Using Trotec's Job Control Software

[Gary Gunderson]

I was wondering if anyone with experience with Trotec's Job Control software (as well as other brands) can give me some tips and ways to think about the software.

I had been using a Universal machine for a long time -- while I was never a big fan of their software, I had gotten pretty used to it. Now, in switching over to a Trotec machine, there are some things that are a bit confusing to me and I was hoping someone here could give me a bit of an overview/theory/approach.

For example, here are a few things I've run into:

- Plates: Dumb question: what exactly is a "plate"? Does that just mean the bed of the laser?

- Moving the Lens Carriage: Is there a way to move the laser around by clicking with the mouse on the plate in the software? I see the little menu bar where you can type in the values, but I didn't see a way to use the mouse to click around.

- Test Run with Pointer: I would often start a job with the lid open on my Universal machine so only the pointer would run, so I could make sure I had my alignment set up right. Can you do this with the Trotec?

- Process Modes: I can not figure out the various "process modes". If I am just doing vector cuts, I would choose "Standard" and then also click "vector job"? Can I send a job with both engraving and cutting? Would that be "Standard" and not clicking "Vector job"? It looks "Relief" is how I think of engraving when I send something in grayscale, then what exactly is "Layer" mode?

- Multiples: I see that you can choose to lay out multiple iterations of the job, and it will tile them on the plate. Can you do that with an offset between the pieces?

- Material Settings: Is there another place you can edit the material settings? The interface is a bit clunky, and it would be nice if you could do that in a text document or elsewhere. I found another post on the boards here, that referenced some hidden files. Is that the only place they are located?

- Setting up a job: On the Universal machine, I was used to looking at the bed of the machine in the Universal software, as well as in the templates I used in various software programs. For example, if I was using a 32" x 18" machine, I would set up my drawing within a rectangle that size as well. Trotec's software doesn't seem to work that way. If I send over a file the same size as the bed, it pops up some warning box. It seems to prefer small drawings that you arbitrarily drag onto the bed. Is there a way to work with a drawing that references the full bed size? For example, if I am using a SP1500, can I create a CAD drawing that is 59" x 49" so I can think of the full bed size while drawing?

[Mike Null]

Gary

You have a lot of questions and I'll try to answer several and I'm sure others will chime in with answers as well.

A plate is used as a place to locate your engraving. You can create multiple plates and engrave them at one time if you choose. In my case since a lot of my engraving is laminated plastic which I buy in quarter sheets I set my page in Corel at 12x25" as a default so that every time I open Corel the page is there. I set a comparable size in Job Control. (see photo)

You can't move the laser with the mouse however you can move the drawing to the laser with the mouse.

In my materials file I have a test setting and I generally use transfer paper or scrap plastic to test.

You can adjust or create new material files within job control. These files are somewhat hidden but tech support will tell you how to locate and back them up.
To create or change settings click on the wrench setting that you see in Job Control. That will open a new window which will allow adding deleting or changing material files.

I use the standard process mode for virtually everything I do. My machine is used for business and I don't spend time with features I don't need. If you look at the materials set up you can see how by clicking on "engrave, cut, skip" you can change those settings as needed. I believe the relief mode is an effort at providing a 3d setting but I don't use it nor do I use the layer mode.

I've sent a pm with my phone number if you'd like to call.

[Scott Shepherd]

Gary, I feel your pain We have a Universal and bought the Trotec so the transition for me is very similar to yours.

I don't have a ton of time, and Mike's already addressed some of the issues, so I'll just add a little.

"Plates" is a term left over from rotary engraving. I honestly don't know why it's still around. Like you, the word "Plate" confuses me. Essentially, replace the word "Plate" with "Job" and it'll all make perfect sense, except for the fact that it considers the "Plate" the "Table" too. The advantage the Trotec has over the Universal is that if you have jobs that all use the same material, let's say for an example, you're making panel tags for electrical companies. The material is black/white plastic. You've got 4 customers that want tags. You can do your artwork in Corel (or whatever) and send the jobs to Job Control. Once you're in Job Control, you can drag and drop all 4 jobs onto the "table". So you'll have 4 different customers jobs, all running at the same time, just by dragging and dropping the files onto the table.

