Ever wondered how other laser workers do 3D Depth Engraves? What are the settings? How do they get an image to look so...well, 3D? I have pursued a lot of avenues, some through other tutorials and others via trial and error with countless hours and lots of material used. With this tutorial, I will explain how I do a 3D Illusioned / Depth Engrave on the P2 on Birch. Also included is the Fairy image I used for this which was made with the assistance of AIMake. However, the two dragon pictured are not included as those were purchased products and not owned by me. They are displayed to show this method works on more than just the included Fairy image.
READ THE ENTIRE INSTRUCTION SECTION BEFORE STARTING. Almost every step is important to achieve the same results I did. This process uses XCS exclusively for the same results I achieved here. Using LB or another laser program will require different steps and settings.
Some people call this 3D illusioned engraving and others call it depth engraves. For the purpose of this instructional, I will call it 3D illusioned engraving.
There are two canvases with the XCS file included. The first has the prepared image of the fairy of 4 different layers stacked one atop the other (see steps 3 through 7) and the 2nd canvas has the original Fairy I downloaded from AIMake. I also included the PNG as well for those that want the art to use in other laser programs.
Understand that this tutorial is for Birch wood. Using a different wood will require you to play with the settings. (although the settings seem to work with cypress wood quite well) The wood I used was also 3/8" (9mm) thick and precut to the size I was wanting which was 5"x9". If you want to use ¼" (6mm), you could and be fine as long as you note that the wood may bow slightly due to the material cut away. I have successfully engraved 3D illusioned works, with these same settings, on ¼". I DO NOT recommend using anything thinner than ¼" (6mm).
Note that this was done with the P2. Using a different machine will most likely mean that you will need to adjust your settings a bit. However, the process for achieving the 3D illusioned engrave is still the same.
Also note that I generated this image through AIMake, xTools AI Art generator. I use the “Low Relief” image generator to get the most successful art that I have done 3D Illusioned art. I have also purchased images from websites and gotten free images from other places that were all specified as 3D illusioned art. (Some are seen in the last step.) The point I am trying to make here is that everything I have successfully engraved this way was generated/purchased/downloaded as 3D or relief works. While I have tried, I am not yet able to successfully make photos or general art as 3D illusioned. This does not mean I won't keep trying.
3D illusioned engraves are time consuming. Do not expect a quick turn around on it. I have spent as long as 7-8 hours on one piece. The bigger the art, the longer it will take.
The engraving itself will be done in 4 separate engraves. This is to achieve the best and most detailed results. On average, expect each engrave to take between 30 minutes to 1 plus hours. This fairy was no exception.
Now as to why I use this method. I watched a video a while ago about engraving on metal and saw that it was done in this same way but for slightly different reasons. I started to pursue it and fine tune the method. Starting out with a single layer, I bring out the darkest parts and obscure the light areas and details. I then create an alternate layer that increases the detail while still maintaining the darker areas. A third layer starts to shoot in the finer details but also keeps deepening the dark areas making them darker still. The last layer is a lower power but higher LPC which allows for the very fine details to be added, even in the darkest areas of the background.
Gather your art, be it generated through AIMake (as I did) or from another source. Load it into XCS and size it to the height and width you want. My piece of wood I wanted this engraved on was 5"x9" and I wanted a ¼" border around it so that means I would need to resize my piece to 4.5"x8.5". You do this by selecting the art you uploaded, then going to the sizing area in the upper left corner. I changed the width first and noticed that the height was not matching the 8.5" I wanted. So I unlocked the aspect ratio by clicking the center icon between the two measurements. You will notice that a slash will go across this circle. Now I can resize the height to 8.5". Luckily my art was not affected very much by this but sometimes you will get stretched or compressed art by resizing one way and not the other. In those cases, the best bet is to crop the art a bit and keep resizing until you are happy with it.
Once your art is loaded and sized to your liking, select it and open the adjustment panel at the top of your screen. Grab the panel that opens by moving your cursor over the top of it and left click and hold then move it to one side of your art so you can see both.
First click Greyscale at the bottom on the left side and move it a point or two to the right. Don't move it far, just enough to generate your image in grey. Do this even if your image is already grey.
Next, move Sharpness all the way to the right. I have done this with every single 3D illusioned piece I have ever done. It helps to keep your lines solid and achieve high definition.
Next, move brightness to 30. Do this easily by typing it in rather than moving the scaler.
Finally, go back to Greyscale at the bottom and grab the right side and slide it left to the 155 mark. This is 100 points lower than the max.
