Tor Amundson
06-07-2009, 3:37 AM
I got my trial copy of 1-Touch photo this week. I've finally had some time to play with it, and so far, so good! Having never used any of the 'photo engrave' packages I've avoided most photo-realistic work. Most of my laser use is small parts cutting and vector artwork. Being able to add photos to projects is a huge boon.
I'll post my acrylic samples later if anybody is curious. For now I've attached pictures of two business-card sized pieces of anodized aluminum (from Chewbarka). These are photos of my own that I used as demos to see how various levels of contrast come out.
As I received no instructions or help-files with the 1-touch package it's been quite the learning experience. I've found this workflow to work best, and would love any suggestions of a better way to do it:
1. Import the picture onto Corel. Size and position it where you want it to end up being engraved.
2. Pick 'resample' from the Corel menu, click 'keep same size' and press OK. This sets the height/width in the .jpg without altering the actual data in it.
3. right-click the pic in the Object Manager and save it to disk
4. Delete the pic from the corel file.
5. Open the pic in 1-Touch-Photo. Select material, press 'apply', then save it under a new name.
6. Go back to Corel, re-load the photo (now halftoned properly) saved from 1-Touch. Put it back into place.
7. Print. Select the same material in the print selector. Be sure to turn on the 'one touch photo' checkbox on the bottom.
(Note: for these aluminum chunks, I've found that on my VLS4.60@60W the best dynamic range is found at a raster setting of 27%-power, 100%-speed -- far higher than the default 13% the driver suggests! Also, if you don't turn on the 'one touch logo' checkbox the dynamic range is notably collapsed.)
8. Open the UCP and run the laser job.
Is this how most folks do it? Is there a better/easier way that'll still get great results?
For the curious -- the motorcycle pic is of my Honda Valkyrie and the other one is my aunt and her big kitty cat. He lived in the house until he got over 500lbs. :)
I'll post my acrylic samples later if anybody is curious. For now I've attached pictures of two business-card sized pieces of anodized aluminum (from Chewbarka). These are photos of my own that I used as demos to see how various levels of contrast come out.
As I received no instructions or help-files with the 1-touch package it's been quite the learning experience. I've found this workflow to work best, and would love any suggestions of a better way to do it:
1. Import the picture onto Corel. Size and position it where you want it to end up being engraved.
2. Pick 'resample' from the Corel menu, click 'keep same size' and press OK. This sets the height/width in the .jpg without altering the actual data in it.
3. right-click the pic in the Object Manager and save it to disk
4. Delete the pic from the corel file.
5. Open the pic in 1-Touch-Photo. Select material, press 'apply', then save it under a new name.
6. Go back to Corel, re-load the photo (now halftoned properly) saved from 1-Touch. Put it back into place.
7. Print. Select the same material in the print selector. Be sure to turn on the 'one touch photo' checkbox on the bottom.
(Note: for these aluminum chunks, I've found that on my VLS4.60@60W the best dynamic range is found at a raster setting of 27%-power, 100%-speed -- far higher than the default 13% the driver suggests! Also, if you don't turn on the 'one touch logo' checkbox the dynamic range is notably collapsed.)
8. Open the UCP and run the laser job.
Is this how most folks do it? Is there a better/easier way that'll still get great results?
For the curious -- the motorcycle pic is of my Honda Valkyrie and the other one is my aunt and her big kitty cat. He lived in the house until he got over 500lbs. :)