Custom cut photo frame matting

Laser cutting is a great way to create and personalize a countless amount of products that are not readily available in the marketplace. One great gift idea is a laser cut picture frame mat. Designing it is easy and the final product will impress anyone who sees it. Below we will provide you with a step by step guide of how to easily create a custom laser cut picture frame using Adobe Illustrator.

Please note, in this example, we will be using Adobe Illustrator CS5.

1. Take your measurements: The first step is fairly straight forward, with your picture frame in hand, remove the backing and measure the inside diameter of the height and width for the matting that you are going to create.

2. Create a New File: When you create the new file enter the width and height of the matting that you want to create. Don’t use the exact measurement, if you do the mat will be too tight to fit in the fame. As an example, when creating a mat for a 10″ x 10″ picture frame we’ll use enter the height and width into Illustrator as 9.9″ x 9.9″.

Create a new document

3. Create an outer cut line: Now that the artboard is created we want to create an outer cut line. This line will define the height an width that the laser will cut the matting. If you are planning on submitting your design to Red Laser Studio please see the Design Rules to help assist you with your design.

Set the stroke weight of the of the outer cut line to be 0.01 mm and the stroke color to be R: 255 G:000 B:000, also, set the Fill color to None. If your stroke weight is displayed in anything other than millimeters you can change it underEditPreferencesUnits.

For this example we will be creating an rectangular object for the outer cut line that is 9.9″ x 9.9″. Once the rectangle is created line it up so that it lines up with the height and width of the Artboard.

Create an outer cut line

3. Create an inner cut line: This is the line that will define what size photograph that you are going to be using with the custom cut matting. For this example will we set an inner cut line that is 6.5″ x 6.5″. Also, use the same stroke, fill and color values that were used in Step 2. Line up the rectangle so that it is in the center of the artboard.

Set the height and width for the inner cut line

4. Create text or Import Artwork: Since we want to customize this frame we can either create text and convert it to outlines in order to join it to the matting, or we can import an image (eps, ai) or a logo to combine with the matting. In this example we will be using a company logo.

When importing the company logo create a new layer and move it to the front. This is extremely imported since we will be using Minus Front in the following steps. Simply open the logo and drag and drop it into our the new front layer.

Import a logo or create text to customize matting

5. Resize the logo and position: In this step we need to resize the logo and position it so that it overlaps with inner cut line. This way we will have the effect out the logo coming out of the matting itself. For this example I removed the graphic contained in the logo. In order for it to cut and be part of the logo it would have to interest with part of the logo or the inner cut line.

Size and position the logo

6. Switch to View Outlines: No that we have the logo in the general location as to where we want it to intersect the inner cut line we’ll need to switch our view to Outlines so that we can have a more detailed view of the intersect. This will help us to know if there will be any points that will be too think when cut, thus, making the matting fragile. To switch to Outlines highlight the logo (or text) and in the top menu choose ViewOutlines. In this example we will not be overlapping the word “Photography” in the bottom of the logo since it will be engraved into the mat itself.

Change the View to Outlines

7. Use Minus Front to define logo: To use the  Minus Front tool open the Pathfinder menu. You can open it by selecting WindowPathfinder. Highlight the inner cut line and the logo and choose Minus Front from the pathfinder menu.

Select Minus Front from the Pathfinder Menu

8. You’re done! Once the front (logo) is removed from the back (cut line) the logo will be united with the matting that will be laser cut, as shown below. Now save you’re work and that’s it!

Completed file for laser cut photo frame matting

If you plan on submitting your file to us for laser cutting and engraving please save it as an ai or eps file type.

Don’t forget to Get a Custom Quote for ALL your laser cutting and engraving needs.

Do you have a comment or question? Leave a message below, we’d love to hear from you!

Also, thank you to  Desjar Photography for letting us use their logo as an example…