Internet Celebrity Road Sign

19/08/2024

In the last lesson, we felt the charm of laser creation, learned the production method of leaf engraving, and also learned how to use the drawing tools such as “Image Extraction” in Lasermaker.

Ⅰ. Scenario Introduction

As a cultural creation, the internet celebrity road sign adds a romantic atmosphere to the city. Its rise is partly due to the trend of checking in on social media, and partly related to the desire of young people to have intimate interaction with the city. People share their check-in photos of road signs with messages like “I Miss You at place X” on social media, which shows their identification with the city! In this episode, we will bring you the production method of the “Internet celebrity road sign”!

Ⅱ. Materials List

Numbering
Name
Quantity
1
1.5mm Dual-color board
1
2
3mm Acrylic board
1

Ⅲ. Laser Modeling

Sketch the Exterior Shape

1.Open the LaserMaker software and select the “Rectangle” tool from the “Drawing Tools” bar on the left. Then, move the mouse to the drawing area, hold down the left mouse button, and drag it to draw a rectangle with a length of 120mm and a width of 40mm in the drawing area①, And then use the same method to draw a rectangle with a length of 120mm and a width of 12mm in the drawing area②, move rectangle ② to the bottom and overlap it with rectangle ①, as shown in the figure below:

2.Select the rectangle, and from the ‘Drawing Tools’ toolbar on the left, choose the ‘Rounded Corners’ tool. Set the rounded corner radius to 5mm. Left-click on the rectangle’s right angle to make it rounded, as shown in the image below:

Tips: The toolbars for tools like “Rounded Corners” and “Union” will only appear when a shape is selected.

Select rectangle ①, press the keyboard combination 【Ctrl + c】 to copy rectangle ①, and then press 【Ctrl + v】 to paste rectangle ①, creating a new rectangle ③, as shown in the image below:

Draw Graphic Elements (Text, Patterns)

1.From the ‘Drawing Tools’ toolbar on the left, click on the ‘Text’ tool, and input the text “南兴洲路68号北”. Set the font to “Alibaba PuhuiTi 2.0 Semibold” and the font size to “21” (which is equivalent to 18 points in most font systems), as shown in the image below:

2.Using the same method, click on the ‘Text’ tool from the ‘Drawing Tools’ toolbar on the left, and input the text “我在东莞很想你”. Set the font to ” Alibaba PuhuiTi 2.0 Semibold” and the font size to “42” (which is typically one size larger than the default font size), as shown in the image below:

3.Select the 【Equilateral Triangle】 shape from the 【Basic Shapes】 section in the upper right corner, drag it into the drawing area, and adjust its size to 6 mm. Click on the rotation arrow above the equilateral triangle, enter a numerical value, and rotate it by -90° to obtain equilateral triangle ①, as shown in the image below:

4.Click on equilateral triangle ①, press the keyboard combination 【Ctrl + c】 to copy it, and then press 【Ctrl + v】 to paste it. Click on the selection arrow above the triangle and enter a numerical value to rotate it by 180°, creating equilateral triangle ②, as shown in the image below:

Ⅲ Parameter Settings

1.Select all the content inside rectangle ①, and with your mouse, left-click on the layer panel in the lower left corner to change the outline color to yellow, as shown in the image below:

This technique uses both “yin carving” and “yang carving”. When two layers that require carving overlap, the overlapping portion is not carved. For example, the overlapping part of rectangle ① and rectangle ② is not carved. The carved portion in this case is called “yin carving”, while the uncarved portion is referred to as “yang carving”, as shown in the image below:

2.Select rectangle ③ and move it so that it overlaps with rectangle ①. Then, with rectangle ③ still selected, left-click on the layer panel in the lower left corner to change the outline color to black, as shown in the image below:

3.Double-click on the yellow layer in the 【Processing Panel】 on the lower right corner. Set the material to dual-color board, thickness to 1.5mm, and process to shallow carving. Then, double-click on the black layer in the same 【Processing Panel】 and set the material to dual-color board, thickness to 1.5mm, and process to cutting, as shown in the image below:

Tips: Ensure that the yellow layer is placed above the black layer, and perform the shallow carving before cutting.

Ⅳ. Project Presentation

Ⅴ. Conclusion

During the process of completing this project, we learned how to use the “yin carving and yang carving” technique in the LaserMaker software. When two layers that require carving overlap, the overlapping portion is not carved. Drawing and modeling are not difficult tasks, so please don’t hesitate to experiment and practice more!