Questions, answered.

MappSmith is a map designer for makers who own a laser or a UV printer. You search for a place, pick what you are making (a layered map, a clock, an ornament, a golf course and more), style the layers, and download production files. Cut files come as layered SVG, plus native LightBurn (.lbrn2), xTool (.xs) and DXF files. Print files come as PNG, TIFF with a white channel, and PDF with a CutContour line.

Makers who sell what they make: laser shops, UV print shops, and anyone making custom map gifts. Everything you make is yours to sell on every plan, including maps bought one at a time.

A computer with a current browser such as Chrome, Edge or Firefox, with hardware acceleration (WebGL) turned on. The Studio is built for a desktop or laptop screen. You also need your own machine software, for example LightBurn, xTool Creative Space or your printer's RIP, to run the files.

1. Sign in and open the Studio from the Studio link in the header. 2. Choose "Start from a place" and type a city, lake or landmark. 3. In the Layers panel on the right, pick a Product, for example 3D layered map, and a size. 4. Drag the map to frame the area you want, then press Apply changes. 5. Open the Frame band card to set the name and font. 6. Check the 2D and 3D previews. 7. Press Download files, choose your formats, and press Download zip.

The product is the object: its shape, size, frame band, words and hardware, such as a clock's shaft hole or a key holder's hooks. The map style is only the look: which map features go on which layer and whether they cut, score or engrave. Pick the product first. Changing the map style afterwards keeps the product's pieces.

The map is on the left. Use it to search and frame the place. The middle shows the flat 2D plate on top and the 3D preview below. The right side is the Layers panel: the product, the frame band, each layer, and Terrain & Depth. Save and Download files sit at the bottom of the right panel. You can drag the dividers between the panes to resize them.

Yes. On the Projects page choose "Start from a design" and pick one from the gallery. It opens in a short "Make it yours" panel where you change the place, the name, the font, the words, the size and the art. Press "Show every layer" to get the full Studio. Nothing is lost when you switch.

Mostly no. Changes to layers, words, size and settings apply on their own after a short pause. Moving the map is the exception: when you pan or zoom, the outline on the map starts to move and an Apply changes button appears. Press it to render the new area, or press Discard to go back to the last area you applied.

No. If you moved the map, Discard takes you back to the last area you applied. For bigger experiments, use "Save as a copy" from the ... menu first, so you can always go back to the saved version.

Yes. Use the theme switch at the right end of the header. Dark is the default. Your choice is remembered in this browser.

Yes. Short how-to videos appear in the "How to" section at the bottom of the Projects page when they are available.

Press Search at the top left of the map and type at least three letters of a city, town, lake or landmark. Pick a result and the map flies there. You can also start a new map from the Projects page with "Start from a place".

The first part of the place you pick becomes the name on the piece, for example "Salem" from "Salem, Roanoke County, Virginia". Once you type your own name in the Frame band card, searching no longer changes it.

1. Drag the map to move it and scroll or pinch to zoom. 2. The outline drawn on the map is the plate. Only what is inside it is cut. 3. Press Apply changes to render the new area. The Size & shape pill shows the real-world distance across the frame.

It means the map has moved away from the area that is rendered. Press Apply changes to render the new area, or Discard to go back. When the outline is still, everything on screen is current.

Press the size pill at the top right of the map (it shows something like "240 x 240 mm"). Type a width and height and choose mm, cm, in or ft. Sizes run from 20 mm to 3000 mm. Most products also offer size buttons under the Product menu in the Layers panel.

Yes. The band scales with the piece so it keeps the same proportion. A piece with no frame band stays without one.

Circle, Rectangle and Rounded; the shapes Ornament, Heart, Star, 6-point Star, Hexagon, Octagon, Pentagon, Triangle and Diamond; any of the 50 US states and the District of Columbia; the outline of the place you searched; or your own SVG outline. Choose them in Size & shape. Some products, such as the ornament, have their own shape buttons.

Open Size & shape and pick the state from the US states list in the Shape menu. The map is clipped to that state's outline.

Yes. Search for the place first, then open Size & shape and press "Place". You can also add "Cut to this place's outline" from "+ add piece" under "Part of the object". If no outline is published for that place, the Studio says so and keeps your current shape.

Yes. In Size & shape press the SVG upload button and choose an SVG file. MappSmith uses the largest path in the file as the outline. The file must contain at least one path element.

Those are reference maps to help you find and frame a place, such as grayscale, streets, topographic, dark and satellite. They are for looking only. Nothing from them goes into your files. Every line you cut comes from MappSmith's own map data.

Open the round map style button and tick "Satellite overlay". It lays satellite imagery over the map you are using and under its street names, so you can see a shoreline or a field edge without losing the street you are navigating by. The slider sets how see-through it is. It never reaches your files.

A single frame can cover up to about three degrees of latitude or longitude, roughly the size of a large lake. Beyond that the Studio keeps showing the last place it rendered and tells you so. Zoom the map in and press Apply.

Classic: blue base, land with engraved minor streets, and a top layer of cut major streets. Topographic: like Classic, with scored elevation contours. Lake: like Classic, with only main roads cut on top. Minimal: a board with highways and major roads cut on top. City + parks: Classic with engraved parks. Detailed: Classic with filled parks and engraved buildings. Engraved only: one board with everything engraved. Lake depths: stacked depth bands under the land. Pick one from the Map style menu above the layer list.

