Can Gravostyle lock objects ?

[Chris J Anderson]

Hi to All,

I have looked over and over, tried to read the several hundred page pdf manual....

I can not find a way to lock an object or text item in gravostyle, so that it doesn't accidentally get selected.

Any ideas out there would be appreciated.

Cheers,
Chris

[Ross Moshinsky]

Hi to All,

I have looked over and over, tried to read the several hundred page pdf manual....

I can not find a way to lock an object or text item in gravostyle, so that it doesn't accidentally get selected.

Any ideas out there would be appreciated.

Cheers,
Chris

I would use the layers function and place what you want to engrave on a new layer using copy and paste. Then you chose that layer from the select layer in the engraving machine option.

[Kev Williams]

Using layers is a great idea, just cut what you want to separate and paste into a new layer. The little square at the bottom of the screen just to the left of the bottom scrollbar arrow will make all layers visible...

Myself, I've always used a little different approach- I do the same with Corel--

What I do is take the largest X or Y dimension of the entire engraving job-- in my job below the panels are just under 15" long- then hit F10/Display/Arrow Move and enter the next full inch that allows a little space, as arrow move distance. In this case, my arrow move is 16". Now, all I have to do is group what I want out of the way and just hit the right arrow (or whatever direction you like, I like right ) and it's now 16" to the right-

These shots are actual jobs of 4 operator panels that use the same blank size but are a little different from each other.
I park each full panel 16" away from each other. The job consists of cutting the holes, then cutting blind stud bosses (in blue) which requires a machine stop and depth gauge adjustment.
Normally I don't separate the stud bosses from the holes, but in these pics I did just for visual reference.
This shows all 4 panels, each exactly 16" apart, and the stud bosses are 16" below. The holes on each panel are grouped, as are the bosses.
gs1.jpg

To move anything 16 inches is just 2 clicks; mouse click to select a group, and an arrow click to move.
In this case I've boxed everything, and moved it all 16" left. Now the second panel is in the 'go' position.
gs2.jpg

In this I moved the holes down and the bosses up on the one panel just as a visual... click-move, click-move, done.
gs3.jpg

Like I said, I normally don't separate the holes and bosses. The procedure to run this job is simple: (assumes spindle zeroing has been done)
1- on the panel in the go position, hold the CTRL button, click the holes, click the bosses, this groups them all- CTRL+M to send it to the machine..
2-Raise the depth nose to full-up, press start.
3-Tool pause stops machine, back off the depth nose .050", press start. When the machine is done--
4-group everything on screen, click the left arrow to put panel 2 in position-
5- repeat step 1

Note that these exact same procedures can be done using layers. I just started doing it this way years ago with Corel before I learned to use Gravostyle. It works for me because I like having everything on one screen...

[Chris J Anderson]

Thank you for the replies. I will have a look at the layer setup.

[Tony Lenkic]

So in conclusion there is no way to lock/freeze an object or text in Graviostyle, is this correct?

In Xenetech software it is possible by use of engrave by color option.

[Kev Williams]

Well, I just found out if you have Gravostyle 6 or above, they have a "freeze" aka lock option. (I have a two 5.3 versions and a 'discovery' version of 7)
anything 'froze' turns this light purple, which is unique since there's no purple in the tool colors. Just hit the snowflake icon...

gsfreeze.jpg

[Tony Lenkic]

Kev,

That is what I would expect for the software of this caliber. That is why I mentioned "Freeze" function.

[Chris J Anderson]

Thanks Kev. I will look for that tomorrow.

Even my Chinese rd works software is nicer to use than gravostyle.