SLQ Wiki facilities:fablab:software

Adobe Illustrator

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 17:02:04 +0000

~~REVEAL~~

Adobe Illustrator

Redeveloped by Kat Johnston in Aug 2017.

Summary

Adobe Illustrator for beginners

Create and edit vector graphics (like illustrations and logos) in this Illustrator course for beginners.

In this 1.5 hour intro course we’ll start with the fundamentals:

A demonstration of the basic tools and functionality of Illustrator
Navigating around the interface
Setting up your own custom workspace
Key features and tools: layers, paths and (your new best friend) the pen tool

*Please bring along a USB to save your work

Creating custom designs with Adobe Illustrator

Take your graphic skills to the next level in this intermediate Illustrator course.

Over 4 hours we’ll dissect advanced tools and techniques covering:

Different ways to customise your artwork/designs
Tools such as: Blending, envelope distorting, meshing etc
Creating 3D objects & mapping artwork
Creative infographics
Perspective drawing
Image tracing

Workshop Outline 1

Introduction to Illustrator

Beginner Adobe Illustrator Users?
Have you experimented with it before?
What are you hoping to use it for?
What are you hoping to get out of today?

Workshop Outline

Understand vector vs raster
Document settings
Become familiar with the interface
Learn about layers
Grouping and ungrouping
Learn pen tool basics and create shapes
Add and adjust strokes
Add and adjust colours
Add basic text

Vector vs Raster

Vector images are rooted in mathematical theory. Lines and curves known as ‘paths’ are used to make up the design. It can be scaled infinitely. Vectors are great for logos, icons and illustrations.
Raster images are created using pixels. They do not scale well – if you zoom in, you will see each pixel. It is often used for photographs.

Vector images can be converted to raster if needed for publishing etc.

CMYK vs RGB colour spaces

CMYK is a subtractive colour model. It refers to the four inks generally used in printing (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black). If your artwork is to be printed, use CMYK.
RGB is an additive colour model. Red, green and blue light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colours on screens. If your artwork is to be displayed digitally, use RGB.

Let’s get started!

Open up Adobe Illustrator and create a New Document

That's it for our introduction to Adobe Illustrator!

Workshop Outline 2

Advanced Illustrator

Intermediate Adobe Illustrator Users?
How much have you done with Illustrator before?
What are you hoping to get out of today?

Workshop Outline

Review the pen tool, shape creation and layers
Use the rotate tool
Use the blend tool
Understand and use pathfinder
Create clipping masks
Using live trace to create artwork from an existing drawing or picture
Use live paint
Create a finished artwork using these tools

Let’s get started!

Open up Adobe Illustrator and create a New Document

Where to go for more info

https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/user-guide.html https://www.lynda.com/ https://design.tutsplus.com/ Google (and Youtube) can be a great help too! Sometimes seeing it in action is more valuable than reading a tutorial.

Materials

Illustrator 1 Powerpoint - Added to this page for slide show
Illustrator 2 Powerpoint - Added to this page for slide show
Illustrator 1 Project Plan
Illustrator 2 Project Plan

Arduino Create

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 01 Jun 2023 20:45:36 +0000

Arduino Create

This page will show how to setup the Arduino web editor with your Arduino micro-controller on (almost) any computer. This page includes instructions for both Windows 10 and macOS.

Arduino released a web-based IDE (Integrated Development Environment) that doesn't require you to download the desktop IDE and allows you to save your projects in the cloud.

We will be demonstrating this using an unofficial Arduino Nano v3 (not v3.3) purchased from China. It uses the cheaper CH340 (USB to Serial) chip and will require different settings than a genuine Arduino. Once the the IDE is setup both genuine and cheap Nanos work the same. Most of these instructions will work with other Arduino's as well.

You can tell if you have a genuine Arduino by looking at the colour, the PCB should be a nice teal colour. Cheaper brands commonly have blue PCBs.

Connecting the Arduino (macOS)

Plug the Arduino into any available USB port on your computer, make sure the LED(s) on your board turn on.

This step is not necessary but makes sure our USB port is working and that the Arduino is connected. You can skip to Arduino Create Plugin if you're feeling confident.