No. The product's own pieces, such as the clock face, key hooks, text and art, move across to the new layers.

Because your layers no longer match any style exactly. Once you edit a layer it counts as custom. Picking a style again replaces the layers with that style.

A layer is one sheet of material. The list runs from the top of the stack to the bottom. Each row shows the material, the thickness, and how many pieces the sheet cuts into.

Press "+ Add layer" under the list. Press the X on a layer's card to delete it. Drag the dotted handle on the left of a card to reorder, or open a layer and use the up and down arrows.

Pieces is what lands on the layer: roads, water, text, art and so on, and what the laser does to each. Material is the stock it is cut from and its thickness. Output is which machine gets it: the laser, a printer, or both, and whether the sheet is a solid plate, pieces only, or a frame.

Open the layer and press "+ add piece...". The picker is grouped by where the shape comes from: From the map, Golf course, Text, Engraved art, Bring your own, Pins, and Part of the object. Pieces already on the layer are greyed out, except text, art and terrain or depth bands, which you can add more than once.

Interstates and highways, Major roads, Minor and residential roads, Service roads and alleys, Paths and trails, Water, Land mass, Rivers and streams, Parks and green, Buildings, Railways, Bridges, Elevation contours, Lake depth contours, Water depth bands and Terrain bands.

Map data changes a road's type along its length, for example where a highway becomes an exit ramp. If each type had its own setting, a cut road could end in mid-air. Each group gets one operation and one width, so a highway and its ramps always cut together.

Engrave burns the shape into the surface. Score is a light line on the surface. Cut goes all the way through. Fill is a filled or shaded area. Off leaves it out. In the files, engrave is black, score is blue and cut is red, so each lands on its own layer in your laser software.

It is offered for text, art and the name. The letters become material: they are joined to the roads and the frame so they cut out as one piece with them, standing proud instead of being burned in.

Open the layer and find the piece. Line pieces such as roads, rivers, rail and contours have a Line width slider from 0.05 mm to 3 mm. Cut streets need enough width to survive. Very thin cut lines snap.

Under the Output tab. Solid plate is the whole sheet with the shapes cut or engraved into it. Pieces only keeps just the shapes, held together by the frame band. Frame only is the band with the middle removed.

The band is what holds the cut pieces together. With no band, the streets have nothing to join to and fall apart. Add a band in the Frame band card, or a name bar that crosses the pieces.

That kind of feature does not exist in the framed area, for example no railways or no lake depth survey. Nothing is wrong with the setting.

None of its pieces exist in the current frame, so it would cut as a blank sheet. Press Remove on the warning, or frame an area that has those features.

It is that one layer on its own, exactly as it will be cut. The 2D plate shows every layer stacked; this shows the part that comes off the machine for this sheet.

1. Center the map on the spot. 2. Open a layer, press "+ add piece...", and choose Pins. 3. Pick Star, Heart, Hexagon, Diamond, Triangle, Compass rose or North arrow. The pin is dropped on the center of the map view. To move or resize it, open Size & shape: under "Imported & pins" use the - and + buttons to resize, or pan the map and press the center button to move it there.

Yes. Open a layer, press "+ add piece...", choose "Bring your own", then "GPS track (GPX)". The file is read in your browser. The track becomes a line piece you can engrave, score or cut, with its own width. Its points are kept in your design, so they are saved with the project.

Yes. Under "Bring your own" choose "Shape (SVG)". It is dropped in the middle of the view at about a third of its width and behaves like any other piece. Manage or remove it in Size & shape under "Imported & pins".

The band is a strip of solid material around the edge of the piece. It holds cut pieces together and carries the place name. The map stops at its inner edge. Edit it on the Frame band card at the top of the Layers panel.

Open the Frame band card. Use the slider, type a width, or press No frame, 8 mm, 14 mm or 20 mm. The band can go up to 40 mm, or a third of the smaller side on small pieces. With no frame the map runs to the edge and every layer is still cut to the plate's shape.

On the Frame band card, type in Place name and pick a Font. There are 28 fonts, from Bebas Neue and Oswald to Playfair Display and Cinzel. Text size is automatic unless you drag the slider. It never grows taller than the band.

Yes. Under "Name is" choose engrave, score, cut or weld in. Cut makes the letters openings. Weld in makes the letters material joined to the frame and roads.

Choose Bottom, Top, Left or Right under "Which side of the band". On a circle, "Curve on circle" bends the name along the ring. The two sliders under "Name position on the band" move it along the band or across it. They stop at the edge of the material. "Centre it again" resets it.

A name bar is a nameplate cut from the piece itself, welded to the frame so it comes off the laser as one piece. Choose "Band across middle" or "Corner tab". It carries up to six lines of text. Map content stops at the bar.

1. Open the Frame band card. 2. Under Name bar press "Add tag" if it is off. 3. Press "+ Add line". Each line has its own text, font, size, operation and left/right and up/down position. The bar's Height and Position sliders set the bar itself.

Use "Name sits on" on the Frame band card. By default it is the top layer. Choose "No name: leave the band blank" to remove it.

With no band the name sits on the map, centered near the bottom and sized to fit. To place words anywhere else, add a Text label piece to a layer.

It holds the "Wood grain on wood layers" switch for the 3D preview. The frame band, place name and font are edited on the Frame band card in the Layers panel.

1. Open a solid layer and press "+ add piece...". 2. Choose Text, then "Text label". 3. Type your words, pick a font, and set Size (2 to 80 mm) and Letter spacing. 4. Set Align and Sits, then place it with the 3 x 3 grid or nudge it 1 mm at a time with the arrows.

