Adobe Illustrator is a software that can be used to make vector or raster art. It's used by many companies to make logos or other art needed for the company. It's helpful in that it can make vector and raster art because it can make both simple pictures that never get blurry and incredibly complex pictures that can get blurry. We used it to make designs to be lazer ingraved into a key chain. We also used it to cut out vinyl decals for our designer's notebook.
This is a picture of my file for the lazer cutter. It needs to have what you want ingraved in black and what you want cut in 0.0001 pt font and be in RGB red.
To use the lazer cutter, you first need to enter illustrator to set up the printing options. For this project, that meant selecting the extruded acrylic option. Then we had to go into UCP to start the print. Our file should have already been loaded and from there we had to locate the part of the plastic we wanted to print on, turn on the exhaust so our cut didn't start a fire, and start the print.
After the print is started, watch and make sure that nothing catches on fire or breaks. After the print is done you should be left with your key chain.
For the vinyl decals, you need to take the area of where your design is cut and take away all of the excess vinyl. After you're left with just you vinyl design, you put tape over the whole design and use a squeegee to make sure that the design is stuck to the tape. Then, take your design, put it where you want to put it, press it down, and make sure everything sticks.
Through doing these two projects, I learned how to use Illustrator. I also learned the difference between raster and vector art. I learned how to cut out just about anything with a lazer. And I learned how to make vinyl decals of almost anything. Overall I learned a lot about making designs and imagery.