Patterned Letter Designer (Free)

About

Patterned Letter Designer features a simple user interface which allows you to generate customizable patterned letters in SVG output format specifically designed for laser and vinyl cutters.

You will spend less time in your vector design software and more time cutting beautiful 1 or 2 layered letters.

The Letter Designer Includes 14 patterns and 3 font types. User can customize the following letter properties:

Height - 1” - 40” Font Type - 3 to choose from Pattern Type - 14 to choose from Pattern Position - increment up/down/left/right 1 or 2 layers 14 Pattern Types:

Rattan Round Rattan Traditional Honeycomb Thick Honeycomb Thin Lattice Stars Hearts Circles 1 Circles 2 Bricks Stripes Horiz Thin Stripes Angle Thin Stripes Horiz Thick Stripes Angle Thick

3 Font Types: Alfa Slab One (Serif) Passion One (San Serif) Freshman (Serif)

Generated output is in SVG file format and is laser/vinyl cutter ready. SVGs produced by Pattern Letter Builder are Glowforge ready and tested.

If you need to make any modifications/adjustments to the generated SVG file, the vector based software applications listed below have been tested, but should be compatible with most vector based applications:

Illustrator Silhouette Studio (Business Edition) Inkscape Cricut Design Space

Features

Pattern Shift

Sometimes the pattern may look visually off. If desired, you can incrementally shift the pattern up/down/left/right.

Pattern Scale

The pattern size or density can be changed to fit your personal preference.

One thing to note is the smaller the pattern size, the longer the render time.
‘5xsmall’ has the longest render time. For the ‘Rattan Traditional’ pattern, this can take as long as 60-70 seconds. So, just be aware of this behavior. If you do a long render and

your browser prompts you for an ‘unresponsive page’, just let the render complete and the browser prompt/message will go away.
For a faster workflow, stick with the ‘default’ or larger scale until you have the letter, font, and pattern you want and then scale the pattern down for exporting to SVG.

Toggle Pattern ON/OFF

There may be a time when you want a plain letter with no pattern. You can achieve this by clicking on the ‘Pattern’ checkbox.

Export SVG

To export your design, click on the ‘Download SVG’ hyperlink located at the bottom of the options.

Single vs Double Layer

If you’re laser cutting these letters, there is an option for both 1 or 2 layer letters. A 2 layer design generates a 2nd letter (the one displayed on the right of the primary letter) to be used to add a raised outer outlined border. This creates visual uniqueness to the design, but also uses more material. Experiment with both.

Single Layer Score Lines

If you’re cutting a single layer design, optionally you can score the inner blue line to better define the outer board of the letter. Using my Glowforge, I will typically do a 3 pass score to create a well defined outer border.

Cut/Score Legend

If you want to know the recommended cut/score strategy for laser cutters, you can click on the ‘Cut/Score Legend’ checkbox to reveal as a reminder. This will not be exported with the final SVG rendered file.
Here are the recommended cut and score instructions:

SCORE = Blue

CUT = Black / Green / Orange / Purple

Font Choices

FAQ

Why is Letter rendering sometimes so slow?

Letter rendering times are dependent on the pattern type and the pattern scale/density. The smaller the scale, the longer the render time. ‘5xsmall’ takes the longest. ‘Rattan Traditional’ pattern has the longest render time.

At ‘default’ scale setting, rendering will take 1-10 secs, which should feel reasonable to most users. Once again, this depends on the pattern type. For faster workflow, stick with the ‘default’ or larger scale setting until you have the letter, font, and pattern you want and then scale the pattern down for exporting to SVG.

Why is my browser showing a ‘page unresponsive’ or ‘slowing down this page’ message/dialog during letter render?

For longer rendering times due to smaller scale settings, a browser prompt/dialog box may appear to notify you that the page is unresponsive or has slow down the page. Just let the letter render process complete and the prompt/dialog messages should go away. Do not press ‘close’ or ‘terminate’ during the letter rendering process.

Why are small sections of pattern missing after letter rendering?

Occasionally small sections or pattern voids will occur.
To fix this, you can use the ‘pattern shift’ functionality to shift the pattern slightly. You may need to try shifting the pattern a couple of times using different step sizes or directions. 

Gallery