Yes. Click a text or art piece on the 2D plate to select it. Drag the box to move it, or drag a corner to scale it. Click the empty plate or press Escape to put the handles away. Hand placement is switched off while registration marks are on; use the Place it grid instead.

One-tap suggestions from what the Studio already knows: Place, County, State, Max depth, High point and Coordinates. Tapping one fills the text. After that it is ordinary text you can edit.

Every line of text the product carries, in one place: the words on the frame, the name bar lines and the text on the map. Some products offer ready-made wording, such as "WHERE WE MET" on the memory poster or "Home Sweet Home" on the key holder. Fonts, sizes and placement are on each piece.

Words burned into the land sit under the street layer, so the streets run through them. This moves the text onto a solid name bar across the top sheet, so the words get a clean surface. Untick it to put the words back on the map.

Yes. Type it in "Message on the back" in the Words section. It is engraved on the bottom sheet, mirrored, so it reads the right way when you turn the piece over.

On a "pieces only" layer or a relief sheet, engraving only lands on the material that is left, so most of it falls in the gaps. Put the text or art on a solid layer. Cut and weld-in text still work on pieces layers.

Compass rose, North arrow, Anchor, Heart, Star, Pine tree, Mountains, Sun, Waves, Fish, Sailboat, Map pin, Paw print, Leaf, Cabin and Antlers. Add them from "+ add piece..." under Engraved art.

Open a layer, press "+ add piece...", choose Engraved art, then "Upload your own (SVG)". The art is added to the map and kept in your art library on your account, so it shows in the picker next time. To remove it from your library, press the small X on its tile in the picker.

Open the art piece on its layer. Use Size, Turn (or the 0, 90, 180 and -90 degree buttons) and Mirror. Place it with the grid and arrows, or drag it on the plate.

Engrave burns it in as a filled shape. Score draws a light line around each shape. Cut goes right through, so the art drops out as a stencil. Weld in cuts it as material joined to the piece.

Tick it on an art piece to cut the art from its own stock and glue it on top, instead of burning it into the map. Pick the piece's material from the chips. The map stays whole under it, and the piece gets its own cut file in the download. The heart map uses this for its walnut heart.

Open the layer and go to the Material tab. Pick the material and type the thickness in mm (0.5 to 50). The material name is also written into the file names in the download.

No. Finish (raw, matte, satin, gloss), engrave depth, grain direction and scale, lightness and warmth only change how the layer looks in the 3D preview. The same goes for a custom colour on a laser layer.

Use Split, 2D or 3D at the top right of the middle pane. In Split view, drag the bar between the 2D plate and the 3D preview to resize them.

Assemble shows the stack glued up. Exploded lifts the layers apart. Choose stack, spread or cascade, set the Lift, and for spread and cascade drag the Fan aim dial to point the fan in a compass direction. Welded shows pieces joined the way the export cuts them. It is on by default.

The download always welds pieces-only layers into one connected cut. With Welded on, the preview shows exactly that, and the layer warns you if any piece is attached to nothing and would fall out. With it off you see the loose pieces before welding.

Drag to orbit and scroll to zoom. The iso, top, front and reset buttons jump to a set view.

Yes. The small slider next to Proof sets the light. The menu beside it picks the backdrop: Auto (follows the app theme), Studio, Slate, Daylight or Paper. Both are remembered in this browser.

Press Proof at the top right of the 3D preview to save a PNG of the current view at twice its size. Hold Option (Mac) or Alt (Windows) while clicking for four times the size. "Snapshot of the 3D" in the ... menu saves a plain capture of the 3D canvas.

Press Design over the map and untick "Wood grain on wood layers".

It turns real ground and lake depth into stacked layers you cut and glue: hills built up, lakes cut down. Every control is in one panel that opens over the map, so the 2D and 3D stay in view and update as you go. Open it from the Terrain & Depth card under the layer list.

1. Frame a hilly or mountain area and press Apply changes. 2. Press "Build terrain & depth" on the Terrain & Depth card. 3. Under "What to make" choose Terrain. 4. Set Terrain layers and Sheet thickness. The panel shows how many layers you will cut and how tall the stack is. 5. Press "Create N-level relief". 6. Adjust the Finish settings. Each change rebuilds the preview on its own.

Terrain builds the hills up in layers. Lake depth cuts the lake bed down in layers under your map, and your map stays on top unchanged. Both builds the ground up and cuts the lake down into it as one stack, with a waterline sheet where they meet.

The frame does not have the data for it. Terrain needs elevation data, Lake depth needs a lake in the frame, and Both needs both. Hover the button to see why.

Terrain and Both replace the map layers, because the hills would be hidden under a full-size street plate. Your map layers are set aside and saved with the project. Press Remove relief to take the relief away and put them back. Lake depth keeps your map on top.

Terrain alone: up to 24 terrain layers. Lake depth alone: up to 16 water layers. Both: up to 16 terrain and 12 water layers, set separately. The panel adds a base plate, a waterline sheet when there is a lake, and a frame ring when you have a frame.

It engraves 1, 2 or 3 extra contour lines on each terrain layer. You get more detail without cutting more wood. None means every contour you see is an edge you cut.

Edges sets how smooth the contour edges are: Smooth, Natural or Sharp. Smallest piece (0 to 15 mm) leaves out pieces and holes smaller than that, and shows how much ground that is at this scale. Glue guides puts a light line on each layer showing where the next one sits.

