professor would like a 3d form made from laser cutting , from an illustrator file

My professor would like a 3d form made from laser cutting , from an illustrator file. Its needs to be fairly intricate because its supposed to be a human form. On all the blogs I have looked at everyone recommends doing the project in sketchup , unfortunately , that is not allowed. How would I create a fairly intricate laser cut layout in illustrator ? looking to create something that looks like this in the end http://ift.tt/17Vaucv