Laser Cutting with Inkscape: Saving your File and Importing it onto our Laser Cutting Platform

While this step is optional (Sculpteo will automatically trim any unused space – you only pay for the material you use) I generally like to resize the document to fit its contents. So select all elements (ctrl+a or click and drag) and go back to the Document Properties (File -> Document Properties) and on the Page tab, click ” Resize page to content” then ” Resize page to drawing or selection“. Note the values for later so that you can double-check your scale. Done, you have a nice clean file now!

Make sure your file is still in the right format (there should be no problem, as you started working on a vector file already): the file format we prefer for laser cutting is . SVG. 

Once your file is ready, you can upload it onto our platform.To know everything about our platform’s functionalities and how to make the most of them, read our page on how to transfer a 2D file. 

One important thing when you upload your file is to pay attention to the scale. Sometimes, when you upload your design, you’ll see that the scale of your design is not what you expected. This is because different software use different ways of determining what a unit of measurement is. Inkscape for example assumes a millimetre is equivalent to 96dpi, but depending on what software were previously used with your file, this may not always be the case. Sculpteo lets you update your scale on the laser cut page. Just check that the values match what your file should be and update if necessary.

Using our review tools, you can even check specific elements and rescale your whole design to match.

That’s it, nothing left to do then for you to try out some of these tips and tricks with your own files!