Under Frame choose "Every layer" for solid walls from the base to the top, "Top layer only" for a ring on top with open layers below, or "No frame". The ring uses the frame band width and carries the place name.

Colour ramps (Hypsometric, Woodgrain, Contour, Slate and Ember) that tint each sheet so you can tell them apart on screen. They do not change your files. The material is whatever each layer is set to.

Surveyed uses real depth soundings from public lake surveys. Simulated shapes the lake bed from its shoreline. Pick a shape, set the deepest point, and adjust the dials. A lake with no survey is always simulated.

Some surveys have depth contours that do not close into shapes, and those cannot be cut cleanly. When fewer than 60% of a lake's contours close, the Studio shapes the lake for you and tells you so. You can still adjust it.

Type the real depth in feet in "Deepest point" (5 to 2000 ft), or drag the slider. Without your figure the Studio guesses from the lake's size, and the panel says it is a guess. Area cannot tell a shallow reservoir from a deep glacial lake, so type the real number if you know it.

Pick a starting shape such as Gentle bowl, Steep sides, Ledge and drop, Deep hole, Long trench, Dam end, Sandbars or Glacial grooves, or press "Surprise me". Then fine-tune Banks, Deepest part, Shoreline shelf, Shape, Deepest spot, Slope, Contours, Sandbars and Ridges. "New variation" keeps the shape and changes the bumps. "Flip to the other end" moves the deep end.

Modelled means some terrain heights were filled in between the levels the survey recorded. Estimated on a depth band means the lake has no published survey, so its depths are modelled from the shoreline and surface area.

That is how the sources publish them. Elevation comes from Copernicus DEM in metres. Lake surveys publish depth in feet. Both are labelled, and the terrain band menu shows feet in brackets.

A sheet with no ground inside the cut shape would be blank, and a blank sheet hides the ones under it. After the first render the Studio drops those sheets on its own. A wider frame gives a taller stack.

Yes. In the layer list, click the Terrain or Water row to open the stack, then open any sheet. Sheet thickness in the Terrain & Depth panel sets all relief sheets at once.

Neither elevation data nor a lake reaches the framed area. Move or widen the frame and press Apply.

1. Leave Glue guides on before you download. 2. Cut every sheet. In Production files the sheets are numbered from the bottom: 1 is the bottom sheet. 3. Lay them out in order: the base plate, then the water sheets from deepest to shallowest, then the waterline and the terrain sheets from low to high, then the frame ring on top. With Lake depth only, your map layers go on top of the water sheets. 4. Dry-fit each sheet to the scored guide line on the sheet below. 5. Glue with a thin, even coat so the sheets stay flat, and press or weight the stack while it dries.

Yes. On any layer use "+ add piece..." and choose "Water depth band" or "Terrain band". Depth bands offer the depths the lake was surveyed at. "Fit bands to this lake" spreads all your bands across the survey, and "snapped" means your depth was moved to the nearest surveyed one. Terrain bands list the levels this area has after you Apply once.

1. In the Layers panel, set Product to "Golf course". The golf builder opens. 2. Type the course or club name under "Find your course" and pick it. 3. Choose the look: Raised or Carved, and a finish. 4. Set the ground, water and trees. 5. Choose how it sits on the board and where the name goes. 6. Under "Make it yours", pick what shows, type the name and par, and choose a board size. 7. Press "Make my course map". The course lands in the Studio as normal layers.

Type at least two letters. Try part of the name, such as "Pine" or "Bethpage", or the club rather than the course. Results show the state, whether the holes are mapped, and par when known. Courses come from OpenStreetMap, so a course nobody has mapped will not appear.

Raised stands the course up off the board: rough, then fairways, then greens on top, with sand in the bunkers and trees. Carved cuts the course down into the board, with the fairways and sand showing from below.

Championship: green acrylic in three shades on a birch board, blue water and pine trees. Clubhouse: all wood, with walnut rough, oak fairways, maple greens on birch, and cherry trees. Links: a pale maple board with forest-green rough, walnut trees and wood fairways and greens.

None is a flat board. Lines engraves the hills as contour lines. Steps builds the land up in layers with the course on the top one. Steps + lines does both. A carved board has nothing under it to step up, so it gets lines.

Steps sets how many land layers there are (2 to 6). Slope sets how far each step reaches past the one above, from steep to gentle (0 to 20 mm). With "Follow the real hills" on, the steps follow where the ground really rises, plus the slope. Off, you get a clean slope up to the course.

Water sets how many layers deep the lakes go, from 1 (engraved) to 5. With more than one layer, Shore sets how wide each step down into the water is (2 to 12 mm), so the water gets deeper toward the middle.

Turn Trees on under "Make it yours", then use the Trees slider from Few to Forest.

"Fill the board" turns the course to whatever angle makes it biggest. "North up" keeps north at the top. The slider sets any angle. The board also switches between wide and tall to suit the course.

Course name, Par, Hole numbers, Trees, Scale bar, North arrow and Frame. Hover a chip to see what it lights up on the board preview.

16 x 12, 20 x 16, 24 x 18 and 36 x 24 inches, turned wide or tall to suit the course. 20 x 16 is the default.

Yes. After the first render, each hole number becomes ordinary text on the fairway sheet. Drag it, resize it, retype it or delete it like any other text.

