3D Laser Engraving | How To Make A Depth Map Out Of Almost Anything | STL to Depth Map | Tutorial

3d Laser engraving is an amazing 3-dimensional engraving down with a laser cutter. Many find this laser outcome extremely elusive and hardly many " master " the technique. Well, let me share with you everything I currently know and see if we can add this tool to everyone's belt. I'll be showing you not only how I engraving it but How to make a 3D Engraving depth map out of almost anything you can get your hands on and even better it's all free as we will be using blender.
If you have any questions please leave them in the comments below and I'll do my best to get back to them as soon as I can.
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Time Stamps:
0:00 - Intro
0:12 - What This Video Is about
0:39 - What Is 3D Engravings / What Is A Depth Map
01:23 - Importing STL
02:11 - Scene Setup
03:40 - Camera / Render Settings
05:28 - Compositing Setup For Depth Map
08:13 - Exporting Depth Map
08:48 - My Laser Settings
09:43 - The Magic Step
10:00 - Things to Keep In Mind
11:15 - How To Get Vector Outlines Form Depth Maps
13:24 - Closing Notes
14:22 - Extra Shots

[@Keep-Making]

If your viewer node does not have an export function try this out: kzbin.info/www/bejne/i6nZipygZaqKjbM

[@manus409]

Hi, Can we do this using Creality Laser Diode 5W /10w Depth 3D engraving? thanks in advance!

[@PrintThatThing]

Awesome! Super cool video and breakdown. 👌 🆒️ 🙌

[@ThatGuy-go1ok]

Great tutorial and thank you for your assistance. I hope to see more Glowforge tutorials your explanations are definetly worth a sub! - Cheers

[@Keep-Making]

Thank you that guy! With a bit of luck i'm sure i'll be popping up all over the place.

[@hcrusticdecor2665]

Great video, thanks

[@Keep-Making]

No problem 👍

[@geauxracerx]

BRO!!!!!! This is exactly what i've been trying to figure out how to do with my new CO2 laser

[@ReelSpider]

I get similar results from my xtool d1 with about 40 minutes laser time, thats with the 10w head, so I was astounded to hear that. Love the info, gonna have to learn blender I guess

[@ppmmonteiro]

Thanks man!

[@franciscosanchez3745]

Eres el Mejor. Gracias.

[@SaucemanSauceman]

Good tutorial!

[@Keep-Making]

Glad you think so much Sauceman!

[@christopheradams7942]

Brilliant

[@henryhbk]

While my blender UI didn’t quite match this (latest version for Mac), it was good enough to get me through it. Thanks so much. I just used the default Glowforge’s 3D engrave setting

[@Keep-Making]

Great to hear!

[@gawni1612]

dude you're a legend

[@Keep-Making]

Thank you! Your awesome too!

[@EFALANDONISSO]

Ty for the video, thts amazing! s2 ...so, you know if a diode neje 3 max can making this 3d depth effect, using this way tips? ty n advance

[@xcx23cwea65]

Thanks, I've been pulling my hair out figuring out "Bas-relief" for inverted engrave text. Now I just have to brainstorm Blender 😅

[@sylas9762]

Hi Johnathan, I would like to ask how can I engraving ornament detail, copy it to other objects or files, and adjust it's length to match different size of objects? Basically re-use the same detail to multiple objects with different size. I'm trying to figure it out to make a set of keycaps. Thank you in advance. And thank you for those precision modeling videos with blender.

[@forresto]

Cool! You could make 12 frames of animation and do a stop-motion engraved wood loop.

[@federicolopez1037]

Thanks a lot Excellent

[@newmonengineering]

Quick TIP... To clean up the wood after, use a cheap sand blaster with low PSI. It will sand the ash off the wood and you don't risk it warping from the water.... Your welcome!!

[@skapricorn]

Hi! Thanks for very useful and informative video! Which version of Blender was used in this video? I'm trying to save result of "Viewer" node, but I have no "Save This Image" option in "Item" tab.

