Laser cutting a layered topographic map

Difficulty: Advanced (lots of layers). Time: an afternoon for cutting and glue-up. The defining layered-laser map project.

Layered topographic art is the project that made stacked map cutting famous: a mountain rendered as elevation contours, each contour cut from a separate thin sheet and glued up so the terrain rises off the wall in real, runnable-with-a-finger relief. Cut thin it becomes sculpture; cut as score lines on a single sheet it becomes a clean engraved poster.

The Topography preset is the starting point - up to sixteen contour layers stepping through elevation. The same approach drives the Alpine Peak and Canyon River presets, and the Topo Score Lines preset if you want the flat engraved version ready to go.

Open the Topography preset

What You'll Need

Materials

Up to 16 contour sheets - use thin stock so the stack stays reasonable: 1.5-2 mm laser-grade plywood, chipboard, or matboard (3 mm works but the stack climbs to ~50 mm)
One backplate sheet (dark stain or paint, #1f2937 charcoal in the preset) and optionally blue for water
Plenty of glue or 3M tape 300LSE, weights, and patience

Tools

A CO2 or diode laser cutter, a pencil for labeling, a flat surface

Step 1 - Frame a mountain and match the elevation band

Open the Topography preset. It loads near Banff at zoom ~11.9, a valley-to-summit window. Search your mountain and keep zoom around 11.5-12.5: wide enough that the contour rings nest into satisfying terraces, tight enough that each step is visible.

Critical: the preset's elevation bands run 1400-2900 m. If your terrain sits lower or higher (the Smokies, the Himalaya, a coastal hill), most layers will come out empty until you retune the per-layer elevations in Step 2. Check the preview - if big areas show no terracing, your band does not bracket your terrain yet.

Step 2 - Tune the contour layers

Topography 2900m down to 1400m - sixteen layers at 100 m intervals, each rendering the terrain above its elevation as a plate. Delete layers that show nothing (above your peak), and shift the values to bracket your terrain. Fewer, well-chosen layers (8-10) often look better and glue up faster than all 16.
Water - Solid #4EA8DE. Mountain lakes and rivers sit just above the backplate, appearing in the valley floors.
Backplate - #1f2937 dark slate, the lowest ground visible in the valleys.

Prefer a flat engraved map to a glued stack? Each topography layer (or the whole group via Edit) has a Score export type alongside Fill and Solid line - set it to mark the contours as thin engraved lines on one sheet. That is what the Topo Score Lines preset ships ready to go.

Step 3 - Export for the laser

Layered stack: per-layer SVG ZIP - sixteen-plus files, one per sheet. Hide any empty elevation layers with the visibility toggles first.
Small-polygon cleanup is essential here: high elevations produce tiny outlier islands that cannot be glued.
Flat engraved version: set the layers to Score and export the combined SVG for a single engraved sheet.

Choose Your Build Method

Cut and glue the contour stack

Label everything. With this many layers, write the elevation on the back of each sheet as it comes off the laser - this single habit saves the whole project.
Cut the Backplate, then Water, then the contours bottom-up: 1400 m, 1500 m, ... up to the summit.
Dry-fit the full stack before any glue. Nested contour rings only fit one way; confirm the registration against the on-screen preview.
Glue one layer at a time, aligning each ring against the printed reference. Weight between layers if the stock wants to curl. 3M tape 300LSE between layers skips the drying time entirely.
Finish with a light coat of matte clear to unify mixed sheet edges, or paint the top few layers white for snowcaps.

Flat engraved alternative

Set the contour layers to Score and engrave them as fine lines on a single sheet of birch or maple.
Run a test strip so the score lines are crisp but not charred; paint-fill or leave bare to taste.
Cut the outer rectangle (or heart/circle shape) last. This version is far faster than a glued stack and frames flat.

Make It Yours

Great subjects: Banff/Canmore, Chamonix, the Tetons, Yosemite's walls, your local ski hill.
Retune the band to your mountain: 100 m steps from its valley floor, e.g. 600-2100 m for the mid Alps.
Hypsometric palette: greens low (#4C7A4C), tans mid (#C2A878), white above the snow line.
Ski-run gift: add a route layer tracing the favorite descent over the contours.
Cut every layer from clear acrylic for a ghost mountain you can see through.
Swap the backplate to #4EA8DE blue for coastal mountains so the sea reads as water at 0 m.

Open the Topography preset

Monthly Updates