Gear tooth as a height map?

[Nate]

It's occurred to me I've been accidentally cryptic in all of this -- what I'm trying (again, foolishly) to do is develop a way to create a crown gear or rack gear using an engraving laser.
...

The original post had me wondering whether you wanted a "polar" height map or "rectilinear" height map.  This makes a lot more sense.