Score vs. Engrave vs. Cut, Explained
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Laser Cutting & Tutorials
Laser Cutting & Tutorials · Basics
Score vs. Engrave vs. Cut, Explained
Three words that get used almost interchangeably—and three completely different things your laser can do to a sheet of acrylic.
Every laser project is really just some combination of three operations: cutting all the way through, engraving into the surface, or scoring a light line along it. Once you understand what each one is actually doing to the material, choosing settings and reading other people's tutorials gets a lot less confusing.
Cut
The laser goes all the way through the material, separating your piece from the sheet. Full power, slower speed.
Score
A single light pass that marks the surface without cutting through. Low power, fast speed.
Engrave
The laser removes a layer of material across an area, creating texture or visible detail. Medium power, multiple passes possible.
Image needed
Side-view cross-section diagram of an acrylic sheet showing the three depths side by side—a full cut all the way through, a shallow score line, and an engraved area removing only surface material. Helps readers visually understand the depth difference at a glance.
Cut
Cutting: All the Way Through
Cutting is what separates your finished piece from the rest of the sheet. The laser makes repeated passes (or one slow, high-power pass) along a vector line until it burns completely through the material.
Use cutting for the outline of your piece—the final shape you want to lift off the sheet once everything else is done. Cut lines are almost always the last operation run, after any engraving or scoring on that same piece.
Score
Scoring: A Light Surface Line
Scoring uses much less power and a single fast pass to leave a shallow line on the surface—not deep enough to cut through, just enough to mark or lightly indent the material.
It's most useful for fold lines on materials that bend (like leatherette or thin flex acrylic), or for adding a subtle detail line that you don't want to read as a full engrave.
Engrave
Engraving: Vector vs. Raster
Engraving covers more ground than cutting or scoring, and it actually splits into two different techniques:
- Vector engrave: The laser follows a defined path (like a line or outline) but at engrave power instead of cut power—useful for detailed line work that shouldn't cut all the way through.
- Raster engrave: The laser scans back and forth across an entire filled shape or image, the same way an inkjet printer moves across a page. This is how photos, shaded designs, and filled lettering get engraved into acrylic.
Raster engraving is typically what people mean when they just say "engrave"—it's the go-to for text, logos, and photo-style detail.
Image needed
Side-by-side photo comparing a vector-engraved outline versus a raster-engraved filled design on the same acrylic color, so readers can see the visual and textural difference between the two engrave types.
Putting it together
A Single Piece Often Uses All Three
Most finished projects aren't just one operation—a name sign might have a raster-engraved name, a vector-engraved border detail, a scored fold line for an attached stand, and a cut outline holding it all together. Your laser runs each operation separately, usually in this order: engrave first, then score, then cut last—so the piece stays intact and properly positioned until the very end.
Image needed
Photo of a finished project that combines all three techniques in one piece (for example, a layered acrylic sign or a treat box with an engraved design, a scored fold line, and a clean cut edge)—ideally with each technique visibly callable out or labeled.
Common mistake: Assigning the wrong stroke color to a path is the #1 reason a "cut" line comes out engraved (or vice versa). If your file's colors don't match what your laser software is set to read, it doesn't matter how correct your settings are. See How to Set Up an Illustrator File for Laser Cutting for the full color convention.
Final thoughts
Final Thoughts
Cut, score, and engrave aren't interchangeable terms—they're three different jobs your laser can do, each with its own power, speed, and purpose. Once you can look at a finished piece and identify which technique made which part, reading settings guides and following tutorials gets a lot more intuitive.
- ✅ Cut = all the way through, used for your final outline
- ✅ Score = light surface line, used for folds and subtle detail
- ✅ Engrave = surface removal, vector for line detail or raster for filled designs and text
Ready to create
Put it into practice
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