Laser Cut Raised Street Map of New York

Another in my laser map series, this time I tackle the raised city street maps that are popular. From start to finish, this video walks you through the steps I take to make this map. This was a long project for me - but I am very happy with the results. My process is getting more refined, and the results are getting better (IMO). I have included all my files in an Etsy offering for what I think is a nominal price, but the goal of this video is to learn how to make your own. If you do want my files for some reason, I am including the graphics (the PNG and DXF files), the Affinity Designer main file, and the lightburn file within the Etsy downloads.
Etsy link is here: www.etsy.com/ThisIsHowIMadeIt...
Laser Lake Art: • Lake Art, with LASERS!
Multi Layered Island Art: • Multi Layered Laser Cu...
I hope you found this helpful, and if you did - please like and subscribe. This will not be my last map - so if you have an idea for a good city drop a comment down below! Thanks for watching!
Affiliate Links:
MDF I recommend for this laser: amzn.to/35B802Z
Birch Ply recommendation: amzn.to/35Dy0uJ
Laser I use in this video (slightly upgraded): amzn.to/35zsBEW
The same laser with Lightburn included (Definitely recommend): amzn.to/2KeEZD0
My laser rotary attachment: amzn.to/3oEDE7u
My air assist pump upgrade recommendation: amzn.to/2LkUZE9
Royalty Free music by BenSound

[@MMMHOTCHEEZE]

I used Snazzy Maps in the beginning but using QGIS is way easier and you can actually export vector based SVGs instead of having to trace manually or in illustrator/affinity/inkscape/etc.

[@colinturner6628]

Looks Great, fantastic video keep em coming 👍👍👍👍👍

[@Sbregher]

Great video! Thanks for taking the time to create it! One day, I might give it ago!

[@acwrightdesign]

I appreciate the tutorial! Thanks!

[@HueyF]

Tim, I love your videos. You have a good "radio voice" and your explanations are easy to understand. Please keep them coming.

[@EricGauthier1986]

Just found this channel and am extremely impressed. Very well presented and extremely useful information. Keep it up!

[@ThisIsHowIMadeIt]

Spread the word :). Cheers!

[@dworkid]

Purchased and used these NYC files. They’re excellent. It would have taken me days, maybe weeks to build these files myself. I probably would have given up. I uploaded his Lightburn files to my CNC machine, with laser attachment, and was 90% there. It took a good amount of tweaking and trial and error to get the correct settings for my specific machine, every machine is different, but once I zeroed in the rest was a blast. I wish I could upload my photos here, but trust me, they look just like his.

[@ThisIsHowIMadeIt]

That’s awesome! Thanks!

[@Kernflakes]

You made this fast. Just saw you working on this a few days ago

[@nwmi493]

Thank YOU !! Snazzy maps IS indeed buggy. I thought it was me. It's far too complicated and if you start turning on and off too many times it simply doesn't refresh. It needs alot of work. Sure wished there was an easier more stable program to use.

[@ThisIsHowIMadeIt]

Agreed. You have to keep it real simple and slow…. Sometimes turning off things at the lowest level is the only way to make it work

[@samclements5023]

I was really interested to see the assembly and final product. Specifically lining up the land segments on the painted water panel that would become free after cutting them. I was thinking that maybe i should inset the lines and engrave so I had a reference to glue them down in the correct position? I was also interested in seeing the cut offs being removed from the raised road map as it looks like it would be terribly fragile and liable to break unless the material was thick. Thanks for the video though, it's always good to see how people achieve great results in different ways.

[@laserbutikextra]

Wooooow your work is Amazing .. i love it ❤🥰🤩😍

[@ThisIsHowIMadeIt]

Thanks!

[@douggjoseph]

Thanks. I'm curious what the finished product would look like.

[@gunnarbiker]

I use ArcMap and ArcPro for work and it does wonders for maps for the laser. (yeah, I use it for personal use after hours! LOL) Great video!