Click off the panel and it will close leaving you with something that looks very faint but with all the dark areas prominent.
Go to your settings on the right side and add these settings:
Power: 50
Speed: 300
Bitmap Mode: Jarvis
Lines Per Centimeter: 200
Right click your art and copy it then paste it onto the screen so you have two identical copies of this layer.
Select your copied art from the previous step. Open the Adjust panel in the top menu and move it just like you did in the previous step. Almost everything is identical in the process but you will be adjusting the settings as described here.
First, move brightness to 20. Do this easily by typing it in rather than moving the scaler.
Then, go to Greyscale at the bottom and grab the right side and slide it right to the 180 mark.
Click off the panel and it will close leaving you with something that is bit darker and more detailed than before but still missing fine details
Go to your settings on the right side and add these settings:
Power: 60
Speed: 200
Bitmap Mode: Jarvis
Lines Per Centimeter: 220
Right click this layer and copy it then paste it onto the screen so you have two identical copies of this particular layer.
Select your copied art from the previous step. Open the Adjust panel in the top menu and move it just like you did in the previous step. Almost everything is identical in the process but you will be adjusting the settings as described here.
First, move brightness to 12. Do this easily by typing it in rather than moving the scaler.
Then, go to Greyscale at the bottom and grab the right side and slide it right to the 210 mark.
Click off the panel and it will close leaving you with something that is bit darker and more detailed than before but there is still something not quite clear and detailed about it.
Go to your settings on the right side and change to these settings:
Power: 50
Speed: 250
Bitmap Mode: Jarvis
Lines Per Centimeter: 240
Right click this layer and copy it then paste it onto the screen so you have two identical copies of this particular layer.
Select your copied art from the previous step. Open the Adjust panel in the top menu and move it just like you did in the previous step. Almost everything is identical in the process but you will be adjusting the settings as described here.
First, move brightness to about 4. Here it is a matter of preference. Do enough details pop with the brightness this low? However, before you adjust it again, follow the next steps in the adjustment panel and then revisit this setting if you want.
Then, go to Greyscale at the bottom and grab the right side and slide it right until you are at around 245. Go to the left side of the Greyscale and move it to 15.
Look at your art and if the details seem appropriately sharp and clear, click off the panel to close it. If not, play with the brightness a bit followed by the right point of the Greyscale until you are happy.
Once you have closed the Adjust panel, go to your settings on the right side and add these settings:
Power: 40
Speed: 200
Bitmap Mode: Jarvis
Lines Per Centimeter: 280
You will want to set this part up to help with your next steps. Select each layer and assign it a color. I usually keep my color in order according to the colors shown in line on XCS. Since my first layer (the lightest layer) was Cyan, I made my 2nd layer Blue, followed by my 3rd as Purple, and then the last as Black.
You change the colors by selecting the layer you want on the screen and then right clicking it and selecting its color at the bottom.
After you do that, click the layers icon (the sandwich icon in the lower left corner of XCS) and move your colors to be in order from top to bottom. In my case, my lightest layer, Cyan, I moved to the top, followed by Blue, then Purple, and finally Black. Close this screen by clicking the arrow pointing left on the right side of the layers tray that opened.
Now you want to center your different layers so that they are perfectly aligned with each other. Select all 4 of your different art pieces and then click the Align icon at the top of the screen. Select the last choice, Align Center. This will pop all 4 layers atop each other.
I did this on slats but you can do this on the honeycomb or without either. I once did a 3D illusioned engrave on a piece of wood 1" thick and had to forego slats or honeycomb. It still turned out great.
Clean your area that you will be placing your material on. This should be done everytime you engrave anyway, but worth making a note here.
Since I was using a thicker wood, I could not use the clips to hold my material down. This was pretty light wood so I still needed to make sure it was secured in some way. I did this by putting loops of masking tape on the back.
Also, I want to make sure that I am as straight as possible in my machine. In such cases, I use a pair of machinest blocks against the front of my machine to butt my material against. Since these blocks are perfectly square, it keeps my material level and straight. I flip my material over and, butting against the blocks, press it firmly onto the slats. Romove the blocks before closing your lid.
NOTE: In the photos you will see I turned my piece long ways. This is because, to get the best effect in 3D illusioned engraves, it is advised to run your work against the grain of the wood. Turning my piece long ways enables me to engrave against the grain. In some cases it is not possible to do this, but whenever possible, you want to be sure to do so. In those case where it is not possible, you may see wood grains running prominently through your piece or areas where it does not look engraved properly.