Press "Change course or look" on the Product card. The builder reopens where you left it.

A golf board is framed to its course and turned to fit, so the map pane is only for reference. Use "Change course or look" to change it.

Once the course data loads, the board preview is drawn by the same engine that makes your files, so the trees, steps and numbers you see are the pieces that will be cut.

1. Press Download files at the bottom of the Layers panel. 2. In Production files, tick the layers you want (All or None at the top). 3. Check where each layer goes: Laser, Print + cut, Print only or Raised print. 4. Pick your extra cut formats and, for printing, the print formats and DPI. 5. Press Download zip. Everything comes in one zip.

For each laser layer: a cut SVG named with its material, plus any of LightBurn (.lbrn2), xTool (.xs), DXF and PDF you picked. For each print layer: the colour as PNG, plus TIFF with white and PDF with CutContour if picked. For a raised print: a grayscale build file as PNG and PDF. A README.txt lists every sheet, its route and material, and notes on marks.

Laser: cut, engrave and score on the laser. Print + cut: UV print the colour, then cut it out. Print only: UV print, nothing cut. Raised print: colour, a grayscale build file and the cut, for a UV printer that raises ink, such as a Mimaki. Each layer starts on the route set in its Output tab.

Engrave is black (#000000), score is blue (#0000FF) and cut is red (#FF0000), so each lands on its own layer in your laser software.

LightBurn users: LightBurn (.lbrn2). xTool users: xTool (.xs). Other software: DXF or the SVG. The SVG is always included and opens anywhere. Tick PDF if your workflow prefers it.

Yes, on this computer and browser. The machine formats, print formats, DPI and colour settings are a property of your shop, so they stay set between maps.

Yes. Files are drawn in millimetres at the finished size. Registration marks, when on, sit in a margin outside the piece, so a file with marks is larger than the piece by that margin.

A pieces-only layer has pieces that would fall out of the machine because they do not join the frame. MappSmith downloads nothing rather than give you a file that cuts into loose parts. Add road groups so the network joins up, or widen the frame band, then try again.

The production render could not finish, often because of a dropped connection. MappSmith never falls back to an unwelded file, because it would cut into loose pieces. Try again. If it keeps failing, email support with the map name.

Art set as "A separate piece to glue on" is cut from its own stock, so it comes as its own sheet. It always goes to the laser.

Each tile's sheets come as their own files, so every tile can be cut on its own.

Save the project, then press "Make several..." in Production files. It opens Sheets with this map ready to add. See the Sheets topic.

A browser canvas has a size limit. When a large piece at a high DPI is over it, the DPI is lowered. Each file states its real DPI.

Yes. Signed out, the button reads "Sign in to download".

No. MappSmith does not know your machine or material. The files separate engrave, score and cut so you can set each one. Set power and speed in your laser software and always test on scrap before a production run.

Tick LightBurn in Production files and open the .lbrn2 file. Cut, engrave and score arrive on separate layers. Score goes on a second engrave layer, not the cut layer, so you can give it its own power and speed. The layer settings in the file are placeholders; replace them with yours.

Tick xTool in Production files and open the .xs file in xTool Creative Space. You can also import the SVG.

Upload the cut SVG to the Glowforge app. Engrave, score and cut are different colours (black, blue and red), so they come in as separate steps you can set.

Use the SVG, DXF or PDF cut file in your Trotec software. For print and cut with a Trotec camera, turn on registration marks and choose "Trotec circles".

Score is a light pass that marks the face without going through. The glue guide lines on a relief are scores. If they went to the cut layer, each sheet would be sliced along the outline of the sheet above it.

Before any file is written, everything engraved on a sheet is joined into filled shapes. A plain line cannot be filled by an engrave layer, and overlapping engraved shapes would cancel each other out. Run the engrave layer as a fill or scan.

For two-point print and cut, such as LightBurn Print & Cut or xTool, use "Red + blue crosshairs". For a Trotec camera, use "Trotec circles". In the cut file the marks sit on a non-burning layer, so they are never cut.

Yes, per layer. Open a layer's Output tab and choose Print + cut (ink and a cut file) or Print only (ink, nothing to the laser). Laser is cut and engrave only. One map can mix all three.

Classic map, MappSmith, Vintage, Blueprint, Blueprint dark, Noir and Midnight red. Pick one on a print layer's Output tab. You can then change any piece's colours. Colour changes apply instantly.

Open the print layer's Pieces tab. For each piece choose Fill, Outline or Both, then pick the colours. "Reset to theme" goes back to the theme colours. On a print-only layer, Included and Excluded switch a piece on or off.

When any layer prints, a "Print proof" button appears on the 2D plate. It shows the whole design as one flat print. The checkerboard means no ink. From there you can download a 300 DPI PNG or an SVG.

Not on a Print + cut layer set to "Pieces only": the ink is clipped to the pieces. Print only has no cut, so ink is only clipped to the frame. A Print + cut layer set to "Solid plate" prints the whole plate with nothing cut out of its face. The panel offers "Switch to pieces" if that is not what you meant.

Marks printed with the art and placed at the same spot in the cut file, so the cutter can find the print. Any print-and-cut job needs them. Turn them on in Size & shape or in Production files.

Trotec circles: solid black dots at the corners. Choose three or four. Three is usual, because the empty corner tells the camera which way round the piece is. Red + blue crosshairs: red at the top right, blue at the bottom left. Mark size runs 2 to 20 mm, and "Clear of the cut" sets the gap from the piece (0 to 20 mm). The file grows to hold the marks and the panel shows the new size.