Let's launch the quick access bar and type the following and press Enter/Return

Command + Space

Terminal

Type the following command, followed by Enter/Return to execute. This will list all the usb/serial devices currently connected to your computer

ls /dev/cu*

If you've got the Arduino connected when running the above command you should see something like this:

cu.usbserial-xxxx

The usbserial is the important thing. To make sure this is the right device you can unplug the Arduino, and use the ls command to list all the devices again. If it doesn't show up: Bingo, that's your Arduino!

If you are using OSX High Sierra or earlier you and the above step didn't work you will need to download and install the serial usb drivers for your computer. This should not be required if you are using Mojave or later.

Connecting the Arduino (Windows 10)

Plug the Arduino into any available USB port on your computer, make sure the LED(s) on your board turn on.

Press the start button and type in Device Manager, press enter or click on the Device Manager application that shows up in the menu.

Under the Ports (COM & LPT) section you should find the device with the name USB-SERIAL CH340 (COMXX).

The COM followed by a number is which USB port you're using. This will be helpful when finding the device in the Arduino IDE.

Once this is done we know that the Arduino is working and that our computer recognises it. This can save a lot of troubleshooting later on if something doesn't work.

Arduino Create Plugin

You will need to download and install a plugin on your computer that allows the browser to talk to the Arduino.

Go to https://create.arduino.cc

Click on Getting Started, once on the page scroll all the way to the bottom where you will see the following, click the Arduino Create Plugin to download the plugin.

Follow the instructions on screen, once the file has downloaded run the file (ArduinoCreateAgent…exe) and install it. Once you've completed this step, go back to the website, and it should look something like this (You might need to hit the refresh button):

Sign up for an account

If you just completed the previous step you can just click the Go to web editor button, otherwise go to https://create.arduino.cc/editor.

You will most likely be prompted to sign in, if you don't have an account make sure you signup for one now.

Setting up the board

If it's your first time using the web editor you will be prompted to take a tour, this can be helpful.

We'll need to setup our board before we can upload any code/sketches to our device, at the top you'll see a drop down menu. Once clicked any Arduino boards connected will appear in the list on the COM-port that we identified in the Device Manager in a previous step. Click Change.

For macOS users it will look more like this:

In the search field on the left under BOARDS make sure you select the regular Arduino Nano (there are other variations). The COM PORT should already be correct, if it isn't you can change it to what was displayed in the Device Manager. Finally we need to select the FLAVOURS, select ATmega328P (Old Bootloader). Our particular board uses the old bootloader variant. Press OK once all these settings are correct.

Uploading a sketch and testing your Arduino

We will now make sure that everything works. We'll be using one of the example sketches available. On the left hand side click on Examples → 01. Basics → Blink. This will open the project/sketch in the main editor window.

All we need to do now is to Upload the sketch to our board by clicking the Upload button (Arrow).

If successful, the light on your Arduino should blink (1 second on, 1 second off). You will also see the teal bar at the bottom with the following message:

If this worked for you: Congratulations! You may now create your own sketches, find other's and experiment. If you're having any issues please check the Troubleshooting section below.

What's next?

To learn about the library and the code go to the Desktop Oddity (online) wiki page.

Troubleshooting

The first thing to do is go back and do the first few steps to make sure that all the previous steps have worked. If your Arduino's lights turns on when you connect and you successfully installed the Arduino Create Plugin connecting to Arduino Web should work!

Nothing is happening when I plug my Arduino to the computer

Plug the Arduino into your computer's USB port. Avoid using USB hub. One or two light should blink for a few seconds, the lights are usually green and/or red.
If this doesn't work make sure you try a different USB port, a USB wall plug or another computer.
If your Arduino still doesn't work, it's most likely broken. Try getting a refund or asking for a replacement one.
If you've ordered the Arduino from AliExpress or similar, there is a chance you will get a dud or two.

Arduino Web won't detect my Arduino

Follow the steps in the Connecting the Arduino for your specific operating system, amke sure your OS can see it. If not
If this fails, make sure you have the latest version of Windows 10 or macOS (currently Catalina)
Redo the Arduino Create Plugin section, if you have it installed correctly it the page should be able to detect it
Make sure you are using the latest version of Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome as the plugin probably won't work in other browsers (Opera, Microsoft Edge)

My computer detects the Arduino and I've successfully installed the plugin but it still doesn't work

It should work! You might want to download the Arduino client (Available for macOS, Windows and Linux) and see if it works there. Go to our Deskduino v2 page for instructions on how to download and setup the Arduino IDE on your machine.
Issues could be caused by older drivers and Arduino installations, make sure you uninstall older versions.

