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View Full Version : My Designs Come to Life!!!



Jiten Patel
10-25-2010, 5:14 AM
Hey guys,

Just thought I'd share my first lot of samples which we did for a events company brochure. These were done at Trotec as I'm still waiting on my galvo. :mad:

What do you guys and gals think.....critic welcome!!! :D

Mike Null
10-25-2010, 6:18 AM
Beautiful and creative work. Thanks for posting.

Dan Hintz
10-25-2010, 8:44 AM
Nicely done, Jit... are you creating the intricate lacework yourself, or are you modifying existing lacework? If you're using existing, would you mind sharing your source(s)?

Jiten Patel
10-25-2010, 9:07 AM
Dan,

I was given a mass of vectors from a friend of mine who is a designer on disc. I've used them for inspiratoin and made these works in illustrator taking bits from some of them. Although saying that I hope that none of the vectors she gave me are copyrighted in anyway (always a worry).

Dan Hintz
10-25-2010, 9:13 AM
Jit,

Was it a collection she put together over the years, or is it one disc from a specific named collection? I'm always interested in collections of that type of vector, especially if they are of good quality... too many hours trying to clean up supposedly "quality" borders :(

Jiten Patel
10-25-2010, 9:47 AM
no its from her personal collection, not a named/branded set. They are also from my own collection.

I do need to one day go through it all an sort it out, its a mess. I did try, but got through around 10k vectors and got bored. A lot of it is rubbish, but I keep it with the mentality "One day this might come in handy". My wife on the other hand has the mentality of "if you dont use it in 6 months, delete it". We obviously clash.

Most of the vectors are clean, closed paths etc, but as I draw most of it from scratch, I dont really worry about that. Mostly use them for inspiration. I would be more than happy to send you a few if you tell me what sort of thing you are looking for....

Greg Bednar
10-25-2010, 10:08 AM
Very nice work and nice presentation.

Levi Chanowitz
10-25-2010, 10:26 AM
This is absolutely unbelieveable!

would you mind sharing some of the artwork with us?

Doug Griffith
10-25-2010, 10:36 AM
Great presentation and photography. I can tell you've done quite a bit of it. I'm impressed.

Frank Corker
10-25-2010, 5:13 PM
Jit I agree with Doug, great result and very suitable photographic work. Bet you had a great time clearing all the bits out!

Tom Bull
10-25-2010, 5:25 PM
The lettering is super impressive.

Robert Walters
10-25-2010, 5:25 PM
My wife on the other hand has the mentality of "if you dont use it in 6 months, delete it"

Keep her away from your baseball card collection!!!

Very nice job! I had to look twice to see how you illuminated the card through the fabric. Must have been a pain to get setup like that.

Like everyone else, I too would be interested in any/all vector art =)
You can zip and upload 50MB worth to http://filebin.ca/

Dee Gallo
10-25-2010, 6:04 PM
Jit, those are all gorgeous, elegantly designed and clean as a whistle! Would you share your settings and can I assume this is cardstock or something like 300 pound paper?

I hope you WOWed them at the show, you certainly have a nice touch with this kind of work.

cheers, dee

john passek
10-26-2010, 1:09 AM
I can only dream of one day creating something even remotely close to these. I have a long way to go.
Beatiful work Jit , hope you continue to post your work for us to admire.

Andrea Weissenseel
10-26-2010, 1:25 AM
They are beautiful, Jit :D and absolutely professionally photographed

Andrea

P.S. Can you tell me which font you used for that "Thank you" card ? Thanks

Jakob Franz
10-26-2010, 4:42 AM
Very nice work. I need to learn to do some photography like that too >.<.

Jiten Patel
10-26-2010, 4:44 AM
My my, I didn’t expect a reaction like that. A big thank you to you all. That’s put a massive smile on my face!

Levi/Robert - as much as I would like to share those particular designs, I can’t as they are for my exclusive wedding stationery and I hope you understand that we cant have the designs cropping up all over the place….they wouldn’t remain exclusive for long! Like I said to Dan, If you tell me what sort of thing you are after, I would be more than happy to post a few vectors up (EPS? As I use illustrator (ai) - yea yea I know what y’all with say "Corel Draw" all the way!)