[@ThisIsHowIMadeIt]

Jealous…. Tho I do think qgis will get you there…. But it’s like a case study in bad UI design…

[@gunnarbiker]

@@ThisIsHowIMadeIt I'm jealous that you know the other programs so well. I haven't done much on that side of mapping. So, this is new to me. I have GIMP on my laptop and messed around with an older version years ago. I'm new to laser cutting. Just got one for Christmas. Making maps for the past 30 years, I knew exactly what I wanted to make with my laser and this video was helpful! Yes, QGIS would be a great alternative to ArcMap and ArcPro. I used it in grad school years ago but haven't used it in a while. I know some colleagues that love it. I may buy your files just so I can see how it's really laid out and that will help me understand the process better!

[@JH-nb4nn]

I have a laser cutter. This looked complicated lol but I wanna try it. I have made a 3D world map.

[@ThisIsHowIMadeIt]

It’s a bit dense…. For sure. But it just takes some practice and googling…

[@vipanchiraghu8938]

Great Video Thank you! How think should the road lines be for a good cut?

[@brianmccarthy4026]

Super cool! What thickness of wood do you use the layering?

[@19coyote5oh9]

Will this file work for glowforge?

[@kingtman3848]

so i have been trying to just save inside the artboard for hours now and when i export just artboard it loads the whole project into lightburn with a black rectangle outlining the art board ive tried everything from inkscapes to paint to not include the surrounding area and still wont work anyone know what i am doing wrong

[@jordymoors]

Great tutorial, thank you! I'm just curious why you're exporting to a PNG file and then tracing in Lightburn when you already have the design in a vector format. Wouldn't it make sense to just export them as vectors, which would be less work and less quality loss?

[@ThisIsHowIMadeIt]

Great point, and I should have mentioned it. Affinity supports exporting to PDF and SVG which I could do, and even layer in colors which auto separate. But lightburn only supports font independence from DXF which it doesn’t support, and DXF doesn’t seem to support size anyway. Lightburn trace does really well IMO, and is why I export PNG with a high DPI...

[@jordymoors]

@@ThisIsHowIMadeIt if, prior to exporting, you made a new text layer and converted the text to paths, that would import really well into lightburn, as svg. You'd then not have to deal with tracing, and re-layering everything. Worth trying :)

[@ThisIsHowIMadeIt]

You are right. SVG does have that option. It may be a better workflow...

[@chubbyboy2242]

How do you glue those layers together without getting glue squeezing out every where...

[@ThisIsHowIMadeIt]

I use dabs of superglue usually... check out the key west video... harder with small islands... I did get some squeeze out. But I clear coat afterwards anyway so it’s hard to see

[@pseebald1]

Just found this channel. It’s great! Any reason you didn’t just export as a svg to lightburn? Instead of png then trace?

[@ThisIsHowIMadeIt]

Sorry for not responding…. I missed this. I find SVGs are really crazy on importing, based on DPI. I could size manually, but run the risk of making a mistake. But yes you certainly could…

[@pseebald1]

@@ThisIsHowIMadeIt No worries! Thank you for getting back to me!

[@user-nv1iw9sc9p]

I must be missing something... did that website change? do you have an update? I would love one Pretty please M

[@semperidem2577]

It's a shame you didn't end by showing how the maps looked after they had been cut. Fusion360 renderings are ok but just not the same as seeing it in real life. Great video though, I'm sure it'll need multiple watching before I master the technique. Cheers.

[@frankc3635]

Can i pay you to do this with another city?

[@MarkHylas]

Is it possible to achieve equal level of detail with a CNC router? Like a Shapeoko 3?

[@StewartWhaley]

In the vid you show the ability to export an image from SnazzyMaps but I don't see it when I create a map. Is there something special one has to do to see this option? On your screen it says, "beta", does one have to be a beta users to see this option?

[@ThisIsHowIMadeIt]

No, one of the icons says save image or something similar... maybe download?

[@thewoodman3693]

Fantastic !! Very nice and professionally done. Would you like to help me make a map for my city? :) It would be great to see this skill in making that map ... hi hi hi :) Gradic is small it would be a game for you ... for me it's science : D

[@TheSpud1129]

i'm not a fan of the beard. Love your voice though. You're very easy to listen to and I gain a tremendous amount of information. Thanks!

[@ThisIsHowIMadeIt]

Lol. Is a pandemic beard. Should have shaved tho...

[@TheSpud1129]

@@ThisIsHowIMadeIt No worries! I've got a pandemic goatee! Thanks for the content - you're really informative and helpful. You've streamlined the process and made it possible for some of us to possibly make them.