Resources

Audacity

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 03 Aug 2021 15:48:08 +0000

Audacity

Audacity is free and open source audio editing software that is widely used around the world for basic audio editing. It is cross platform, available for Mac, Windows and Linux and other operating systems.

Because it is open source, there are lots of detailed guides and user support documentation online, we’ll cover most of the basics in this session but don’t be afraid to delve into more learning after this session.

Audacity is often used for Podcast and spoken audio editing, particularly because it’s free and accessible, however it is also very capable of music audio editing.

In today’s induction session we’ll learn the basics including;

The UI (user interface)
Recording into Audacity
Levels
Editing basics, including editing a piece of vocal audio
Creating multiple tracks (adding a soundbed)
Covering some of the effects options

Let’s get started!

All of the iMacs in the Digital Media Lab and also the HP laptops available for use in the Fabrication Lab have Audacity installed. Let’s go to our application folder or search function to find and open the program.

The logo looks like this;

When Audacity opens, the screen you should see will look like this;

Menus

Audacity (Mac Only) About Audacity, Preferences, System Services, Show and Hide Audacity and other applications, and Quit.
File Working with Audacity project files and other audio files.
Edit Altering the audio in your project.
Select Making selections of tracks, or within tracks, in your project.
View Change Zoom levels. Show clipping, Undo History, Mixer Board, Toolbars and Karaoke window.
Transport Control recording and playback.
Tracks Adding, aligning and labeling audio tracks.
Generate Creating new audio in your project. Audio generating plug-ins will also appear here.
Effect Processing the audio in your project. External Effects plug-ins will also appear in this menu.
Analyze Analyzing the audio in your project. External plug-ins that act on audio but do not produce audio output will appear here, as well as tools like Silence Finder and spectrograms.
Window (Mac Only) Minimize and zoom windows, choose the project window to bring to the front.
Tools Additional menus for Macros and other plug ins.
Extra The Extra menu provides access to Toolbar operations and to extra commands for track focus and movement of the editing or playback cursor that are not available in the default Audacity menus. These will be of most interest to visually-impaired users or those who have difficulty using the mouse.

Let’s look at the different sections of the interface and get familiar

Audio Control Buttons

Start recording by clicking on the red Record button
Pause the recording by pressing the blue Pause button. You can do this at any time while recording or playing back a recording. Note: when the Pause button is selected most commands in Audacity are unavailable.
Stop recording by clicking on the yellow Stop button. You can do this at any time while recording or playing back a recording.
Go to the start of the recording by clicking the Skip to Start button on the far left.
Listen to the recording by clicking the green Play button.

Importing Audio

Open an audio file by going to the File menu > Open or choose Project menu > Import Audio

When importing or opening from an audio file directly, the program may ask you if you want to make a copy of the audio file, this is to preserve the original in case you make a lot of edits and changes, it is good practice to keep a clean original audio track and make the copy.

Note: Some versions of Audacity may not open WMA files. If you have WMA file issues, you can convert them first (convert to the WAV format, for example), you can do this in a variety of programs, like iTunes or Windows Media Player.

Recording Audio

You can record directly into Audacity and as with all audio recording software, you will need to choose your input (and output) depending on what set up you are using.

Connect a microphone depending on your set up; plug directly into a mic in port, or via the Line In with USB mic or use an audio adapter, or for best quality use a audio interface with good quality mic. You can use the built-in mic but the quality won't be great.

Choose via the drop down menu options in the Input & Output menu (your output might be headphones or connected speakers if not the in-built output)

Also choose from the same menu whether you want to do a Mono or Stereo recording. So what’s the difference between mono and stereo? Well a mono recording is one where the sound in the left and right channels is the same, a stereo recording has different sounds in each channel. So unless you are getting creative with your recording, best to stick with mono. Here's a link to some good info on this side of things

Levels and Monitoring

Audacity always launches with input monitoring off and so the Recording Meter Toolbar displays “Click to Start Monitoring”. Click in the recording meter to start monitoring, or when you press the The Record button Record button the meter will activate. The Recording Meter Toolbar again displays “Click to Start Monitoring” whenever you stop a recording or start playback.

