What kind of materials do you work with?
We can create your product out of almost any material, listed below are materials we work with on a regular basis.
Medium-density fiberboard or MDF, is an engineered wood product. It is less expensive than many other sheet woods and is generally denser than plywood. It comes in various thicknesses ranging from 1/8" to 1".
Here are some products we have created out of MDF:
Birch Plywood is made of cross-bonded birch veneers. Birch plywood is characterized by excellent strength and stiffness properties, and therefore it performs very well in applications demanding high strength and rigidity. It comes in various thicknesses ranging from 1/8" to 1". Here are some products we have created out of Birch Plywood:
Luan, also spelled lauan, refers to a tropical hardwood plywood product usually made from trees in the Shorea family. It has many home and hobby applications and is readily available at lumberyards and home improvement stores. The term typically refers to a plywood panel 1/4 or, less commonly, 1/8 inch thick.
Extruded Polystyrene, or XPS, is a lightweight foam that can be used in construction or various craft products. It comes in various thicknesses ranging from 1/4" to 2". This material can be laminated to create a product of any depth. Here are some products we have created out of XPS:
Frequently Asked Questions
Below are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions we receive, also some useful information to help your process go as smoothly as possible.
What's the best format to provide my artwork in?
To ensure your product is produced quickly and precisely, we prefer to work with vector art. Our software is designed to import vector art as opposed to pixel based images. Vector art is created using vector illustration software programs, such as Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw. However, we will accept your artwork in any format, be it a hand drawing, a physical object, or non vector image, these simply require more pre-production time.
What's the difference between Vector art and a pixel image?
Pixel based images are also called "raster" images, paint-box images or 'bitmaps". They are composed of many small squares of color (pixels) organized into a grid. Vector based images are composed of shapes, which are composed of lines and arcs. A pixel based image consists of a series of small squares that do not provide a clean line for our software to work off of. A vector image is clean, and can be scaled infinitely, without any loss of quality or fidelity.
In this image you can see the difference between vector and a pixel based image:
Is My Art Vector?
How can you tell if your art is Vector Art? One way is by the file type. Vector art is usually created in Adobe Illustrator, and is commonly saved with certain file extensions. Some of the most common Vector file extensions are .ai, .pdf, .eps, .dxf, and .svg.
However, just because a file is saved in one of these formats, does not mean that it is truly vector art. Sometimes, people open raster files in Adobe Illustrator, and re-save the file in a vector format, without recreating the art using the vector editing tools. Only art originally created in a vector editing program, such as Adobe Illustrator, is truly vector art.
Are there another formats that transfer easily besides Vector?
Yes! We can also take any files created in Sketch Up (.skp ) or AutoCAD (.dwg).
Expanded Polystyrene, or EPS, is a lightweight, rigid, closed cell foam plastic. It comes in various thicknesses ranging from 1/4" to 8". This material can be laminated to create a product of any depth. Here are some products we have created out of EPS:
Closed Cell PVC, or Sintra, is a homogeneous material that allows the ease of cutting without regard for grain. At half the weight of solid PVC, may be stapled, nailed, riveted, glued, and thermoformed. It comes in thicknesses ranging from 1/8" to 1". Here are some products we have created out of Sintra: