Open your File
File -> Open
If it's showing you your cloud documents, select the button at the bottom that says "On your computer" and find the file in your Downloads folder.
Remove the Background
Here's a good tutorial on how to remove the background. Do this tutorial if you've never used Photoshop before.
Basis steps are:
Click the Remove Background button at the bottom of your image:
If it's not perfect, you can adjust it with these buttons:
Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask
Amount: 200 % Radius: 1 pixels Threshold: 0 levels.
Image -> Adjustments -> Brightness/Contrast
Brighten a LOT. Improve contrast a LOT. Wash it out! (Turn Brightness all the way up, Adjust contrast to make it all VERY bright.)
Save As... give it a good file name and save it to Creative Cloud.
Answer Yes to the questions.
Open Adobe Illustrator and make a new document.
24" x 12" is the maximum size for the small laser cutter: the Epilog Zing. Your document can be smaller than that. For class, I'd suggest no larger than 3" in either direction as engraving takes a long time.
Make sure that document is set to Color Mode: RGB Color
File -> Place to insert the photo. (Open Creative Cloud and find the file)
Draw a box around it and make the box .1pt stroke with no fill
Save the file in the creative cloud.
Open Creative Cloud and find your file.
Share the file with laser@meadowbrook-ma.org
On the laser cutting computer:
Open it in illustrator
Engrave on Zing Laser Cutter
Shrink size to fit the material you have and the size you want it to be.
Raster settings: 70 Speed, 40 Power