How to Set Up an Illustrator File for Laser Cutting
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Adobe Tutorials
Adobe Tutorials · Illustrator
How to Set Up an Illustrator File for Laser Cutting
Cut, score, and engrave lines all live in the same file—your laser software just needs to know which is which. Here's exactly how to set that up.
If you've ever imported a design into LightBurn or RDWorks and had it engrave a line that was supposed to cut—or cut a line that was supposed to engrave—the file wasn't set up wrong by accident. It was set up without the one convention almost every laser software relies on: stroke color tells your laser what to do.
This is the file-prep step that every other laser tutorial quietly assumes you already know. So before your next project, here's exactly how to build a laser-ready file from scratch.
The convention
Stroke Color = Operation
Laser software reads your file by stroke color, not by layer name or object type. Every path you draw needs a color assigned to it that tells the software whether to cut through it, engrave into it, or score a light line along it.
Colors can vary by software and by your own personal setup, but this is the most common convention you'll see across LightBurn, RDWorks, and most laser workflows:
Cut
A hairline stroke, no fill. Tells the laser to cut all the way through the material.
RGB 255, 0, 0Score
A light pass that marks the surface without cutting through—used for fold lines or light detail.
RGB 0, 0, 255Engrave
A filled shape or raster image. Tells the laser to remove surface material to create texture or detail.
RGB 0, 0, 0Your laser software has the final say. LightBurn and RDWorks both let you reassign which color maps to which operation. Before you start a project, open your software's cut settings and confirm which colors it's actually reading—then build your file to match.
Building the file
Setting Up Your File Step by Step
Set Your Artboard to Match Your Material
Create a new Illustrator document sized to your actual sheet—12"×12", 12"×24", whatever you're cutting on. This keeps your layout realistic and makes it easy to see how many pieces will actually fit.
Draw Your Cut Lines as Hairline Strokes
For any path you want the laser to cut through:
- No fill—stroke only.
- Set the stroke weight to 0.001" (a "hairline"). A thick stroke can confuse the software into engraving instead of cutting.
- Set the stroke color to your cut color (typically pure red, RGB 255,0,0).
Set Up Score Lines the Same Way
Score lines follow the same rule as cut lines—hairline stroke, no fill—just with your score color instead (typically pure blue).
Build Engrave Areas as Filled Shapes
Engraving works differently from cutting. Instead of a stroke, engrave elements are filled shapes or placed raster images, typically set to black. This tells the laser to remove material across the whole area rather than trace a single line.
Organize by Layer
Put cut, score, and engrave elements on separate named layers (Cut, Score, Engrave). Most laser software can import by layer, which makes it much easier to double-check your file—and much easier to spot a stray line before it costs you a sheet of material.
Convert Text to Outlines
Any text in your design needs to become vector paths before export—Type > Create Outlines. If you skip this, your laser software will either substitute a different font or refuse to read the text at all.
Export Laser-Ready
Save as SVG or DXF for the cleanest import into LightBurn or RDWorks. If your software prefers AI files directly, that works too—just make sure text is already outlined and strokes are still set to hairline before you save.
Before you cut
Quick Pre-Flight Checklist
- ✅ All cut/score lines are hairline stroke, no fill
- ✅ Cut, score, and engrave colors match what your laser software is actually reading
- ✅ Engrave elements are filled shapes, not strokes
- ✅ All text is converted to outlines
- ✅ No stray points or duplicate paths sitting on top of each other
- ✅ Artboard size matches your material
If your traced or imported artwork has messy paths or too many anchor points, clean it up before you assign colors—extra nodes can cause the same stalling and burn issues on a hairline cut line as they do on any other path. Our guide on fixing poor image traces walks through exactly how.
Final thoughts
Final Thoughts
Once you've set up a laser-ready file a few times, it stops feeling like a separate step and just becomes part of how you design. The payoff is real: fewer failed cuts, fewer wasted sheets, and files that import clean every time.
If you're combining printing and cutting in the same project, How to Create Print & Cut Files picks up right where this leaves off.
Ready to cut
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