Where am I going wrong?

[Karen Thompson]

OK guys here where the fun starts (for me anyway):rolleyes:.

I have LaserCut 5.1 and Corel X4 Graphics Suite and I’ve managed to suss out how to export files from Corel to LaserCut and then to the laser, but these have been text/clipart files so far.


Now, where I’m stuck is photographs. I know that I can import a photo into Corel and do the magic there converting it and exporting it etc…... I can import the file into LaserCut and see the image on the work area but when I click on the “download” button I get the message:

“engrave only support 2-bit bitmap”

I’ve spent ages on this today and I probably can’t see the wood for the trees, but I can’t get my head round this one at all.

This is probably going to be the first of many "please help me" posts but are there any LaserCut "professionals" out there that can point me in the right direction or have any ideas???

Thanks

Karen

[Allen Isakson]

for chinese lasers you need photograv as they dont have the ability to recognize 8bit grayscale. photograv works wonderfully for our chinese lasers

[Margaret Turco]

I have no idea if this will work, but while the photo is open in corel, click on Bitmap, then Mode, and convert to Black and White (1 bit). Choose stucki to start off with and see if that will work. Good luck!

[Dave Johnson29]

“engrave only support 2-bit bitmap”


Hi Karen,

As Margaret has said, you need to convert the file to 1-bit Black and white. What the software is saying is that it can only handle 2-bit states, On or Off which equates to what is known as 1-bit B&W.

Use the Image, Mode menu and select 1bit B*&W then try the different options within like Stuki, Jarvis etc and play with it. Also search here for the Gold Method for preparing pics.

It is not really necessary to get Photograv as a search here will confirm that equal or better results can be had with practice and patience.

[Allen Isakson]

you can use the other methods but the time savings is more useful to me. photograv does a perfect job for me and in seconds not minuets or even hours of prepping the other methods. photograv cost nothing in the grand scheme of things if you do alot of photos.

[Karen Thompson]

Margaret/Dave - Thank you I'll certainly have a go at those suggestions and I'll let you know how I get on.

Allen I may look into PG more yet:rolleyes:.

Karen

[Bill Cunningham]

You might also check this thread.. It has a tutorial on how to create a binary image from a grayscale directly in Coreldraw

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=106114

[John Frazee]

I have a Chinese laser I bought from Bright Star. It uses the laser cut 5 software. Try these instructions.

1. In Corel, go to the bitmaps menu at the top and select "convert to bitmap". Make sure you have the photo selected.

2. In the window that opens, have the top "color" box set to black/white (1bit). Resolution should be 300 for wood or 600-1000 for other materials. Anti-aliasing should be unchecked, dither should be checked, transparent background unchecked or greyed out and use color profile unchecked. Click OK.

3. Your displayed image will look funny on the screen but if you zoom in you will see that it's now a b/w image.

4. To save the bitmap you need to use the File - export command. Again, make sure that the clipart, logo or photo is selected. Set the file type to BMP, sort type selection should be left to default, compression type is uncompressed, selected only should be checked. Embed ICC Profile must be greyed out or unchecked. No white spaces or special characters should be checked and suppress filter dialog should be unchecked. Now click EXPORT.

5.Another box will come up. On this one the color selector must be black and white, size= 1 to 1, Anti-aliasing should be grey or unchecked. Dithered must be UNCHECKED.Transparent background= greyed out or unchecked. Use color profile=Unchecked. Set the resolution to the same as in step 2 and make sure horiz/vert. are the same. Click OK to save bitmap.


I have used these steps with corel 10 but have not tried them with X#. I do not have X4. I have done photos this way and also have Photograv.

[Stephen Kane]

Hi Karen

Above comments all point you in the right direction. When installing Laser cut you should have an option to set up, so that you can print directly from corel. I am based in Clare - so we are more or less in the same time zone. Best of luck

Stephen

[Karen Thompson]

Hi Karen

Above comments all point you in the right direction. When installing Laser cut you should have an option to set up, so that you can print directly from corel. I am based in Clare - so we are more or less in the same time zone. Best of luck

Stephen

John, thanks for your response - I'm going to have a go today at the suggestions mentioned so we'll see what happens.

Stephen,
HaHa - Irish Time is is soooo much different to the rest of GMT:D.
I didn't install the LaserCut software, the guy I got the laser from did - do you think I should still be able to set it up to print directly from Corel (that would be so handy) would you have any idea how would I go about that? And if you don't mind me asking, what laser are you using?

Karen

[Stephen Kane]

Hi Karen

When installing lasercut from the cd you should have a tab option to select Autocad or Corel.


I will send you a PM with my mobile so you can contact me directly


Stephen