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Illustrator Troubleshooting Guide for Universal laser cutters Problem: “Why does my file show up grey in the laser cutter software?”

Quick Checklist:

1. Check that the stroke width is 0.072pt (.001”) and that the RGB color values are set correctly

2. File may be in CMYK color mode 3. After converting from CMYK to RGB, colors still need to be adjusted 4. Stroke lines have a fill 5. Duplicate lines 6. Selecting various parts to be cut versus engrave 7. Images with different file types (.jpeg’s, .gif’s, .png’s, etc.) or transparency 8. If you still have problems…

 

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1. Check that the stroke width is 0.072pt (.001”) and that the RGB color values are set correctly: Cut: R 255, G 0, B 0 Engrave: R 0, G 0, B 255 Raster: no setting required, but the closer the black (R 0, G 0, B 0) the deeper

If the color palette is in grayscale or CMYK, change it by clicking on the dropdown menu icon (see next picture) Also be sure that you have selected the stroke icon (the one on the right while a hole in the center) and not the fill.

 

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2. File is in CMYK color mode

Check the color mode in the file name. Even if the color palette is set to RGB, the file settings might default to CMYK. To change, go to FileDocument Color ModeRGB

 

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3. After converting from CMYK to RGB, colors still need to be adjusted

Although the file is now in RGB, we still need to go back and reselect the objects and adjust the colors.

 

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4. Stroke lines have a fill

See how the squares appear darker than the other lines?

In this case, even the stroke color was set correctly there is still a fill color. This is counterintuitive for a single-pixel line, but somehow Illustrator manages to give it a fill anyway!

We instead want the fill to be white, or “none.”

 

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5. Duplicate lines Again, here the squares look darker than the other lines. Sometimes just trying to delete some lines to see if there is a duplicate underneath is a quick fix—you can also undo the deletion if there is in fact only one copy.

6. Selecting various parts to be cut versus engrave

“What if I want to engrave the circles in the middle, but when I try to select it selects the whole object?”

 

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Often vectors will be combined into groups or “compound paths,” so we will need to open up the layers to get to the individual vectors.

Double-clicking on the path puts us into “isolation mode,” and you can see underneath the file name that we are inside of Layer 1. Next just deselect, and click on only the parts you want to edit. To get out of isolation mode and go back to the normal view, double-click anywhere on the canvas, or click on the back arrow by Layer 1.

 

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7. Images with different file types (.jpeg’s, .gif’s, .png’s, etc.) or transparency Sometimes even if all of the above issues have been addressed (color is all correct, file is in the right mode, stoke width is correct, etc.) images can still cause the cut/engrave lines to look grey in the laser cutter software. This is usually caused by transparency, and only with certain image file types. Therefore, you could have five images which are OK but one which has transparency, and it would be hard to tell which is the problematic image! Often the easiest solution is to select all the images and go to ObjectFlatten Transparency or ObjectRasterize

The downside is that this can affect the image resolution or obscure any objects behind a previously-transparent image. You should be able to arrange the order of the images by going to ObjectArrangeSend to Back

 

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If this doesn’t work, you can also cut and paste the images onto a new layer, then print once for images, once for cut lines.

Click on New Layer, then cut your images from Layer 1 and paste them into Layer 2. (tip: if you go to EditPaste in Place, you won’t have to worry about placing the image in the same location)

We will end up printing in two steps, so we want to be sure that we print in the same location each time. To do this, an easy trick is to make your Artboard (or canvas) the size of the laser cutter bed and place your objects where you want them to cut. (tip: this is also useful to do for any laser cutting operation)

New  Layer  

 

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To do this, select the Artboard tool (looks like a square with dots on the corners).

Set the width to 24in and the height to 18in

Note: not the X and Y

Click on the black arrow (top of the toolbar on the left) to get out of Artboard mode.

Move your objects to your preferred location on the laser cutter bed.

 

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Now when you go to cut, you will want to first print only Layer 2 with the images, and then Layer 1 with the cut lines.

You want to do your cut operation after rastering because the cutouts can drop down slightly, which will make the rastering uneven.

Click on the eye icon next to Layer 1 to turn it off, then Print. After the laser cutter has finished rastering the images, go back to Illustrator and turn Layer 2 off and Layer 1 on.

 

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8. If you still have problems… If you’ve tried all of the above solutions and are still having trouble getting your file to show up properly in the laser cutter software, a last-resort fix is to just copy and paste all of the vectors into a new file. Make sure then that the new file is in RGB color mode. This often fixes otherwise-indiscernible problems.