The colour as a PDF with the cut line as a spot colour named CutContour. Roland, Mimaki and other print-and-cut RIPs read it as "cut here" without you assigning a layer.

A CMYK TIFF separated through a real colour profile, with a white underbase as a spot channel. Without white, colours on dark material come out as a stain rather than a print.

Tick TIFF + white in Production files and the settings open. Choose a profile under "Separate for" (SWOP, GRACoL, FOGRA, Japan Color and others) or load your shop's own .icc file, which is remembered. Choose a rendering intent and black point compensation. Add up to four spot channels: White, Gloss or a named Spot ink, each from all the artwork or by colour.

300, 600, 720 or 1200 DPI. Very large pieces at high DPI can be reduced to fit the browser; the file and README state the real DPI.

Set a layer's route to Raised print in Production files. You get three files per sheet: colour, a grayscale build file and the cut. Place all three in one RasterLink job at the same origin. In the build file black builds highest and white builds nothing. It never contains registration marks.

With "From the map", set a height for each kind of feature: Names, text and art (100% by default), Roads (60%), Buildings (80%), Parks and green (25%), Contour lines (40%), Land and Water (0%). With "From the artwork", the relief follows the printed colours, with Contrast, Brightness, Gamma and Invert to push the tones apart.

That is on purpose. Areas outside the frame carry no ink, so the printer lays nothing there.

Sheets come with the Maker plan (or a free trial or FoundryPass). Maps bought 10 for $10 open in the Studio and download one at a time; laying several maps out on one sheet of stock needs the plan.

A sheet is one piece of stock with as many pieces as fit, cut or printed in one run. A design is one piece; a sheet is what goes on the machine. Open Sheets from the header.

1. Save the map. 2. Press "Make several..." in Production files, or "Make a set on one sheet" on an ornament, or open Sheets from the header. 3. Press "+ Add a piece", choose the project, the layer, which part, and how many. 4. Pick the stock size, margin and spacing. 5. Check the arrangement and press Download.

A sheet is one piece of stock. The first piece you add sets the material, and the picker greys out layers of other materials.

The whole layer (cut, engrave and score in one file), cut lines only, engraving only, or the print artwork for a printer.

12 x 12, 12 x 20, 12 x 24, 18 x 24, 20 x 12 and 24 x 24 inches, A4, A3, or a custom size. "Turn the stock" swaps width and height. "Continuous roll" grows the run along a roll instead of starting a second sheet, for roll-fed printers and cutters.

"Keep clear of the edge" leaves a margin the machine cannot reach, such as clamps or the edge of the bed (0.5 in by default). "Space between pieces" sets the gap across and down (0.25 in by default). "Let the packer turn pieces" allows rotation to fit more.

Cut only is one pass on the laser. Print only is ink on the sheet with nothing cut. Print then cut is two passes on one sheet, which is what registration marks are for. The sheet adds its own marks around the stock.

How many sheets the run takes, how many pieces were placed, and how much of each sheet is covered. A piece too big for the stock, or pieces still unplaced, are listed in amber. Nothing is dropped silently.

Any of SVG, PDF, PNG and TIFF + white, in one zip. TIFF + white has the same colour profile and spot channel settings as the Studio.

No. A sheet is built for the download and is not saved on its own. It reads your saved projects, so keep those saved and you can rebuild a sheet in a minute. If you change a project, save it before adding it to a sheet.

Type a name in the field at the bottom of the Layers panel and press Save. The button reads "Save" with a dot when there are unsaved changes and "Saved" when everything is stored.

Press the ... button next to Save and choose "Save as a copy". The copy becomes the map you are working on.

On the Projects page, opened from the Studio link in the header, under "Pick up where you left off". In the Studio, the ... menu has "My maps".

On the Projects page, use Rename, Duplicate or Delete on the map's card. Delete asks you to confirm. Use "Find a map" to filter a long list.

Each save takes a picture of the 3D preview. Older pictures are refreshed on their own after you reopen a map.

Yes. After you save, the address bar holds a link to that project. It opens for you when you are signed in.

Yes. Saving is only needed to reopen a map later and to add it to a sheet.

The Projects page could not reach saved maps. Keep designing; nothing you have made is lost. Try again later, and email support if it continues.

Yes. In the "Make it yours" panel, press "Copy link". Anyone with the link can open the design and make their own version. Your changes are not included.

Stacked wood with the water showing through. It is three layers: a blue acrylic base, a birch land layer with the water cut out and the minor streets engraved, and a walnut top layer of cut major streets held by the frame band.

8, 10, 12, 16 and 18 inch squares. 10 inches is the default. You can also type any size in Size & shape.

1. Cut each layer from its own material. 2. Glue the land layer onto the blue base so the water shows through. 3. Glue the street layer on top, lining its frame up with the land layer's edge.

One board with everything burned in: water, highways, major and minor roads. Lines are thinner than on a layered map, because a full-strength road set reads as a smudge when nothing is raised.

8, 10, 12 and 16 inch squares, with 10 inches as the default.

The lake's depth contours engraved like a nautical chart. Build it Layered (base, land and streets, with the depth lines on the base) or as One board.

The lake has no published depth survey in the frame, so the Lake depth piece shows "No data here". Try the 3D lake product, which can model a lake bed from the shoreline.

8, 10, 12 and 16 inch squares, with 10 inches as the default.

