Laser engraving wood has always meant burning it. With the xTool F2 Ultra UV you can now carve real depth into wood without burning it, with a level of detail that looks like it came off a CNC machine.
Here's my full process for a 3D embossed wooden coaster: the blank, placement, focusing, making a depth map from any image, setting it up in xTool Studio's Embossment mode, and the settings I landed on.
Jump to: The blank · Placement and grain · Embossment mode · Make a depth map · How depth maps work · Import and place · Settings · Run it
The blank
I used inexpensive round wooden coasters from AliExpress. You can find them in lots of places, in packs of two or in bulk. The listing doesn't say exactly what wood they are, but I suspect it's beech or a similar hardwood. They work really well for this.
Placement, grain and focus
Placement is critical here, because you want the design exactly in the center. I use my self-centering jig. It pulls the coaster into the middle and still lets me rotate it. For the F1 Ultra, F2 Ultra and F2 Ultra UV that's the XL Self-Centering Jig.
Think about the grain direction before you start. I set mine at an angle, with the dark section at the top, because I think it looks interesting. If you want to play it safe, line the grain up vertically or horizontally for a more uniform look.
To focus, use the up and down arrows on the touch screen until the two dots join together.
Switch xTool Studio to Embossment mode
- Click New project in the top right. Studio beeps, connects to the F2 Ultra UV and updates the camera image.
- Click the mode at the top of the right panel. You'll see every mode xTool has. Pick Embossment.
A message appears at the top saying that embossment processing needs depth images. I'll show you how to make one in a minute.
- Click Material and choose Beechwood Coasters, then Apply. It's the closest match to my coasters. It doesn't matter too much here, because you'll set your own values.
Make a depth map
Embossment mode needs a depth map (also called a depth image). The first time I did one of these, I had no idea what that was. You can turn any image into one, a logo, a photo, anything. I used the crest of my local football club, Forest Green Rovers. They're my second team.
I make mine with SculptOK, which I've used for a long time and think is the best tool for this right now. It's great for any kind of embossing: coins, wood, metal. You get some free credits when you make an account, and there are paid plans if you'll do a lot.
- Go to AI Tools and choose AI Depth Map.
- Click the plus icon and select your image.
- There are options for background removal and HD restoration. For the model I picked Sculpt Pro 1.5, which gives a higher resolution, and set the image dimensions to Pro.
- Under Detailed parameters, I left AI optimization off because it's a simple image, and chose 16 bit for a better finish. Hover over the question marks to see what each option does. The more you turn on, the more credits it uses.
- Click Draw. It takes a little while. The result has a watermark until you download it.
Click 3D preview to see roughly how it will look carved. If you're happy, click Download and confirm the credits to get the depth map without the watermark.
How a depth map works
A depth map is just shades of gray, and each shade tells the laser how deep to go.
- Lighter areas get engraved a little, but not much, so they stay high. In my crest the white text is raised.
- Darker areas tell the laser to keep going, layer after layer, deeper and deeper. The dark area inside my crest ended up much deeper than the rest.
Because some areas stop early and others keep being engraved, you end up with a real 3D relief.
Import, tidy and place the depth map
Click the plus (Import) icon on the left and bring in your depth map. It often comes in with a black border around it, and black means "go deep", so you need to get rid of it. Two ways:
- Right-click, choose Create mask, pick the circle and adjust it to sit just inside the border. Click Done.
- Or select the image, click Cutout in the top bar, choose Manual cutout (it doesn't use credits) and click the areas you want removed. It works well on a clean image like this. Click Confirm.
With the coaster in the self-centering jig, center the image and it lines up with the coaster straight away. Then set the size. I tried 95 mm and went up to 97 mm, which still leaves a small border around the edge.
Frame it to check. Click the three dots next to Framing, choose Outline so you see the round shape rather than a box, and click Framing. Mine was spot on with no adjustment. This is also the moment to rotate the jig if you want to change the grain angle.
3D emboss settings for wood on the F2 Ultra UV
When you pick a material, Studio fills in a Reference setting, which is xTool's best guess for that material and mode. For my coaster it suggested 200 layers at 80% power, 2,500 mm/s and 300 lines per cm, dropping the Z axis by 0.01 mm every 10 layers so the laser stays focused as it goes deeper. In my opinion that's overkill here.
After a few test pieces, these are the settings I went with:
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Number of layers | 100 |
| Power | 80% |
| Speed | 2,500 mm/s |
| Frequency | 40 kHz |
| Lines per cm | 250 |
| Engraving angle | 15 |
| Descend at the Z axis | On, every 10 layers by 0.01 mm |
| Noise reduction | On (the default) |
- 100 layers instead of 200 still gives plenty of depth.
- I dropped the lines per cm from 300 to 250 to bring the time down. For a photo or something really detailed, put it back up to 300. You could probably go lower for simple designs.
- Noise reduction smooths out the rough effect embossing can leave on some materials. Cleanup is mainly for metal, so I left it off.
Click Preview in the bottom right and Studio generates a 3D preview, a bit like SculptOK's. It's a good check that it'll come out the way you want.
Run it (and deal with the dust)
Click Process. It takes a little while to calculate. Mine came out at 2 hours 4 minutes. If that's too long, use 50 layers to roughly halve it, or lower the lines per cm. I don't mind leaving the machine running for two hours.
This makes a lot of fine wood dust. Keep the lid closed (I had mine up for filming, with laser safety glasses on), and have extraction running.
I also use a magnetic pre-filter on the exhaust to catch the first layer of dust before it reaches the filters in my air purifier. Look how much it stopped on this one job. Give the coaster a quick vacuum afterwards to clear the dust out of the detail.
Zoom in on the lion and the unicorn and the detail is incredible, and you can still see the grain running through it. For more tested wood settings on this machine, see my xTool F2 Ultra UV wood settings in the free Laser Settings Library.
What would you emboss?
Let me know in the comments on the video what you'd put on a coaster, and if you try different layer counts, tell me how they compare.
