Hi Bill,
I'm probably the only other person on the Creek using LaserSoft--
Triumph is great to work with, but the software is from a company they don't seem to work hand in hand with very well--
That said- Are you trying to export your photo directly into Lasersoft using the Corel or other plugin? There are several versions of Lasersoft, I've tried many, I've only found one version that would take a direct-export image file. All the others, including the 7.01 version I've been using for 3-1/2 years (I keep coming back to this one), all you get is a blank page--
What works: Save the image from your photo program or wherever you're working with it, then just use Lasersoft's IMPORT command to import the file.
Couple of other things: For my needs, I get the best results by sending the laser a 2 color bitmap... I start by changing the image to grayscale if not already, adjust for high contrast, as in white white's, light midtones and dark blacks-- once satisifed, I save it (always nice to have an original backup), THEN make one more adjustment, I add a bit more brightness or a little less contrast to tone down the blacks more towards gray. Now I place the final image into Corel, and change it into a 200dpi bitmap, save THAT and import it into Lasersoft...
This works best for me-- however, Lasersoft has its own bitmap creator, that actually works pretty good, I've just never had the time to play with it. If you're unfamiliar with it, there's an icon that looks like a checkerboard, that's the 'image dither' routine, the image must be selected for the icon to work. The neat thing is you choose the dot size you want to use. It DOES work well, but I've never had time to figure out the best dot size for my needs, Corel's 200dpi works well for me, just import it and run it.
--note that I use the 200dpi for fairly large images, like 6" and above, the 300dpi would likely work better for smaller images. The problem with Corel is the 100-200-300dpi settings, kinda limited. The Lasersoft dot size can be adjusted by the 1/100mm, so with some practice it may work very well--
Again, you likely can't export an image file from a plugin, just import it from where you saved it...
Hope this helps!
>> edit <<
some pics:
I found this rose, it measures about 4" both ways,
all the tweaking is done- I made a copy, which I'm
turning into a 200dpi bitmap in Corel--
ar1.jpg
--the results--
ar2.jpg
NOTE I saved each image as an individual file,
the left "rose.jpg", the right "rose.bmp"...
This is Lasersoft, I've imported each one separately
and placed them close together--
ar3.jpg
This is a just a closeup-
ar4.jpg
Here I've selected the halftone on the left,
note the orange highlighted 'image dither' icon on the bottom,
I've chosen a .16mm dot size--
ar5.jpg
-and a closeup of the results--
ar6.jpg
This dot pattern actually does work well, but while the Corel bmp looks all choppy, IT works well too
--
.