How do I design for Color Mapping (different laser settings in the same file) from Illustrator?

Be absolutely sure your document is in RGB Color Mode!

In your document, set your color mode to RGB Color (File - Document Color Mode - RGB Color. SAVE your file immediately after changing the color mode.

Set your stroke colors to RGB Values

In this example we will have 4 different laser speed and power settings -

1 - Black, which will cut entirely through ( 50% speed and 100% power)

2 - Red, which will be 100% speed and 10% power

3 - Green, which will be 100% speed and 20% power

4 - Blue, which will be 100% speed and 30% power

Setting Red

Set any objects you'd like to cut at the Red Settings with:

No Fill

Stroke 0.1pt, color Red - - R 255, G 0, B 0

Setting Blue

Set any objects you'd like to cut at the Blue Settings with:

No Fill

Stroke 0.1pt, color Blue - - R 0, G 0, B 255

Setting Green

Set any objects you'd like to cut at the Green Settings with:

No Fill

Stroke 0.1pt, color Red - - R 0, G 255, B 0

Be sure to save your work before moving forward.

At the Laser Cutter - setting print settings

In this fille, we have raster engraving (text with a solid fill and no stroke), vector engraving (Red, Blue and Green text set with no fill, with settings that will only mark the top of the material, and Vector Cutting (a shape with no fill, black stroke).

Go to file print, then change the printer to the laser cutter you'll be using, then click Setup, then Properties.

Set the vector and raster settings according to your material.

In this case we are using .25inch plywood, and are using raster of 70 speed, 100 power, and vector of 50 speed, 100 power, 40 Freq.

Since we are both vector cutting and raster engraving, set the job type to Combined.

In the color mapping tab, ensure the colors used in your file are set to the power, speed and frequency.

IMPORTANT - after changing settings for a collor, use the >>> button to save the color mapping.

In this case we have set red to 100/10, green to 100/20 and blue to 100/30.

Send your job to the laser

If your settings were correct, you should see the different laser settings reflected in your laser job.

Sample file

You can download the sample file for these instructions here, used with the Zing laser cutter.