Speedy 300 and Photograv?

[Steve Crawford]

Is anyone using a Trotec Speedy 300 with Photograv software for images? I'd be interested to hear of your experiences. For example... Is it better for anyone wanting to produce fine images in materials like marble and wood particularly? Do they work well together? Is it worth the investment?

Cheers, Steve

[Dan Hintz]

It's a stand-alone program, so you can use it with any system that can handle bi-level bitmaps (read, pretty much any system out there).

That said, I'm not a fan of PG as the work can be accomplished with tools you already have (or freebies out there). Search here for the "Gold Method" and that lays out the basic process. Once you get the process down, it's as fast (or faster) as PG, and you can fix individual areas in an image, something not possible with PG.

[Scott Shepherd]

You don't need it, you can print photos right to the Trotec using the Photo settings in the driver. It works very well.

[Alexandra Wallace]

You don't need it, you can print photos right to the Trotec using the Photo settings in the driver. It works very well.

Yupss..http://watchfree.me/11/w.png

[Steve Crawford]

The reason I asked this question is I tried to do a photo to marble for the first time, and tried every setting I could, with all kinds of different contrast conversion and level conversions to the original image, but I always came out very badly. I'll look into the Gold Method though... Sounds intreguing.

Cheers, Steve

[Dan Hintz]

I think reseraching the GM will give you an idea of what really needs to happen with an image, as well as what it should look like for a quality engraving. If you never do it again manually for the rest of your career, that's fine, but you'll have a better understanding of what you're doing automagically (which helps when trying to figure out what went wrong).

[Bill Cunningham]

The reason I asked this question is I tried to do a photo to marble for the first time, and tried every setting I could, with all kinds of different contrast conversion and level conversions to the original image, but I always came out very badly. I'll look into the Gold Method though... Sounds intreguing.

Cheers, Steve

Steve; 'Real' Marble is just about goof proof, you can even run it twice and it gets better and whiter. Are you using what LaserSketch 'Calls' marble but is really more like granite?

[Steve Crawford]

No Bill, this is genuine marble slabs. I think there was too much greyscale in the photograph i used and the image that came out was not discernible. I'll post a picture here later to show what I mean. Cutting marble will be an important thing to me, so I want to get it right and need to ensure it's correct first time every time, as I'm planning to put images onto headstones. The first time I mess one up will probably be the end of the contract and my reputation for headstone imaging.

Cheers, Steve