The Playback Meter will activate when you start playback, or if you start recording with software playthrough turned on in the transport menu.

The orange color displayed here in the left channel warns that the signal is too “hot” or becoming too “hot” (approaching 0 dB). The red bar at the right of both channels indicates that clipping is occurring.

Editing

Tools We'll run through each of these quickly, the main one you will use is the Selection tool and the one that looks like a star is the Multi Tool, which will switch between each of the other tools depending on where you move your cursor.

Selection Tool

The Selection tool is pretty self explanatory, and will probably be the tool you use the most. Click and drag over a piece of audio to select, or click in one spot and then you will see a pointed hand that allows you to expand the selection.

Envelope Tool

In Audacity, every track has an “amplitude envelope” which is controlled with the Envelope Tool on the Tools Toolbar.

An amplitude envelope just means that you can control a track's volume changes smoothly over time. People in the recording industry sometimes call this technique volume automation, because in a recording studio you would typically change the volume of tracks by moving volume sliders up and down, and fancy mixing boards had the ability to remember your movements and automate them from then on. Manipulating a track's amplitude envelope in Audacity is similar, except that Envelope Tool is used to create and manipulate “control points” at various points in the track. The control points then determine its volume changes over time.

Draw Tool

Draw Tool enables you to redraw the waveform; it can be used to make volume changes to individual samples or effect repairs to clicks/noise. You need to zoom right in on the waveform to use this tool.

Magnify Tool

Another pretty self explanatory tool, used to zoom in or press shift click to zoom out.

Time Shift Tool

To shift multiple tracks to left or right, there must be a selection region in all the tracks you want to time shift, and you must drag from inside the selection region in one of those tracks.

Multi-Tool

Multi-Tool mode on Tools Toolbar lets you access all of the five separate tools on this toolbar at once, depending on the location of the mouse and the modifier keys you hold down.

Adding Tracks

Effects

Tidying up speech

If you have a piece of plain talking like an interview, voice over or speech you can improve its quality through the following effects:

First normalise your track -this adjusts the volume so the peaks are set to a certain loudness, so you don't blow out people's speakers or the volume is too quiet even when your listeners have their volume cranked all the way up.

Then use the noise reduction function by first selecting an area of your track that should be silent and go Effect>Noise Reduction> get noise profile. The window will close. Then select all the track and click Effect>Noise Reduction>OK and wait for it to complete.

You can also set a noise gate. This is more aggressive than the noise reduction and will basically lower the volume (or completely remove it) on sounds below a certain level. Fiddle with the gate threshold to set the maximum volume of the background noise. The level reduction is how much quieter it will make the background noise (-100 for completely silent). The Decay sets how long it waits after the voice finishes to turn off the background noise, increase this value if your voice sounds a bit 'choppy'.

Next apply a limiter, changing the “limit to” setting until you have reduced any large spikes in your audio (laughing, claps etc)

Then normalise it again as it will have changed the max volume.

Then it's a good idea to apply some compression. This is sort of a matter of taste but it tends to make voices sound more 'rounded' and 'warm' and 'radio-presenter-ish'. Fiddle with the compression until you like the sound.

Then normalise the audio again as this will have altered the volume again.

You can now export and use your audio.

Practical Exercise

Download the vocal audio track - https://sampleswap.org/samples-ghost/VOCALS%20and%20SPOKEN%20WORD/MALE%20MISC%20and%20SPOKEN%20WORD/4249%5Bkb%5Dbrian-eno-lets-imagine-the-future.aif.mp3

Download the music audio track - http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Art_of_Flying/fingerface/Art_Of_Flying_-_song_for_brian_eno

Resources

https://manual.audacityteam.org/index.html

Corel Draw

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 23 Jul 2018 14:27:21 +0000

Corel Draw

Fusion 360

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 27 Apr 2020 14:54:58 +0000

Fusion 360

Fusion 360 is and Autodesk product for CAD CAM. It is free (as in beer) for students, educators and start-ups. Fusion360 is used by The Edge programming staff when parametric design is an important requirement of a delivery or engagement. We use parametric design to re-use designs, mainly changing material dimensions (thickness), tooling and design scaling.