[@skapricorn]

Oh. It was stupid question. I found how to save... in "Image Editor" workspace

[@alsoccerref1]

@@skapricorn hOW DID YOU FIND IT i AM IN THE SAME BOAT

[@skapricorn]

@@alsoccerref1 Shift+F10 (to switch to image editor. And there from "Image" menu is possible to save image.)

[@Keep-Making]

Sorry I did not get back to you quicker skapricorn. Here is a short video for something I think you have already figured out. kzbin.info/www/bejne/i6nZipygZaqKjbM

[@agdtec]

I have scrubbed wood with a toothbrush in alcohol as it does not affect wood, as water does. But I have not used it in the same 3d engraving as your doing. But the thinner the wood the more it can warp in water.

[@Keep-Making]

Yup that makes sense...

[@CoupleofBunkies]

Great video looking to making a horse I had one with greyscale and it did not turn out great

[@nin1ten1do]

EZCAD2 or 3 just set input dxf or stl.. and bam.. or on any plotter kind (XY laser use Thunderlaser SW.. it support GRBL) or ise inkscape addon or correl addon.. or just simply download some from Vector Art Mega Collections.. it can do the same good job.. is nice video about makwing ez stuf.. extremly complicated for no reason..

[@DonaldDrennan]

Thanks for this video! Just what I was looking for. I have been wanting to perfect a way to making relief sculpture for awhile now. I tried scaling my subject so that it was more 2 dimensional before I rendered the depth map. I think the problem with things like that triceratops is that it's too dimensional, too deep. Your material is only so thick. I found a Blender developer who was working on an add-on for turning 3D into relief sculpture for a CNC router. It looked promising, but he wasn't finished with it.

[@BENBOBBY]

Sounds interesting, what was the add on called please?

[@DonaldDrennan]

@@BENBOBBY I've forgotten now, but it wasn't available yet. I don't know if he ever finished it.

[@craigdekeyser6824]

Try these using some solid basswood sheets instead of ply. They'd probably turn out far smoother in the end

[@Keep-Making]

I'll have to give that a try thanks

[@orephen]

Great video, I have followed all the way through but there's no option to save the image for me :(

[@gawni1612]

When I jacked up the gamma for cutlines I put it at 9 million and there was still like one pixel of white showing, will that mess with process?

[@fredlef100]

Would like to see how the triceratops turned out too!

[@Keep-Making]

Oh dears... I think that test sheet is long gone now... But it turned out nice 😅

[@NoChoke]

Would I be able to to 3D engraving on an OMtech laser machine since it has auto focus? Their models that have this start with AF and I am thinking of purchasing this one. AF2435-80

[@unicyclechinese3125]

I had the same "burned edges" issue with my laser cutter, and found out that an air eraser (an airbrush that sprays very fine particles) also cleaned the black off of laser cut wood.

[@Keep-Making]

I've never heard of an air eraser! I'm going to have to do some investigating thanks for the suggestion!

[@codythomas2009]

I don’t have a number pad what do I hit besides one?

[@marlonglodo1930]

Great man. Is it possible to 20watts laser diode?

[@Keep-Making]

Hey Marlon, I don't see why not, It might just take a few more passes. The key is to have the availability for variable power via a bitmap.

[@marlonglodo1930]

@@Keep-Making thanks bro I would give a try.. Keep safe

[@mchaney2003]

I don't have a connector for depth on my node in compositing. I have Image, Alpha, and Noisy Image. This may be due to a change with the blender 3.0 release. I'd uplload a screenshot but KZbin isn't a fan of that :P Any ideas? Googled my butt off but I'm no blender pro.

[@mchaney2003]

For anyone else who had this issue, go to Layer properties and under passes -> data, enable 'Z'. I believe this is what fixed it for me.

[@alanapatten2778]

@@mchaney2003 helpful!! thanks!

[@snipersool]

Where do I save the image in version 2.93.4? There is no option under "ITEM / SAVE THE IMAGE". NODE, TOOL, VIEWER and OPTIONS only. How do I get the picture saved? Best regards

[@Keep-Making]

see if this helps out: kzbin.info/www/bejne/i6nZipygZaqKjbM

[@snipersool]

@@Keep-Making 👍🙏

[@MasterThief117]

You do something in this video that I find awesome but I won't tell you what it is so you don't overdo it. All I'm going to say is just continue being you!