Frank - Zero cleaning out. We did two passes with the galvo, which cleanly cut everything out. I noticed afterwards, the X menu has a few bits left in, which will be sorted once we get out machine. Just lower the speed a bit. Galvos are great! THE SPPPPPEEED!

Robert - You'd be surprised how basic household objects can make fantastic props, you just have to take a step back in a room and look and I mean really look. That light is simply one of those art-deco lamps. It has a fabric around it and 3 bulbs inside with a dimmer. It’s a large rectangle, so I just laid it on its side and placed the card on top of one of the bulbs with a black background and snapped away. But the DSLR should really take the credit...!

Dee - Settings wise, I guess they would be very different to your flat bed as its a galvo laser. I used 30% power on a 100W galvo (which was at Trotec) to simulate 100% on my 30W (when I eventually get it!!!:mad:) if that makes sense. Speed was at something like 160-200 depending on the thickness of the cardstock with a frequncy of 5kHz and running two passes which took around 1 minute a card apart from the X menu which took around 3.
The cardstock we use varies from around 220gsm to 300gsm with 7 different finishes (pearl, matt, embossed, textured etc) and some 200 colours. Our motto is Anything is Possible.

Andrea - The font used on the Thank You card is Scriptina.

Tom - What lettering are you referring to? The initials? That is Mutlu Ornamental. Great font, I love it, but think I over use it.

Michael Hunter
10-26-2010, 6:24 AM
Lovely work!

Makes the stuff I did for my daughter's wedding look rather boring.

Dan Hintz
10-26-2010, 6:28 AM
Lovely work!

Makes the stuff I did for my daughter's wedding look rather boring.
I was thinking the same thing... I even vector cut stylized hearts out of mine, shaped them to look and open like gothic chapel doors, etc. I wasn't going to wait 30 minutes per card, though, to cut out something so intricate (as much as she wanted it).

Terry Swift
10-26-2010, 10:34 AM
Jit - please put me on your send files too list. I've not approached doing paper or cloth yet; so doing that looks super great and a definite eye catcher.

Robert Walters
10-26-2010, 10:52 AM
Robert - You'd be surprised how basic household objects can make fantastic props, you just have to take a step back in a room and look and I mean really look. That light is simply one of those art-deco lamps. It has a fabric around it and 3 bulbs inside with a dimmer. It’s a large rectangle, so I just laid it on its side and placed the card on top of one of the bulbs with a black background and snapped away. But the DSLR should really take the credit...!

Jitel,

Um... bovine poo!

I know what it's like setting up lighting for product shots.

Not only did you capture the contrasting light coming through the cutouts, you were also able to cast a soft shadow on the front top-left to bottom-right.

No camera in the world can adjust for that.

Give yourself your due credit for an excellent job in front and behind the lens and laser!!!

Jiten Patel
10-26-2010, 11:29 AM
Give yourself your due credit for an excellent job in front and behind the lens and laser!!!

Thanks Robert, much appreciated. I did take my time, and it was my first time taking photo's of cards, so it did take me and my brother in law all day to come up with 300 shots of which only 20 were the "money shots".

But we think we have it down now, so when it comes to taking the big load (63 invite designs each with co-ordinating stationery - 8 for each invite) There will be a lot of pictures for the website!!! Not looking forward to that.

Dan Hintz
10-26-2010, 12:35 PM
it did take me and my brother in law all day to come up with 300 shots of which only 20 were the "money shots".
Even that is an impressive ratio... pro photogs may only get a handful of money shots out of 300, that's why they take thousands per (long) sitting. Of course, having a subject that doesn't move is a bonus ;)

Robert Walters
10-26-2010, 2:53 PM
Of course, having a subject that doesn't move is a bonus ;)

Or one that has a toothache, but doesn't tell you till you're on location. :eek:

Sarah Holbrook
10-26-2010, 2:54 PM
Jit, these are great. Could you comment on any flashing that appears on the backside of the cutting? I've just started looking into galvos as I cut a lot of paper, but cards that I've seen use them (stationery at Target, Laser Excel) show a lot of yellowing/heat spikes. I would LOVE to have a minute cut time for the intricacy you show but I'm afraid that I'll also have to give up more control than I'd like. Maybe other manufacturers are just using the wrong settings?

