A Brief History Of 3d Engraving

There is something captivating about the sight of a translucent image caught in glass

, a fact that has earned 3D engraving its enduring popularity as a technique for creating singular gifts, souvenirs, and artworks. It seems only fitting that a technology that produces such remarkable items should have an equally intriguing history, with its roots going all the way back to the Cold War.

Origins

The process of creating a 3D engraving inside a block of glass is known as sub surface laser engraving, and is achieved as the name implies by focusing lasers under the surface to leave tiny fractures in the body of a glass, building up a three-dimensional picture. But creating art was not the original intention of those using lasers to work with glass in the optics industry for whom such fractures were a problem to try and avoid. Building on the advanced laser science developed by the USSR, Russian laser technicians in the 1980s experimented with different materials in an attempt to minimise this so called Laser Induced Damage. Other materials were rejected as being too susceptible to the damage but an unexpected commercial application was discovered when they found that they could write and draw in those materials and, eventually, with more research and experimentation to perfect the technique, sub surface laser engraving was born.

Development

Since its early days, sub surface laser engraving has developed to be even more precise and innovative, with specialist machines and computer programmes allowing us to use what is essentially a very simple technology a focused beam of light to create an astonishing variety of designs. The simplest are 2D images, converted into a pattern of dots which are engraved into the glass, but even these take a high degree of design ability; a photographic level of realism can be achieved by a skilled designer. More complex is 3D engraving, in which the image must first be modelled in three dimensions using a CAD (computer-aided design) system before being engraved. A hybrid approach, known as 2.5D, uses 2D engraving in several layers to create a three dimensional effect.

The Future?

If the last few decades have seen the differentiation of design techniques, what does the future hold? One development currently being explored is the potential for colour in 3D engraving. It was previously thought impossible, as the dots created by laser engraving are always white; recently, however, a technique has been developed that allows more complex shading to be created, by firing partially-engraved glass to darken the colour of the engraving, and then adding another layer in white. It is also possible to colour an entire piece of glass by shining coloured light through its base; perhaps in the future, smaller and more complex lighting components will allow more control of this technique. And, of course, technology is always surprising us whos to say what the next innovation might be?

by: George Berdichevsky

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