Half the delay on a first acrylic job is the file. Not the cutting, not the material. The file. A logo saved as a JPG from WhatsApp cannot be cut. It has to be redrawn, which takes time and can change a curve you cared about. This guide explains which files work, how to set them up, and what to check before you press send.
Process guides · 2026-09-12 · 5 min read
A laser or CNC follows lines. A vector file (AI, DXF, PDF, SVG, EPS) is made of lines and curves with exact coordinates. A pixel file (JPG, PNG, a screenshot) is a grid of coloured dots. The machine cannot follow dots. If you only have a pixel file, we can trace it, but the result is our interpretation of a blurry edge. For a logo, that is a risk. Ask your designer for the vector original. It almost always exists.
DXF is the cleanest for cutting. It is only lines, no styling, and every CAD and cutting program reads it. AI (Adobe Illustrator) is fine and is what most designers have. PDF works if it was saved from a vector program and not from a scan. SVG works for simple shapes. EPS is older but fine. Send whichever you have. If you have a choice, DXF or AI.
Draw at 1:1 scale in millimetres. A logo that is 'about 40cm wide' is not a size. A file where the artboard is 400mm wide is. If you send a file at the wrong scale, we will ask, and that is a day lost. Put the overall width and height in the email as well, so we can check the file matches.
If your file has live text, the font must be installed on our computer to open it correctly. Usually it is not. The text then reverts to a default font and the shape changes. Before you send, select all text and convert it to outlines (paths). Keep a copy with live text for yourself so you can edit it later.
Every shape that will be cut out must be a closed path. A circle with a tiny gap is not a circle to a laser, it is a curve that stops. Set all cut lines to the same thin stroke, for example 0.1mm, and a single colour. If you want engraving as well as cutting, put engraving on a different colour or layer and say so in the email.
One file can carry three instructions. Red for cut, blue for engrave, green for fold line, is a common convention. Any colour is fine as long as you tell us. A one-line note like 'red cut, blue engrave' saves an email exchange. If the piece is 3D, a quick sketch or a photo of something similar helps more than a paragraph.
Vector format. 1:1 scale in mm. Text converted to outlines. Closed paths. One stroke weight. Layers or colours for cut versus engrave. Overall dimensions written in the message. Thickness and colour of acrylic if you know them. With that, most jobs go from file to quote in a couple of hours and to cutting the same week.
Send a vector file at real size with text outlined and paths closed. DXF or AI is best. That one file, plus the thickness, is most of what we need to cut it right the first time.
Questions about your own project? Talk to our Dubai workshop, we answer the same working day.
Not directly. Pixel files have to be traced into vector lines first. We can do that, but a traced logo is an approximation. Ask for the vector original whenever possible.
DXF is the cleanest. AI and vector PDF are also fine. SVG and EPS work. Whatever you send, set it at 1:1 scale in millimetres.
The font was not converted to outlines, and we do not have it installed. Select all text and convert to outlines or paths before sending.
Yes. We redraw logos and prepare cut-ready files as a design step. It is quicker and cheaper when we have at least a high-resolution image and the exact size.
Pick your products, add a note, and our team replies the same working day.