmans upper circle (second picture).

Step21: Creating the Ornament Hanger - Adjust bottom of rectangle
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With the rectangle selected, move the bottom of the rectangle so it is between the upper circle of the red and blue snowmen.

Step22: Creating the Ornament Hanger - Draw circle
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Draw a circle somewhere on the canvas. If you forget how to draw a circle refer to step 2 and 3. Set the width or height to 10mm. If you forget how to set them, refer to step 5.

Step23: Creating the Ornament Hanger - Outline the circle
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Create an outline of the circle set to 2mm. If you forget how to create an outline, see step 17.

Don't forget to press OK.

Step24: Creating the Ornament Hanger - Group Circles
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Select both the outline and the original circle. From the top toolbar choose group.

Step25: Creating the Ornament Hanger - Move circles
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Move the grouped circles so the outer circle overlaps the rectangle top. The inner circle should not overlap the rectangle. 

Step26: Creating the Ornament Hanger - Horizantal Align circles with the rectangle
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Select the grouped circles and the rectangle and on the upper toolbar select Align and Horizantal align center.

Step27: Creating the Ornament Hanger - Ungroup Circles
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select just the grouped circles and choose ungroup from the top toolbar.

Step28: Creating the Ornament Hanger - Unite Outer Circle and Rectangle
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Select just the outer circle and shift and click on the rectangle to select it too (picture 1). From the top toolbar select Combine and Unite.

Step29: Creating the Ornament Hanger - Unite Rectangle with Red Snowman
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Now select the rectangle combined with the outer circle and use shift to select the red snowman. From the top toolbar select Combine and Unite.

Step30: Add Engraved Outside Edge (optional) - Duplicate red and blue snowman
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Select the blue snowman and then use the shift key to select the red snowman too. Copy and paste the red and blue snowmen. If you forget how to copy and paste refer to steps 6 and 7.

Step31: Add Engraved Outside Edge (optional) - Subtract at Overlap
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With both the red and blue snowmen that were duplicated selected, from the top toolbar choose combine and Subtract at overlap.

Step32: Add Engraved Outside Edge (optional) - Change Layer
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Move this image to a new layer by right clicking and changing the color. I'm using black. 

Step33: Add Engraved Outside Edge (optional) - Set Processing Type to Engrave
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Setting 1
Process MethodVector Laser Engrave
Process MaterialBasswood Plywood
Power(%) or Cut Pressure(g)70
Pass1
Speed(mm/s)175

On the object settings panel on the right, set the processing type to Engrave.

Step34: Add Engraved Outside Edge (optional) - Group Red and Blue Snowmen
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Select the red snowman, the blue snowman and the red inner circle. From the top toolbar choose group.

Step35: Add Engraved Outside Edge (optional) - Align engraved snowman with grouped snowmen
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Select the grouped snowmen and shift select the engraved snowmen. Choose align top then align left from the top toolbar.

Step36: Add Engraved Outside Edge (optional) - Hide layer
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Since we don't need to do anything else with the layer, we'll hide it until we process the file. Select the layer (mines black and called layer 3 in the layer window. Click the eye to the left of the layer. To undo this at anypoint just repeat the process.

If you move or resize the other two snowmen, be sure to unhide the layer and select it too.

Step37: Adding images to the blue snowman - Ungroup snowmen
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Select the grouped snowmen (red, blue and red circle) and from the top toolbar select ungroup.

Step38: Adding images to the blue snowman - Inserting an Image
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Setting 1
Process MethodBitmap Laser Engrave
Process MaterialBasswood Plywood
Power(%) or Cut Pressure(g)50
Pass1
Speed(mm/s)140
Bitmap modeGrayscale

Click on Image in the left toolbar. Select an image to import. This will by default pick up the black layer. With the image selected, right click and change to another color. I'm using Orange. Change bitmap engrave settings if required. I'm using the default ones for 3mm basswood.

Step39: Adding images to the blue snowman - Position the image
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Position the image so it touches on the blue snowman. Make sure the image overlaps the blue line a little. This is what will hold the image to the frame of the snowman.

Step40: Adding images to the blue snowman - Add image outline
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With the image selected, choose outline from the upper toolbar. Set the outline width to 0.

Don't forget to press OK.

The outline is now selected. Shift and select the blue snowman then choose Combine Subtract (image 2)

 

Step41: Adding images to the blue snowman - Add all images
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Repeat this steps 37 to 40 until all of your images have been added and outlines have been subtracted. Be sure each image outline is anchored to the snowman by overlapping the blue line. 

Step42: Set Red and Blue Snowmen to Cut
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Setting 1
Process MethodLaser Cut
Process MaterialBasswood Plywood
Power(%) or Cut Pressure(g)100
Pass1
Speed(mm/s)4

Select the red layer and set the processing type to cut. I'm using the above settings. Repeat for the blue layer.

Step43: Unhide the black layer

Unhide the black black layer. If you forget how to do this see step 36.

Step44: Process on your machine and enjoy
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Thanks for sticking with me through this process.

Design Files
snowman-outlines.xcs
Snowman
Christmas
Ornament
Photo
Pictures
Family
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