Christmas 2005 we signed off on the release build of CGS x3.  It was undeniably the most user focused release of CGS ever (there are absolutely no metrics to back that up, it's just true.).  The User Experience Team at Corel began a tradition of toasting to a release's success with some tasty wine.  The tradition has entered its Second Iteration with our Painter X celebration. A plaque that displays the wine labels from these celebrations pasted into wine-label-shaped recesses under a CGS X3 Wordmark with a brief description of the occasion seemed like a cool plan. I launched DRAW.

 

Recreating the label shapes

I started by changing the units to millimeters, to allow easier (for me) precision in recreating the wine label shapes.  I measured the labels dimensions and created objects in CGS.  One of the labels was rectangular and relatively simple (1995 Castello di Ama Chianti Classico if your keeping score). It was 98mm x 118mm.  I added .5mm to each dimension to give me some room for error, it turns out 1mm would have been better.  I placed a rectangle on the page, I used the width and height controls on the property bar to set the dimensions. Then I chose black to set maximum depth on the engraver.  I also removed the outline which I'm told by Tony S. tells the engraver to try to cut right through the media.

 

The second label (2002 Caymus Vineyards Special Selection) was trickier, it tapered down its length and had scallops in the upper corners.  I started with a rectangle using the process for Label #1.  I converted the rectangle to a curve (CTRL-Q) then opened the Fillet/Scallop/Chamfer docker (Window Menu then Dockers then Fillet/Scallop/Chamfer).  I chose 'Scallop' as the Operation and set the Radius to 8mm as measured from the wine label.  I selected both the top two nodes with the Shape tool   Then I hit Apply. 

 

Now to take care of the taper. I measured the label; there was a 2.5mm taper on both sides of the label along its entire height.  I drew two 2.5mm squares and placed them inside the lower corners of the label.  I used the shape tool to move each of the lower nodes of the label from the outside of the small squares to the inside.  In the image below, the left node has been moved and the right has not. After both were tapered the squares were deleted.

 

Setting the recess detailing

   I thought it might be nice to have the labels recessed in steps.  I selected the tapered label and hit CTRL-F9 for the Contour docker.  I  selected a 1 step contour to the outside of 2.54 mm (the default) and applied it.

 

The lighter the color, the less deep the engraving.  So, I broke apart the object by selecting the black section and hit CTRL-K to separate the two objects from each other (contour objects are treated as one, so that the contour can be edited later).  I changed the outer object to a lighter grey than the label.  I repeated this process for the first wine label as well.

Laying it all out

Finally I brought in the CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X3 Wordmark and created some description text.  I added a frame around the outside and changed the page size to 'legal' to fit the elements properly and without crowding (I checked that I had space on the wood!).  I then did some layout work; changed levels of grey, tweaked a little, added a border,  and removed all the outlines (CTRL-A to select all and Right Mouse Click on the   in the color palette).  Finally I added an outline to the outside of the page so that the engraver will try and cut the material there. Scott suggested I might want to print the layout to see if the labels fit properly.  Good point, hadn't thought of that, paper's cheaper.

 

 

Burn that thing

After checking with Tony S, the resident expert on such things, it was engraving time.  The Engraver is an Epilog Mini 24x12 on loan from Epilog.  The machine is being used to both test output and to allow our product team to better understand the needs of the engraver workflow.

I found it necessary to rotate the artwork in CGS as there was no landscape versus portrait settings in the driver.  I select the Epilog from the printer list and clicked properties. I brought in a small 1/2 inch cherry board from an old wood-working project that would fit the bill here. I changed the piece size in the driver to the 9x23 inches of the wood. I also changed the speed lower and power higher.  Cherry is hard, tweaking these settings would allow good depth to be reached in the material.  There is a guide sheet that comes with the engraver to give suggested settings dependent on material.  I also checked the Auto Focus on,  this instructs the engraver to adjust the height of the laser with respect to the material before starting.

 

I placed the material in the engraver and engraved a couple test patches on the piece at 20% size along one end edge of the wood to check depths.  The second try looked good.

 

Then I looked for a good section of the wood with nice grain and no defects for the final version.  Along one edge and 4 inches from the left was an ideal starting point. I entered Print Preview from the print dialog and changed the x and y co-ordinates to 4" and -0.125" respectively.

 

The print took 2 hours 17 minutes and 51 seconds.  There is a lot of burn residue on the surface and the final cut didn't go all the way through the cherry.

 

The finishing

I trimmed the piece with a miter saw (I have an awesome miter saw), washed the residue off and used a 320 sand paper to smooth the surface.  Finally I vacuumed the dust away with the Shop-Vac. Looks great so far!  Next time I'll sand the piece before the engraving.

 

Then glued in the wine labels.  It would have been smart to cut out a thin wood cut-out in the shape of the label to fit into the recesses to allow clamping of the label down on the glue.  I tried to improvise and ended up frantically tamping the labels down with one of those white erasers.  It worked, but it was far from a relaxing experience.

Finally,  Voila!  I like it.

 

 

 cheers.