The lake bed cut down in stacked layers under your map. Picking it opens Terrain & Depth set to Lake depth, ready to build.

1. Search for the lake and frame it. 2. Set Product to "3D lake". Terrain & Depth opens. 3. Choose Surveyed or Simulated for the lake bed. 4. Set Water layers and Sheet thickness. 5. Press "Create N-level relief", then adjust the finish.

10, 12, 16 and 18 inch squares, with 12 inches as the default.

Just the streets, cut out and joined by the frame band. Build it as One layer, or "With a backer" for a solid sheet behind the streets. Picking it zooms the map to about a neighbourhood, a little wider on bigger boards, because a whole city cut out at 10 inches is too fine to survive the laser. Zoom in or out from there as you like.

A cut-out has nothing behind it, so a hair-thin street snaps. The product starts with wider streets. Keep them wide enough for your material.

Leave Welded on in the 3D preview. The layer warns you if pieces are attached to nothing. Add more road groups so the network joins up, or widen the frame band. The download refuses to export pieces that would fall out.

A portrait board with the map on top and a message panel below, for example "WHERE WE MET", a date, two names and the coordinates. It comes with a small engraved heart. Build it Layered or as One board.

Use the Words section under the product. Tap a ready-made headline such as "THE DAY WE SAID YES" or "OUR FIRST HOME", then edit each line. Each line's font and size are on the Frame band card under Name bar.

8 x 12, 12 x 16 and 16 x 24 inches, with 16 x 24 as the default.

A board of map windows, one for each place in your story, such as where you met, got engaged and got married. Each window has its own caption and date.

The count follows the board size: 16 x 12 inches has 2 windows, 24 x 16 has 3 (the default), and 36 x 18 has 4.

Under Windows on the Product card, each window has its own search box. Search a place, or pan the main map and press "Use the map's centre". The Zoom slider sets how much of the place the window shows, in kilometres across.

Yes. Pick one shape for every window next to "All", or a shape for each window: Heart, Circle, Square, Hexagon, House, Star, Triangle or Diamond.

Yes. Choose "Stacked" to turn the board portrait with the windows in a column and the captions beside them, or "In a row" for side by side.

It marks the exact place in each window with a small heart.

Layered: a backer, a map sheet, a window board with the windows cut out, and a frame on top. One board: the maps engraved with the window outlines scored.

A heart-shaped map with your names on a band across the heart, so the streets do not run through the letters. It comes with a walnut heart cut as its own piece to glue on top. Build it Layered or as One board.

10, 12 and 16 inches, with 12 inches as the default.

One map split across separate boards that hang side by side, 20 mm apart. Each tile has its own frame band, which holds that tile's cut streets together. Build them Layered, Engraved or Cut-out.

Use Across (1 to 6) and Down (1 to 4) on the Product card, and pick each tile's size: 8, 10, 12 or 16 inches. The card shows the total size on the wall.

Each tile's sheets come as their own files, so you can cut the tiles one at a time.

A round map with an hour ring and a shaft hole for a clock movement. Build it three ways: "Ring on the streets" (the hour ring is the street layer's band), "Separate hour ring" (a ring sheet laid over the map with the numerals cut through), or One board.

Match the hole to your clock movement: 8, 9.5, 10 or 12 mm. 10 mm fits most quartz kits. On a layered clock the hole goes through every solid sheet.

Numerals: 1 to 12, Roman, 12 3 6 9, or None. Hour marks: Ticks, Dots or None. Minute track: On or Off. Numerals can be engraved or cut through, and sit on the ring or on the map. Find them on the Clock face piece of the top layer.

12, 16, 20 and 24 inches, with 12 inches as the default.

A small hanging keepsake: an engraved backer with a front frame glued over it, and a name bar with the place and the year. Build it as "Backer + front frame" or as One piece. Picking it zooms the map in to a few streets.

Bauble, Circle, Heart, Star, Tree, Snowflake, Bell, Stocking, Gift, Hexagon and House.

The Bauble has its own cap and hole. Every other shape gets "Hanging loop on top", a 9 mm loop with a 4 mm hole, which you can switch off.

3, 4 and 5 inches, with 4 inches as the default.

Save the ornament, then press "Make a set on one sheet" on the Product card. It opens Sheets with the ornament ready to add.

A wall board with a header such as "Home Sweet Home" over the map, and a row of hook holes cut along the bottom for the hooks you fit. Build it Layered or as One board.

The count follows the size: 10 x 5 inches has 4 hooks, 12 x 6 has 6 (the default), and 16 x 8 has 8. The holes are about 4.8 mm across and go through every solid sheet.

Use the Words section. Tap a ready-made header such as "WELCOME TO / The Smith Family / HOME" or "OUR FIRST HOME / 123 Main Street", then edit the lines.

One course, framed and titled, raised off the board or carved into it. It is made in its own builder. See the Golf course builder topic.

A small 4 inch round map, engraved on one board or built layered. Coasters sell in sets: save one and lay several out on a sheet in Sheets.

No. All sales are final: subscriptions, partial periods and map packs are not refunded. That is what the 7-day free trial is for, so try everything before you pay. Cancelling stops the next renewal and keeps your access until the end of the period you paid for.

The Maker plan is $12 a month or $99 a year, with unlimited maps and commercial use, and it starts with a 7-day free trial. Or buy maps without a plan: 10 maps for $10.

