Making a city map coaster with the Sublimation Coaster Map preset

Difficulty: easy. Time: 30–45 minutes per pressing session (a 4-pack presses in one go). Best methods for this preset, in order: sublimation, UV printing, 3D printed plaque, laser engraving.

This preset turns a whole city into a round, full-color coaster: cream land, saturated green parks, a bold blue river, and dark charcoal roads that survive the sublimation press without washing out. It's the easiest map project in the toolkit and a great first sublimation job - perfect for housewarming gifts, Airbnb hosts, or a set of four coasters of cities you've lived in.

Open the Sublimation Coaster preset

What You'll Need

Sublimation: sublimation printer (Epson EcoTank converted or SG500-class), sublimation paper, 90–95 mm round poly-coated coaster blanks (hardboard, ceramic, or neoprene), heat-resistant tape, butcher paper, heat press (flat, 180–205 °C range)
UV printing: flatbed UV printer, round coaster blanks (wood, acrylic, slate, or cork), jig or alignment template for round blanks
Laser engraving: diode or CO2 laser, 3–4 mm laser-grade plywood or solid hardwood, masking tape (optional)
3D printing: multi-color-capable printer (AMS / MMU or manual swaps), PLA in cream, green, blue, and charcoal

Step 1 - Start from the preset

Open the Sublimation Coaster preset. It loads Saskatoon at zoom 11.2 in a circle export shape - that zoom is the point: it frames the whole city without drowning the coaster in tiny streets. Search your own city, then nudge the center so the river or a signature park lands near the middle of the circle. If your city is sprawling, drop to zoom 10.5–11; if it's compact, 11.5–12 still keeps detail coarse enough to read at 90 mm. Resist zooming past ~12.5 - fine street grids turn to noise at coaster size.

Step 2 - Tune the layers

Everything lives in one Solid layer group called City map:

land - #F5F0E6 cream background. Keep it warm; pure white land disappears on white blanks.
landusePark #4F9D5D, landuseRecreation #6BB274, landcoverForest #3E8B52 - three greens that give parks depth. Swap all three toward one hue family if you want a flatter, more graphic look.
water #2B7FBF and waterwayRiver #2B7FBF at width 4 - the river is a filled ribbon, not a hairline, so it presses cleanly.
roadsMotorway #2F2F2F width 5, roadsPrimary #2F2F2F width 4, roadsSecondary #454545 width 3 - these were deliberately set dark and wide because sublimation washes out subtle grays. Don't lighten them below ~#555555 or they'll fade into the land color on the press.

Widths above 0 render as real filled ribbons, so what you see is what prints. If your city has very few highways, bump roadsSecondary to width 4 to keep the network reading.

Step 3 - Export

Sublimation / UV: use the high-res PNG export (4096 px). The cream #F5F0E6 land is close to white - on white blanks you can also toggle Background off for a transparent PNG and let the blank be the land; keep the background on for natural-toned cork or wood blanks.
Laser: export the combined SVG (or per-layer ZIP if you want to engrave greens and roads at different power).
3D print: export 3MF - the stacked color plaque maps each fill color to a filament.
Mounting holes aren't needed for a coaster; pick Hanger hole only if you're repurposing the circle as an ornament. Small-polygon cleanup is worth enabling at city-wide zoom to drop sliver parks that would render as specks.

Choose Your Build Method

UV printing

Export the 4096 px PNG (background on for cork/wood, off for pre-colored blanks).
Place the PNG in your RIP, sized to the blank diameter minus 1–2 mm so the circle never overhangs the edge.
Set a white-ink underbase if printing on dark cork or slate; skip it on light wood.
Drop blanks into a jig, run a low-power outline pass or use the camera to verify registration.
Print, then let the ink cure fully before stacking.

Sublimation

Print the PNG mirrored onto sublimation paper at 100% scale, one circle per blank (gang four up for a set).
Trim each print with ~5 mm margin and tape it face-down to the coated side of the blank with heat tape.
Sandwich in butcher paper above and below to protect the platen.
Press with the settings recommended for your material, paper, and inks (start from your blank vendor's spec).
Peel hot in one smooth motion and let the blank cool flat.

Make It Yours

Press a set of four - the four cities of your life, identical palette, instantly a gift box.
River towns shine here: Winnipeg, Pittsburgh, or Lyon let the #2B7FBF water do the heavy lifting.
Autumn palette swap: land #F2E4CE, parks #C77B3B/#A85C32/#8B4A28, keep roads #2F2F2F.
Night mode swap: land #1B1F2A, roads #F2F2F2 - then UV print on black cork instead of sublimating.
Toggle Background off and sublimate onto natural cork so the cork texture becomes the land.
Add a route layer tracing your daily commute or favorite running loop in a contrast color like #E63946 before exporting.
Switch the export shape to heart and re-export for a Valentine's coaster without touching the palette.
Pick Hanger hole in the export modal, cut from 3 mm ply, and the same artwork becomes a city ornament.