Jiten Patel
10-27-2010, 4:20 AM
Jit, these are great. Could you comment on any flashing that appears on the backside of the cutting? I've just started looking into galvos as I cut a lot of paper, but cards that I've seen use them (stationery at Target, Laser Excel) show a lot of yellowing/heat spikes. I would LOVE to have a minute cut time for the intricacy you show but I'm afraid that I'll also have to give up more control than I'd like. Maybe other manufacturers are just using the wrong settings?


Sarah, I will try and answer this, but seen as I dont have mine yet, I can only comment on what I have seen at Trotec and at a few other manufacturors.

The first thing you will give up if using a galvo is spot size. The flat bed can go much much finer. I thought this was going to be a massive problem with out designs, but I think my pictures proves you can still produce some nice looking things. Another short fall is the marking field. I can only really mark/cut something which is 300mm x 300mm (12"x12", sorry I'm from London!).

With regards to flashing and staining the cardstock, there is some yellowing but hardly noticable. This is mainly caused by smoke, so we have had a custom table built with the extrations sucking the smoke through the honeycomb, which doubles as a vacuum table to hold the card still. It works very well, and as you can see from the pics, the browning is present, but nothing that a client would turn their nose up at. One side has a much cleaner cut then the other but if used correctly the not so clean side looks amazing and adds to the overall effect.

we found that two or 3 quick passes work better than one slower pass. But once I have my machine, I will be able to experiment and let you know what I find works best.

Hope that helps.

Dan Hintz
10-27-2010, 8:32 AM
Try placing a piece of rice paper filled with holes underneath your cut paper... the rice paper will take the brunt of the flashback, and the holes allow the vacuum table to still work.

Jiten Patel
10-27-2010, 9:18 AM
Dan, sounds like a good idea, but when you are cutting 200+ invites and all the co-ordinating stationery, I dont think this would be very cost effective.

Robert Walters
10-27-2010, 10:24 AM
This is mainly caused by smoke, so we have had a custom table built with the extrations sucking the smoke through the honeycomb, which doubles as a vacuum table to hold the card still.

Do you have any photos of this custom table by chance?
A couple of different angles would be nice.

I'm working on a design for a cutting table for my machine and always looking for ideas.

Jiten Patel
10-27-2010, 11:04 AM
Do you have any photos of this custom table by chance?
A couple of different angles would be nice.

I'm working on a design for a cutting table for my machine and always looking for ideas.

Robert,

Its being built at the moment, and I will recieve it hopefully in a week or two when I recieve my laser, if the bloody thing ever turns up! Its been 10 weeks since I've ordered it....NOT HAPPY! So when I get it, I will post up a few pics. I dont expect it to be anything fancy.

Joe De Medeiros
10-27-2010, 12:55 PM
Robert,

Its being built at the moment, and I will recieve it hopefully in a week or two when I recieve my laser, if the bloody thing ever turns up! Its been 10 weeks since I've ordered it....NOT HAPPY! So when I get it, I will post up a few pics. I dont expect it to be anything fancy.

10 weeks, I guess they build to order, but that still seems long.

Dan Hintz
10-27-2010, 8:54 PM
Jit,

Instead of rice paper, consider a piece of thin acrylic with holes... if you have the time, go for glass. You won't have to replace it for every card, but it'll cost a bit more for the glass and cutting all of those holes...

Tom Bull
10-27-2010, 9:56 PM
Thanks for the tip on the font, but what I am impressed with is making it work as a cut-out without looking "stencil-ly".

Russell Ludwick
10-28-2010, 1:31 AM
Big Ups Jit. Those things are official. And by official, I mean good enough to be officially badass. Very professional photography as well

What kind of feed and speed are you running on that? Is it in rastor mode or vector? Just some questions from a noobie

Jiten Patel
10-28-2010, 6:58 AM
Big Ups Jit. Those things are official. And by official, I mean good enough to be officially badass. Very professional photography as well

What kind of feed and speed are you running on that? Is it in rastor mode or vector? Just some questions from a noobie


Its official (sound the hip hop horn) JP in the buildddding! :D

The feed is completely manual (for now). We will have adjustable "Rulers" on our custom table which lock into place, so once lined up, the card just needs to be pushed up against them for pefect allignment. Speed was around 160-200 (galvo laser, not a flatbed).