Creation in Revit
To start, you are going to need a project. Here we have a small building made in
Autodesk Revit. It has 4 walls and a
simple roof. For more complex projects,
each wall must be isolated in order to
have it cut by the laser. Go to Elevation
that you want to have
cut/engraved/outline. This cannot be a
3D view; it must be a building elevation.
Hide level boundaries. The roof should
be removed, we will deal that later.
Exporting into AutoCAD
In order to
export the
elevation
into
AutoCAD
and
eventually
into CorelDRAW,
the elevation must be
converted into a .dwg file. After
finalizing your building
elevation in Revit, go to
the “R” in the top left>
Export>CAD
Formats>DWG. The .dwg
file can be opened in AutoCAD, which will be used to
color code the lines. Save the elevation with the
“Automatic- Long (specify prefix) name to keep
organized.
Color Coding in AutoCAD
In AutoCAD, open the file just exported
from Revit. The resulting file will be
multiple colors, and we must change
these to properly laser them. The first
step in color coding is exploding doors
and windows. Select doors and windows
and use the explode command. This will
allow us to color code specific lines for
cutting/engraving.
There are 3
colors which
are
interpreted
by the laser
cutter:
Black, Blue,
and
Red (on the
RGB color spectrum). Black
is for
engraving
an area (seen as white in
AutoCAD),
Blue is for outlining or producing sharp lines, Red is for cutting. In AutoCAD, there are
no black lines/fill, so it uses white instead. When exported as a .pdf to CorelDRAW the
white will automatically be converted to black. Black can either be a single line, or a fill
for a shape. The single line will be a bunch of small laserings compared to blue which is
a single laser beam wide. Blue lines outline or produce a sharp line. The thickness in
AutoCAD for blue lines has to be 0.00mm, or else the line will be engraved as a black
line. Red lines also follow this principle, if the line is not set to 0.00mm in AutoCAD, it
will be engraved as a black line.
As seen in the final product to the right,
every line is color coded according the
color parameters. The whole elevation
will be cut out be the red line (going
around the outside of the elevation).
The inside of the windows has a red
line which is surrounded by a white fill
to engrave the "window pane". The
window is then outlined by a blue line
to outline the whole window. There is a
similar combination for the door. The
bricks are all in blue instead of black so
the lines created will be clean.
Exporting into CorelDRAW
Make sure the scale is set properly. Once the elevation is color coded in AutoCAD, it
must be exported as an AutoCAD 2007 file so it can be opened in CorelDRAW.
Finishing in CorelDRAW
Open CorelDRAW in the Start Menu> Programs> Room 304> Limited Licenses>
CorelDRAW X6 (64 Bit). Open the program and enter your account information (you
may have to create a new account). Then create a new document. Make the dimension
24.0" by 12.0". Set the primary color mode to RGB and the
rendering resolution to 500 dpi. Once in the new document,
go to file>import, and then open the AutoCAD from
AutoCAD, then press enter. The elevation should appear on
the page, colors and all. Move the entire elevation to the top
left of the document.
Lasering with the VLS 3.50
In CorelDRAW, go to file>print. Change the printer to VLS
3.50, then press print. Click
this icon:
in the task
bar and a new screen should
come up (looking like the
screen to the right). This is
UCP, which controls the laser
cutter. Go to "settings" (bottom right) and select the
material which you are using. When finished click "Apply
and then OK". Then, follow the "Material
Selection Guide" to enter the correct
selection of settings for each material. To
turn the laser on, click the red power button
(not the physical button on the machine), it
will take a little while to warm up. Then, plug
in
the Purex air filter to the socket and press
the center button. When both the filter and laser are both
on, and your material thickness is entered correctly, put
the material onto the cutting table, aligned with the top left,
and close the top to the laser. Press the big green button! You can look at the laser
while it works. UCP will plan out which areas to engrave, outline or cut as it goes. When
the laser head stops moving and the program is done, your material should be finished.
Make sure the cuts went all the way through, if not, repeat the process again with a new
piece of material and different "speed" and "power" settings.