Engraved Matrix result

[Robert Wilson]

Hi All,
I engraved a solid black rectangle on an alder frame at S:35, P:100, DPI 200 and 300, PPI:Auto. I get the desired depth but the engraved area has a sort of matrix texture to it. Is there a way to do away with the matrix result so that I have a smooth engraved sureface. I have a Pinnacle M25 and am using Corel 12.

Thanks for any and all insight.

Bob Wilson

[William Johanson]

Bob, I have an m40 Pinnacle and I know exactly what you are talking about. The higher the DPI you use the smaller this "Matrix" effect you get but it is still there. I have only had mine for a few months but this is what I have figured out. You can use the "Pen" setting and just match the colors - anything colored black will etch with the speed and power settings for black, anything colored red will etch at the red settings, etc., etc.
Otherwise you can use the 3D mode but that gives me some unexpected results at times. The way I do it is just use the Black color in the pen setting. If I have a greyscale graphic or photo I run it thru Photograv and change it to Black and white and get the various grey colors with the dot density from photograv. This has worked very well for me. I am not sure why this system works this way but at least we know it is just not our machines.

Bill

[Mike Null]

What you are talking about is common to all machines. You can remove some of it by de-focusing and running a second pass at a lower power.

You can also experiment with various post script fills for the black area. Post script fills can be found on the fill tool flyout in Corel.