No. The 7-day trial is the free part. After the trial you need the Maker plan or map credits to download.

Yes. You add a card when you start the trial, the same as every Maker Foundry app. Nothing is charged for 7 days. If you cancel before the trial ends (Account, then Manage billing), you are never charged. If you keep it, the Maker plan starts on day 8. One free trial per person.

Full use of the Studio for 7 days: every product, every export, unlimited maps. Your Account page shows how many days are left and lets you cancel before you are charged.

Without a plan, each map you download uses one credit. Credits come 10 for $10 and never expire. Your remaining count shows under the Download files button and on your Account page.

No, within 7 days. Downloading the same map again within 7 days is free when it is the same size and shape and about 60% or more of the ground is the same. Change the words, layers or materials as much as you like.

A new place, a new size or a new shape. Moving the frame to somewhere else, changing a love story window's place, or picking a different golf course is a new map.

No. Designing in the Studio and the 2D and 3D previews do not use credits. A credit is used when you download a map's production files.

The download stops and says "You are out of maps." Buy another 10 or subscribe for unlimited maps on the Pricing page.

Yes. Commercial use is included on the Maker plan, during the trial, and with maps bought one at a time.

Yes. MappSmith is included in FoundryPass at apps.makerfoundryco.com.

Studio access pauses as soon as a renewal payment fails, with no grace period. Update your card under Manage billing on your Account page and access comes back once the payment goes through.

Go to Account and press Manage billing. You can cancel any time. Your plan stays active until the end of the period you paid for.

Go to Account and press Manage billing. It opens the secure billing portal run by Stripe. MappSmith never sees your card.

Press Start free in the header. Continue with Google, or create an account with your name, email and a password. A phone number is optional. Then start your 7-day free trial: add a card at checkout, and nothing is charged until day 8.

With Google, with your email and password, or with a magic link: enter your email and press "Email me a magic link instead", then open the link from your inbox.

Use the magic link. Enter your email on the sign-in page and press "Email me a magic link instead". The link signs you in without a password.

Check your spam or promotions folder and wait a minute. Make sure you typed the same email you signed up with. If it still does not come, email support.

FoundryPass is the Maker Foundry membership that includes MappSmith. The Forge is its hub at apps.makerfoundryco.com, where all the Maker Foundry apps live. The bar across the top of MappSmith is The Forge bar, for moving between apps.

Open MappSmith from The Forge at apps.makerfoundryco.com. The hub shares your email and membership with MappSmith, so one sign-in opens it.

Yes. It is the same app and the same account at both addresses.

Your plan, whether your access is active, your map credits, and days left in your trial. It has buttons to upgrade or buy credits, and Manage billing.

The connection dropped while checking your access. Your maps are safe. Press Try again.

Your account has no live trial, plan or map credits. Choose a plan or buy maps on the Pricing page. If you think this is wrong, email support.

Marketing email and SMS are opt-in. Use the unsubscribe link in any message. Account email, such as sign-in links, receipts and trial reminders, is part of running your account.

Email mappsmith@makerfoundryco.com. We can change your email, or delete your account, saved designs and files.

No. Sharing an account is against the terms. Each person needs their own.

The map needs WebGL, which your browser has turned off. Turn on hardware acceleration in your browser settings, or try Chrome, Edge or Firefox, then reload.

Reload the page. If it keeps happening, make sure hardware acceleration (WebGL) is on in your browser.

The new frame is too large to load, so nothing has updated yet. A banner says "Still showing...". Zoom the map in and press Apply.

Large frames with many roads take longer. Switch off road groups you do not need, such as service roads and paths. You can also turn Welded off while you design and back on before you download; the download always welds.

Turn off a road group on that layer, or make the design bigger.

The cut file would only contain the frame. Try fewer road groups or a wider frame band.

Nothing in the frame is that deep. Pick a shallower depth, or press "Fit bands to this lake".

No elevation or lake data reaches the framed area. Move or widen the frame and press Apply.

If a native file could not be written, the zip says so and includes the SVG for that layer. Import the SVG instead, and email support with the map name so we can look.

A snapshot needs the 3D preview on screen. Switch to Split or 3D and try again.

Map data comes from OpenStreetMap and can be incomplete or out of date. Check the place before you cut. Fixes made in OpenStreetMap reach MappSmith over time.

Fonts load from the web. Wait a moment, or reload the page if the font never appears.

Yes. The maps you design and the files you download are yours to use and sell as physical products, on a plan or bought by the map.

No. You may not resell or redistribute the files as a template, a file pack or a competing service. Sell the pieces you make.

Streets, water, parks and golf courses come from OpenStreetMap under the Open Database License. When you sell a piece, add a short credit such as "Map data (c) OpenStreetMap contributors" on the back of the piece or in your listing. The "Message on the back" field is an easy place for it.

Elevation comes from Copernicus DEM data. Lake depths come from public lake surveys. Lakes with no survey can be modelled from their shoreline, and the Studio marks those as Estimated or Simulated.

No. Map data can be incomplete or out of date. Exported files and settings are starting points. Check the place and test on scrap before a production run.

Yes. A gallery design is a starting point. Set it to your customer's place and words, and the piece you make is yours to sell like any other.

Press Proof on the 3D preview to save a large PNG of the assembled piece. For printed pieces, the Print proof view shows the flat print and can save a 300 DPI PNG.

Email mappsmith@makerfoundryco.com. Include the map name and what you were doing, and a screenshot if you can.