[@WindyFellow]

Cringe

[@akhilvijayan2933]

Sir, could you do a video of 3D engraving to make a beautiful audio amplifier front panel?

[@Keep-Making]

Hi Akhil, I'm not 100% sure what an audio amplifier front panel is? Do you have an example i could see. and what material would it be made out of

[@akhilvijayan2933]

@@Keep-Makingimages.app.goo.gl/RuRwZbge7qCgoVyt7 Please see this link sir. I want know how the screw hole distance is measures in blender

[@DonaldDrennan]

Blender 4.0 seems to have made this tutorial obsolete. The "depth" output from the Render node is missing now. They must have moved it, but I don't know where. I'm going to have to go back to a previous version. Not sure when it was removed.

[@TheAIKnowledgeHub]

10:30 are you saying to make that it took 12 hours under a laser? or are you saying trail and error it took you 12 hours? I'm thinking of picking up a glowforge, but things like times is hard to come by.

[@Keep-Making]

Oh goodness no.... It was 12 hours of testing to get to these results. To make that one I think takes about 30 minutes as I go 3 / 4 passes at varying settings. But that's only because I'm a perfectionist.

[@JohnPekich]

Excellent video and presentation, but it could have been more cohesive if you had shown the finished project.

[@alsoccerref1]

I have made a Depth-map of a 3D object I haven't run it yet on my laser but how can I make a 2D image have depth because I know a picture is 2D but it has a 3D look.Can you help me?

[@Keep-Making]

Hi alsoccorref1, unfortunately this is something that is not really possible without having some type of 3D geometry. You can always fake it and try making some parts darker and lighter but for best results you would need to model it in 3D to then be able to create an accurate depth map.

[@alsoccerref1]

I have been trying to do this and when I get to the click on viewer and save as PNG The Save as button does not show up in the item tab or any other that I could find. !!HELP!!

[@Keep-Making]

Hi alsoccerref1, Sorry for the trouble. I had no idea that mac's had slightly different viewer nodes. Here is a short video for an alternative way of exporting form a viewer node: kzbin.info/www/bejne/i6nZipygZaqKjbM

[@alsoccerref1]

@@Keep-Making thank you very much. And I'm actually on a Windows 10

[@Keep-Making]

@@alsoccerref1 Oh that's strange... Did you find out why it was not showing up?

[@alsoccerref1]

@@Keep-Making no but it is in the other location like the Mac

[@dylanhalvorsen7324]

Would've been nice if you engraved the dinosaur image

[@YAOG]

What about the detail in the image? The original stl had much more detail, it seems.

[@droneshots711]

i have no depth in the render layers node how can I fix that

[@ryansmith5130]

Did you figure this out - same here

[@x1jester]

I don't have Save this image as in blender when on the viewer and hitting item

[@Keep-Making]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/aIC5coulZ51sY6M

[@a2rick]

Following your tutorial but got lost in Compositing. I don't have depth in the Render Layers

[@ryansmith5130]

Same. Did you figure out a method?

[@davidwilcox8801]

So, where is the triceratops engraving?

[@gevabenayoun2937]

I dont have depth in render lasers only noisy image

[@Leberkasbepi]

In this video, you see how to 3d printing with a laser 😂

[@Benbenshow3141]

obviously im doing something wrong buy my 'render layers' comes up with image, alpha, and noisy image instead of depth and i cant find on google how to change it

[@ctoninelli]

I'm running into the same issue, I've gone through so many times trying to find the step i missed.

[@latinlovn]

@@ctoninelli enable Z in view layer properties

[@johnnymullins9237]

where the heck was the finished dinosaur that the entire video was about?

[@WindyFellow]

It must have turned out to be crap

[@Keep-Making]

It's silly really but I really did not think that you would want to see that final result. I turned out great but I did not show it sorry.

[@danielmclellan7762]

It's a heightmap though

[@harryape9059]

For all the fiddling with the software, the result looks like crap.

[@drkline69]

Brilliant