If you wanted to do that on a Universal, you'd have to copy and paste 3 of the jobs into the 4th job, and then send the file over like that. Also, that job would be set the way you sent it. On the Trotec, you can move the jobs all over the place and all over your material, live, so it gives you the ability to maximize your material usage in the Job Control, rather than having to figure it all out in a graphics package.

It's so funny that you said the materials database was "clunky". I was at a trade show last week and Trotec was there with their new Job Control "X", and I was looking at it and discussing it with a Trotec rep and my words exactly were that the current Job Control just seemed "clunky" It's very hard to describe, other than Clunky

I will say, from what I saw, Job Control "X" is going to change a LOT of things in the driver and how it works, just from what I saw. It's a major step in the right direction, in my opinion.

One thing you might want to look into is "markers". You can put markers down all over the table and drag and drop jobs to the markers, so if you need precision locations, that's a good method.

Also, when you send the job over, select "Minimize to Job" (or something like that) at the screen where it shows your file size. That'll make the job only as large as the graphic is and allow you to drag it all around the table. If you send the full size over, and it's a small graphic, you can't move it around at all. That's been a really hard one for me to learn (Thanks to Mike for explaining that one to me!).

[Mike Null]

Gary

Another thing is do is locate the red dot on a job, choose selected only, minimize to job size. Then I move the job to the marker/laser. If I'm doing multiple pieces I just position them under the red dot and press the repeat button on the machine.

[Randy Digby]

Hi Gary,
Not much time to reply but on the subject of multiples - there are different ways to do this - this is just one I use.

For instance:
You have a part that is 1" x 3" and you want to do multiples but with a space in between. If you want the space to be, say, 0.100", then when you select print - set the print size to 3.1" x 1.1" and the space with be a part of the print job.

Now when you place the job at the point of origin, be sure the job is selected and then press CTRL+D and it will duplicate the job each time you make that key press. Since the spacing is part of the print job, you don't have to deal with the spacing. You can move and place each job separately to meet your needs. Be sure all jobs are selected and the green arrow GO.

[Gary Gunderson]

Thanks for all the information so far -- sorry for the slow response, but I wanted to test a few of the suggestions out today first before getting back on here.

- That is nice how the drawing snaps to the laser position. And now that I see you can position the pointer and drop a marker or type in values for a marker and then use that, I can see the potential. Now if only I could figure out how to adjust the zoom settings for my mouse so I could actually zoom in and see how things look. With my scroll wheel it jumps in about 25% increments, which goes from tiny to too far immediately.

- Mike: It looks like Standard does do pretty much everything. From the picture, it appeared that you couldn't engrave a gradient along the grayscale spectrum. It appeared to me that Standard gave you one depth of engraving, and Relief allowed for variation. Well, after some trial and error, I determined that "Standard" allows for a gradient and "Relief" crashes my software. Universal's software had a lot of odd settings for rubber stamps and whatnot, and I learned to just ignore those. The "Relief" setting looked like it may be helpful, though. However, it appears to be evil.

- Calling it a "job" instead of "plates" would make much more sense. They use the term plate, but don't really explain the origin, so thanks for the history lesson. I was thinking maybe it had to do with printing or something, where you would get everything set up on a plate beforehand, and then move it to the machine. Once you consider it a "job", then it makes sense why you would have multiple plates, or would want to save them. The plate/job thing is what is going to take some getting used to. I am so used to drawing to the size of the machine, as opposed to dragging the drawings around. The reason I liked drawing to the size of the machine was that I could use the accuracy and speed of the software to lay things out. I think that is much quicker -- for me anyway -- then moving the laser around, and then dragging the drawings to the pointer.

