Activity: Create a puzzle!

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Revision as of 17:49, 24 July 2019 by Charles (talk | contribs) (added design and setup options with images)
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Figure 1: The dialogue window for Lasercut Jigsaw in Inkscape with associated example puzzle.

This page serves as a guide to creating your own custom puzzle in DaBL!

Requirements

  • Figure 2: The stroke color selection option for RGB red.
  • A computer with Inkscape installed.
  • Completion of the 2D CAD tutorial (Optional).
  • Completion of the laser cutter certification.
  • A sheet of laserable material.

Guide

Install plugin to Inkscape

The first step in making your own puzzle is going to be creating a 2D design of what the pieces will look like. Using Inkscape's free plugin extension Lasercut Jigsaw, we can specify size and dimensions of our puzzle pieces. In order to use this plugin, we have to install it from the GitHub files found here. Clone or download these files and move both the .inx and .py files to the directory found under Edit > Preferences > System: User extensions in the Inkscape top menu. Once Inkscape is restarted the files should be installed.

Design your puzzle grid

Now, we can properly design our puzzle in Inkscape! Open the puzzle dialogue menu under Extensions > Render > Lasercut Jigsaw. A popup menu should appear with settings for creating the puzzle grid. Figure 1 gives an example of what this should look like. Enable the Live Preview option at the bottom of the window to monitor each parameter change. As shown in Figure 1, you can change the units and first specify the overall dimension of the puzzle. This example shows the puzzle to be 100x100mm. The corner radius will determine whether you puzzle has round or straight edges. For a straight edge puzzle, simply change the radius to be 0 units. You can then specify the number of pieces at the bottom. For this example, they are left as the default.

Setup puzzle for laser cutting

Next, involves changing our design so the laser cutter can properly cut out our puzzle pieces. In order for the laser beam to cut through the material, we need to change our puzzle grid to red lines instead of their default blue. To do this, simply select your desired puzzle grid and go to the Fill and Stroke menu. If not already opened, this can be accessed by the shortcut Shift+Ctrl+F or Object > Fill and Stroke from the top menu. Navigate to the Stroke Paint tab and enable stroke by selecting the solid blue box. A color selection option should show up. The color must be RGB red in order for the laser cutter to process this.