For example of internal work done with fusion 360 check out.

Installation

Fusion 360 can be installed either with a web streamer (a small application that then downloads the full install) or from a full download. As the app is updated frequently, and most updates break backward compatibility we often have installs that are out of sync, leaving files un-openable. Fusion360 by default also installs for one user only.

For these reasons we recommend using the full admin install, and download the latest version which can always be found here¹⁾. Install it from an admin command prompt with;

  "Fusion 360 Admin Install.exe" --globalinstall

learning Fusion

Autodesk has a comprehensive curriculum for learning fusion360.

Tips and Tricks

Parametric Design

Parametric design is a powerful tool for keeping your designs flexible enough to deal with changes dimensions __after_ your design is functionally complete. For example, designing a table to cut from a single sheet of ply mean that the design takes into account the thickness of the sheet. But what happens if your change ply stock? If your material thickness²⁾ is parametric, you can change your sheet thickness and the design will update accordingly.

The tips to successful parameter usage, that is avoiding the dreaded “Over Constrained” errors.

Make sure that your parameters are controlling only a single dimension at a time. For example - a rectangle that has a length, width is fine. But if you add a curve with a radius that intersects two edges, and then dimension that curves radius… you have a problem because the radius limits how far apart the sides can be.

¹⁾

For more detailed instructions on lab usage consult this document. advanced_fusion360_lab_installation_instructions_en-gb.pdf

²⁾

and dependent measurements

Profile Toolpath

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 23 Jul 2018 14:27:21 +0000

Profile Toolpath

1. Select one or a number of toolpaths you wish to uniformly perform a an operation on

2. Enter the required cutting depth of this toolpath. if you want to cut through you may need to set a cut depth larger than the material thickness and into the waste board. Select the Tool you wish to use for this operation. Click on the Edit Button to check that the correct Spindle Speed, Feed Speed and Plunge Speeds are entered for the selected tool pair with the material you are cutting.

3. Choose the number of passes you would like to perform. Click on the Edit Passes button and either

Set the Last Pass Depth and click Apply.
Use the Path Depth List Utilities to Maintain Maximum Pass Depth by clicking the checkbox and the Set Passes button, or
Populate the Pass Depth Listing entering the Number of Passes and clicking Set Passes.

Its Best practice inexperience user to not exceed depth values per pass that are greater than to Tool diameter.

4. In Machine Vectors choose the tool offset value required for the operation.

Outside/Right
Inside/Left or
On the path.

5. Check the box and enter a depth to add a Final Pass clean up rough passes where required.

6. Check the Add Tabs to your Toolpath box where required and Click on the Edit Tabs button to enter the Number of Tabs or spacing via the Constant Distance between Tabs option. Before Closing this dialogue you can check the position of the tabs for hold and easy cleaning by click and dragging existing tabs into a new position or clicking on the path to add more tabs. When you are happy with their arrangement click close.

7. For most jobs the Ramp, Lead, Order, Start At and Corner functions can be deselected as well as the Project Toolpath onto 3D Model

8. When you have finished entering and check these setting click the Calculate button and Vcarve process the operation settings and render a 3D preview of the toolpath operation.

Prusa Slicer

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 16:13:04 +0000

Prusa Slicer

Prusa Slicer is the version of 3d Slic3r adapted for the Prusa i3 MK3S

Prepping your 3d model for printing


1	Open the PrusaSlicer application. If you are prompted that a Configuration Update is available, click to install the update before proceeding further.
2	Use the Add button to load models into PrusaSlicer
3	Delete Delete All buttons remove the model(s) from PrusaSlicer opens the detailed settings of print , filament and printer


4	Use Move, scale, rotate , Place on Face and cut tools to prepare the model to printing in the most efficient/ effective orientation,

5	Select a Quality / Speed setting for your print
6	Material selection (on Fabrication Lab computers, only filament brands/polymers provided in the Lab will appear in the dropdown list)
7	Select a Supports setting


8	Select an Infill percentage
9	Click Slice to slice the model into layers in the Z axis and select layers preview to view infill land


10	Check the Sliced Info for the cost and how long its going to take to print before exporting your gcode The Edge charges 15cents / gram and your print needs to be finished before the Lab Closes - talk to the Fab Lab Supervisor if you have a long job you'd like to do .
11	Generate and export gcode to the SD Card by clicking the Export G-Code button .


