Laser engraving is the process of using laser machines to engrave any design on various materials. The laser itself creates high heat that vaporizes whatever surface it’s being used on, which results in it exposing hollows that form to make the design. You will however require the correct software for laser engraving.
Laser engraving is a rather easy process but only when you have the right laser engraver and software. The following are the best.
5 of the best software for laser engraving
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator is a vector-based creative program designed for graphic designers. This is an easy way to create designs for laser engraving because you can create your design and scale it to any size without scaling down on quality.
There are many different features within the software that allows you to fully customize your graphics. It’s an easy software to learn and use, it gives you a lot of control over your design, and always produces high-quality images. This is one of the best software for laser engraving.
There is nothing you can’t do with Adoble Illustrator. Pen tool, Pathfinder, Unite, Align, Image Trace, Shape Tools, Text Outlines, and a Sneak Peek at Adobe Draw/Adobe Fresco are covered in the below video.
CorelDRAW
CorelDRAW is a vector graphics editor and it’s the most popular in the industry. CorelDRAW has a lot of advanced functions, but it’s one of the easiest software to use compared to a lot of the other software in the industry.
The tools within this software like Twirl, smear, attract and repel make it quick and easy to get great-looking results. There’s also an alignment guide that allows you to position your object exactly as you like.
CorelDRAW works with large files in Corel Photo-Paint. Most laser owners use CorelDRAW and it is regarded as the the best software for laser engraving.
This video shows you the basic operations in CorelDraw so you can get started with designing artwork for laser cutting.
Inkscape
Inkscape is a free and open-source tool for laser engraving. It offers a lot of the same capabilities that Adobe Illustrator does. This software allows you to create designs from scratch or edit existing designs and either option is easy to do.
Similar to most software, Inkspace will take some time to get used to. It has a similar setup to Abode Illustrator, but some of the icons are named differently and have different functions. Inkspace offers flexible drawing tools, common file format compatibility, and a lot of powerful tools such as a powerful text tool.
You can see a full list of Inkspape features here.
In the below YouTube Video you will learn everything you need to know to get started with Inkscape for any laser:
SketchUp
SketchUp is one of the easiest software to use when it comes to graphic design and laser engraving. A lot of the tools included in the software are intuitive and make it easy for you to create your design. You can add plugins to your software, which gives you more access to different functions.
Additional plugins would come in handy if you wanted to design something super specific but the software didn’t have that tool – this is one of the reasons why this is one of the best laser engraving software.
In the below YouTube Video you will learn how to use SketchUp for laser cutting:
DraftSight
If you love 2D laser engraving software, you need to give DraftSight a try! It has the same attention to detail as all the laser engraving software, if not more. DraftSight is a design software that helps you create an image that you can upload to your laser cutter and put your design on your desired object.
This software is great for turning common file types such as JPEG or PNG’s into vector lines, curves, angles, and much more.
This software also has advanced features such as a “hairline” option that allows you to control line width when you print your design – which is exactly what you want when doing laser engraving.
Final Thoughts
If you’re new to the world of laser engraving and not sure where to start, any of the options above are great starting points. Or, if you’re already in the world of laser engraving and looking for new and better software, give one of these a try!
Overall, if we could only choose one software, it would be Illustrator from Adobe. The main reason being that you can use this software on any device and you can use it for lots of other non-laser engraving projects as well. Illustrator has an active community and you will find lots of free tutorials on youtube that can help you get started in a jiffy.
Also Read: Where to Get Laser Engraving Vector Files (Free and Paid)