Next, you will want to prepare your art and engrave area.
First thing is to set your art where you are going to engrave on the material in XCS. Since I know the piece of wood is 5"x9", I create a rectangle 5" high by 9" wide. Then I move this rectangle over the material on my screen. I use the close view camera and center the camera icon over one corner of the material. (See photo). After I snap a picture of that corner, I grab the rectangle and lay it so that it sits directly in line with the corner shown in the close up shot. (see photo). The top and sides should line up just about perfectly. You can use the close up camera at each of the four corners to be sure you are lined up all the way around. Do note that sometimes it will look like it is off the edge a bit but it could be the camera actually caught a small portion of the side of your material. Right click the close up view and close it when you are satisfied that the rectangle is properly aligned.
Next, select all four of your layers (Group them together to make moving them easier). I turned the layers 90 degree so that they were facing side to side and then moved them over the rectangle. Make sure your Auto Snapping is turned on. (in windows it is ctrl + R) Move your art until it snaps into the center of the rectangle as noted by the blue crosshairs that pop up. Once this is done, your artwork should be perfectly centered on your material.
At this point you can select your rectangle and delete it.
There are two different ways to engrave this. While I recommend a certain way, I am first going to cover the other way.
That is what I like to call the “All at once step”. Two steps ago, we set up the art by color and then organized them from lightest at the top to darkest at the bottom. To engrave all 4 layers in one go, step 7 is a vital step to follow.
Go to the 3 dots to the right of the “Process” button in the lower right of XCS. Select Auto planning and change it to User Defining. Then click the “By Layer” button to turn it green. This will ensure that the layers are engraved in the order set up in step 7, the lightest first, followed by the next darkest on to the last layer.
The only advantage to doing it this way is that you are not stopping your machine at all and getting it all done in the same run.
However, I like to do each layer separately. Why?
You can do this by selecting your layers on the right side of you screen one at a time or by selecting the specific color of each layer at the bottom left. Make sure that the layer you want to engrave has its output (located on the right side after selecting the layer) set to green. Select each of the other layers and change it to where output is greyed out. (See photo). After each layer is finished engraving, go in and change that layers output to grey and then select your next layer and change it to green.
As you can see in the photos of this step, each layer came out with different degrees of darkness and detail. The end result turned out pretty good. This entire piece took approximately 3 hours and 16 minutes to engrave, so not bad in my opinion. Adding in the times to clean and make changes on my computer, maybe 3 and ½ hours in total.
Each piece is different. Some will have to be sanded a bit. If you feel the need to sand your art, do so with 220 grit paper. Any lower and you can score your engrave beyond saving and any higher and you will not be able to get a good finish to stick to it completely. Be sure to blow out any dust gathered in your engrave. Even if you don't sand it, there will be dust so blow it out. This can be done manually but is time consuming so I like to use a small compressor or canned air. If using canned air, do bursts and keep it about 6 inches from the surface.
I like to finish some of my 3D illusioned engraves with either a clear coat of poly or laquer and leave it at that. Other times, I don't apply any finish and leave as is. Some of my customers actually preferred it that way. Often times though, I like to pour clear epoxy into my engraves. Before I do, I spray it with a spray poly so that the epoxy does not bleed into the woodgrain. After the poly dries, I pour just enough epoxy into the engrave to come slightly above the surface.
I let it set for 24-48 hours and then I sand it down using a combination of 180 and 220 sandpaper. Once sanded, it will look very scratched and blurred. No worries, take a very light coat of epoxy and pour it over the top.
TIP: Set your piece on blocks about an inch off the surface of your work area. Also, lay down newspaper underneath your work before doing this last epoxy coat.
As you pour this VERY light coat of epoxy, spread it over the entire surface, wood and engrave. Let it spill off the edge if you want, however, if you do, be sure the epoxy covers all the edges to give it a nice even look.
Let this set for 24 hours more and then finish off by sanding the bottom to get rid of any drips that may have formed.
Congratulations, your work is completed.
Shown in the photos here are two other pieces I have done. Both were purchased plans and so I cannot include them as downloadable files.
I mainly wanted you to see these pieces because they were done following these exact steps and settings I provided here. The first one was done on Cypress wood and does not have a finish applied. It was also engraved with the grain so you can see the woodgrain of the material pops and is more prominate.
The second has a light coat of poly on it and is engraved against the grain. This allowed for a more enhanced image that really does seem to spring from the wood.
I hope you enjoyed this and found it useful. Let me know if it helped you and show me some of your own 3D illusioned engraves in the comments.