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Michele Welch
05-05-2015, 10:43 PM
Hey y'all! I'm trying to spread my wings a bit and venture into engraving a grayscale image using grade engraving through Lasercut. I found an image on a Facebook group that I'm on that used RDWorks version of grade engraving and it seems pretty simple, but I'm not sure if it's as simple as it appears. My question is this, can anyone give me some insight on grade engraving through Lasercut? Problems, pros, cons, etc? I've included the screenshot they supplied, as well as, the final product. I personally think it's pretty amazing. Thanks in advance for any help!

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Bert Kemp
05-05-2015, 11:49 PM
Michele,
evrytime I change from cut to engrave and the box drops down I see that grade engrave and wonder what it is and how to use it. I assume its kinda like 3d engraving but like you I don't have any info on how to go about using it. I love that picture you have , would you care to share it with me. I understand if you choose not to, I just think its a really cool picture and maybe we can both learn about grade engraving.

Steve Morris
05-06-2015, 8:01 AM
Looks like it uses gray scale to control the power to produce varying depths/densities.

Bert Kemp
05-06-2015, 10:13 AM
Steve I'm not sure but I don't think these rabbits can control power while running , I wish it could. maybe it does it in multible passes changing pwr as it goes don't know.

Dave Sheldrake
05-06-2015, 11:09 AM
Yea, they can Bert but only to make a sloped vertical for stamp making (Grade engrave) the problem isn't the varying power, it's the fact lasercut doesn't read the depth (bit depth) of a greyscale image.

Julian Ashcroft
05-06-2015, 11:24 AM
This has got me interested. I have Laserworks version six and hadn't heard of this grade engraving before. A bit of googling and then a quick play on the laser when I went home for lunch has wetted my appetite for more.

I imported a simple jpg file into laserworks of a circle with a black to white gradient fill edge to centre. Under 'Bitmap Handle' I converted it to greyscale and then in the 'Layer Parameter' settings set min power as 0% and max power as 60%. Speed 100 and ticked 'Output Direct'. Ran the project on both a piece of plywood and perspex. Both came out as slightly domed circles. Will be doing a bit more experimenting tonight.

Michele Welch
05-07-2015, 10:56 PM
Hi Bert,

I wish I could send you the picture, but I actually don't even have it. It was posted on a group page on Facebook for laser owners. He posted the original in color and then the grayscale image in the software and then the final product.

I've emailed Ray with Rabbit to see what he has to say, but I haven't heard anything back yet. As soon as I do I will post it here and message you directly.

Michele


Michele,
evrytime I change from cut to engrave and the box drops down I see that grade engrave and wonder what it is and how to use it. I assume its kinda like 3d engraving but like you I don't have any info on how to go about using it. I love that picture you have , would you care to share it with me. I understand if you choose not to, I just think its a really cool picture and maybe we can both learn about grade engraving.

Michele Welch
05-07-2015, 11:02 PM
What I find amazing about researching this topic is that on this group that I found the image, they seem to be using a machine that is "very" much like my Rabbit machine, but they use RDWorks (I think that's the name?) and it has this option to do this type of engraving. Basically from what I can tell they set the minimum power and the maximum power and depending the the lightness or darkness of the gray in the image determines the power used. It's evidently important for the "output direct" to be checked for it to work correctly. I've got to believe if their's can do it, mine should be able to.

Dave Sheldrake
05-08-2015, 12:27 AM
I've got to believe if their's can do it, mine should be able to.

Different driving card Michelle, the Step Servo (Leetro) Cards are great for cutting but not so good for engraving. The Ruida cards are great for engraving but not so good for cutting.

The Ruida cards have functionality more closely related to Western lasers than the Leetro cards do.

Julian Ashcroft
05-08-2015, 2:37 AM
This was a quick experiment. Wood wasn't the highest quality and settings were just a guess, but definite different depth engraving.

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Junior hall
05-08-2015, 9:47 AM
I know on my machine Bosslaser 1620 any thing i want to go deeper than others i will high light it with a different color. The machine will go deeper than any other place where the colors in the job pallet is different.

Bill George
05-08-2015, 10:17 AM
I know on my machine Bosslaser 1620 any thing i want to go deeper than others i will high light it with a different collar. The machine will go deeper than any other place where the collars in the job pallet is different.

Do you mean color? A collar is something on a shirt or jacket.

Bert Kemp
05-08-2015, 10:19 AM
Thanks Michele
Hey don't hold your breath waiting to hear back from Ray seems that have a tough time with emails, give him a call instead they usually answer the phone :D


Hi Bert,

I wish I could send you the picture, but I actually don't even have it. It was posted on a group page on Facebook for laser owners. He posted the original in color and then the grayscale image in the software and then the final product.

I've emailed Ray with Rabbit to see what he has to say, but I haven't heard anything back yet. As soon as I do I will post it here and message you directly.

Michele

Matt McCoy
05-08-2015, 11:12 AM
It's my understanding that your software must be able to separate grayscale layers into individual frames, each with its own raster settings and Z axis adjustment (auto focus), and then proceed to engrave each frame to achieve a 3D effect.

Bert Kemp
05-08-2015, 11:20 AM
Matt are you saying that the Z axis has to adjust automatically? My Rabbit is manual focus and has no settings to move the table up or down as far as I know its manual only. So it would have to do it by power alone I guess.



It's my understanding that your software must be able to separate grayscale layers into individual frames, each with its own raster settings and Z axis adjustment (auto focus), and then proceed to engrave each frame to achieve a 3D effect.

Matt McCoy
05-08-2015, 11:28 AM
Matt are you saying that the Z axis has to adjust automatically? My Rabbit is manual focus and has no settings to move the table up or down as far as I know its manual only. So it would have to do it by power alone I guess.

You could probably create your own grayscale frames in Photoshop and then import/focus/adjust settings, but it might be tedious. There might also be a plug-in or software that can help.

Bert Kemp
05-08-2015, 11:48 AM
That sounds like a lot of work I'll have to look into software to help.


You could probably create your own grayscale frames in Photoshop and then import/focus/adjust settings, but it might be tedious. There might also be a plug-in or software that can help.