Hint	Right-click on model opens a context menu
Hint	Switch between 3D editor and Layer Preview by clicking &

Software

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 11:46:35 +0000

Software

Application Name	Whats it for	Vendor	Used With
Vcarve	Desktop CAD CAM	Vetrics	Multicam CNC, Xcarve CNC
Corel Draw	Desktop Vector Graphics	Correl	Laser (print postscript) Cleaning up files for CNC
Fusion 360	Desktop CAD CAM CAE	Autodesk
Adobe Illustrator	Desktop Vector Graphics	Adobe	Laser, Vinyl Cutter
Audacity	FOSS audio editing	Audacity	DML, Fab Lab laptops, Recording Studio
Premiere	Desktop Video editing	Adobe	DML
Prusa Slicer	Descktop prep 3d files for 3d printing	Prusa Research /Slicer Solutions	Prusa i3 Mk3s
Inkscape	FOSS Desktop Vector Graphics	Inkscape	Laser, Vinyl Cutter
Arduino Web	Desktop/Web Arduino IDE	Arduino	Ardunio micro-controllers

Designing for 3D printing using TinkerCad

anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 27 Jan 2023 15:47:37 +0000

Designing for 3D printing using TinkerCad

Why

TinkerCAD is a great way to start making 3D models for 3D printing, or to plan out ideas that you wish to hand-cut or export for laser/CNC technologies. It's free for anyone to use, runs on any device with internet and it's arguably the most simple/easy 3D design software to start out with.

What

TinkerCAD is made by Autodesk and works essentially like children's building blocks; you stack shapes together or cut shapes from each other to build up your part.

overveiw.mp4

How

Getting Started

Go to tinkercad.com and click “start Tinkering” to get started.
1. If you are participating in a workshop your facilitator may have you join a class.
2. If you are working though it on your own, you will want to create a personal Autodesk account (if you don't have one already).
The first time you sign in the software will prompt you to complete some mini tutorials which teach you the basics of using the software. You can revisit these tutorials at any time by going to tinkercad.com/learn (when you are logged in) and clicking [See all Starters].

Increasing size of working area

You may also wish to increase the size of your space, so you can make larger objects. You can do this by using the “Edit Grid” function at the bottom right. You can set it to a maximum of 1000x1000mm (1m cube)

Moving at smaller increments

You may also wish to change the grid snapping so you can move objects more accurately, you can do this by changing the grid snapping to 0.1mm.

Perspective vs Orthographic

In addition to moving around our object, we can also view it in two different modes:

Perspective imitates looking through human eye or lense, so it’s the best one when we’re looking to get a feel for what our object will look like in real life, but it’s quite hard to place things accurately in this mode.
Orthographic is used traditionally for making plans and diagrams, and is usually used for Top/Side/Back views. It shows our objects nice and flat so it’s easier to align objects to each other, and position them more accurately in space.

I recommend switching to Orthographic mode.

Perspective	Orthographic
veiwperspective.mp4	veiworthographic.mp4
Better for understanding	Better for accuracy

Snap to a Side View

Double click on faces of cube in top right of the screen to snap exactly to Top/ Bottom/ Front/ Back/ Right Side/ Left Side

What If/Next

Keyboard Shortcuts

Reference from Donald Bell

Special Techniques

Custom Shapes

You can create simple blobby shapes using the extrusion tool:

You can also use scribble to draw pictures:

Exporting Vector/ Line Art

If you want to use your TinkerCAD files to cut on the CNC router, Laser cutter, or Vinyl Cutter you will need a vector file. Thankfully! TinkerCAD can make one.

TinkerCAD will export all the outlines of things touching the 'floor', to get it there:

Rotate object so the ‘detailed/engraved’ face is down.
Copy the object
Click on the ‘floor’ (workplane)
Paste the object. It should snap to the floor

If you're not sure how to do any of these steps, check out the #getting_started section above.

Now that it's on the floor, you're ready to export!

To export the whole document:

Export (top right)
Choose .SVG

For individual or groups of pieces:

First selecting them in the 3D view (shift+click to add more or click and drag to select a bunch in the same area)

Then export >svg Check that it says “Include… Only the selected # shapes.”