[Michael Kowalczyk]

not sure if someone else said it but "OUTLINE" will run the outline of the job so you can check the position with out the laser on but lid must be down. I use F8 all the time but you can also use your cursor to snap to. Plates are what you save a job as when you have it laid out and want to repeat it some other time. It goes to the archive file but you can save it where you want. I am excited to see the new job Control X is finally out. I like what they did in the material settings so far from what i have seen on the Website. I hope the sorting in the job Que will be more efficient and it doesn't load all jobs in que when you boot it up.

[Michael Kowalczyk]

Gary, one quick thing is if you are engraving on a sheet that will be cut and or marked that the software scans the job looking for all engraving first. So if you have an engraving down at the bottom it will take 10-20 seconds before it actually starts engraving. I always try to push the engraving to the top left or closest to the top so it engages it quickly.

[Gary Gunderson]

Ooh, I hadn't seen that "Outline" option -- that sounds really helpful. With the Universal machine, I used to just sorta click roughly at the edges of a given drawing, and then see where the pointer ended up. If that didn't work, I would run the job with the lid open, but that might mean all the artwork would run. I'll have to try the outline option.

I'm not in front of the machine now, but am curious what F8 does?

I just dug around on the website and found the images of the Job Control X you must be referring to -- that screenshot of the material database looks much better. I really wish I had that now instead of learning on this version.

Speaking of the material database, is there a setting somewhere I can adjust so I don't have to hit "More" every time if I am using more colors than the black, red, blue basic colors?

[Mike Null]

Gary

The reason I default to 12" x 25" is so that I can position the job in Corel as I do the art and then just send it to the engraver. I believe that is the same thing you'd like to do except to use the table size.

[Scott Shepherd]

I am so used to drawing to the size of the machine, as opposed to dragging the drawings around. The reason I liked drawing to the size of the machine was that I could use the accuracy and speed of the software to lay things out. I think that is much quicker -- for me anyway -- then moving the laser around, and then dragging the drawings to the pointer.

You can certainly do that. That's how I do it currently, most of the time. My corel page size is the same size as my "plate" in Job Control. Something like 28.something x 17.070" and that's what I use a fair amount of the time. Having the Universal and the Trotec, still has some mental blocks on for me. When I need to move something around, or if there's reason for it, I'll send it over with the same page sizes shown above and "Minimize to Job" or whatever that box says and then I can do what I want with the small file, move it around, etc.

I think it's capable of so much more than I currently use it for, but I do think it requires a serious rethinking of how you process jobs, and I'm not quite ready to do that. I do know I'd do things a lot different if I wasn't using 2 different brand lasers. Whatever I do on one needs to be setup so it'll work on the other with little effort.

[Mike Null]

Yeah, I used to work with 2 Epilogs and a Universal and that will test you.

[Amie McGee]

Hi Gary,

Looks like your fellow Trotec users are doing a great job at answering your questions. This forum is a great resource. I am the Director of Customer Service at Trotec Laser, Inc. and want to make sure that you are aware that our technical support team as well as your local sales rep is also available to help. Feel free to give us a call at 734-484-3260.

[Mark Sipes]

My corel page size is the same size as my "plate" in Job Control. Something like 28.something x 17.070" and that's what I use a fair amount of the time. I'll send it over with the same page sizes shown above and "Minimize to Job" or whatever that box says and then I can do what I want with the small file, move it around, etc.

So If I read your post correctly. If you need to make a 1" x 3" name tag you make the Corel page 28 x 17 and place a 1 x 3 tag with cut lines on that file page and then send it to the Trotec as a full sized plate? What about a job that has 25 - 1 x 3 plates same process? Job control assumes the job size ( 1"x3") is the cut out size and if there are 25 pages to the file. you get 25 1 x 3 jobs sent to the laser which you then just drop to the "plate" ... I guess I would assume Universal software was Clunky from this end also...

[Mike Null]

Mark

I set my plate to the quarter sheet size and let Corel control what is sent. I usually send a full page of tags which is 77 pieces for me. I just send it once regardless of the number of tags.