15 min to prepare your print

[swmisher]

I have refreshed my browser several times, cleared my cash, reset the router and nothing seems to work, unless I just want to print the gift of good measure or something very simple.

Steve

[wesleyjames]

@swmisher

1. Is there a firmware update to speed up the download process for my machine?

Firmware updates are automatic for all machines. It checks on every boot if there is one, DLs, installs, and restarts. Nothing for users to do.

[swmisher]

Ok then! I’ll ask another question
If I create 1 of the coasters in Inkscape and then make the copies in the GFUI app, will that speed up the preparing your print and get me to the blue light faster?
Here is where a simple phone call would be very useful, don’t you think?
Steve

[wesleyjames]

That one I don’t know as the things I’ve done are one offs. In theory, maybe? But maybe not as it isn’t a clone of the original and you can resize and rotate it independently of the original thereby needing its own path calculation.

@swmisher

Here is where a simple phone call would be very useful, don’t you think?

3~4 years late to the dead horse party on that one.

[jestelle]

@swmisher

If I create 1 of the coasters in Inkscape and then make the copies in the GFUI app, will that speed up the preparing your print and get me to the blue light faster?

Just uploading the design once will save on the upload time, which is why I suggested this.
But not necessarily the time from hitting print to your button lighting up.

If you’ve rasterized / made-a-bitmap-of the complicated part, I wouldn’t expect the processing time between hitting print, and your button lighting up, to be very long.

If it is, something else might be going wrong, maybe with your Wifi/cache/etc, that you may need to contact GF to get help with.

I went ahead and made you a version of the file with 1 coaster, that I would try with:
1 Coaster SW.svg.zip (361.6 KB)

Good luck!

[swmisher]

Thank you for the help! I tried working on the file last night for over 3 hours and just couldn’t seem to figure it out.
I know I have to learn how to use the software, but you get to the point of just saying the heck with it. I went on a few forums and didn’t get any help either.
When I did a trace bitmap, it came out all blurry, so I tried the simplify idea and just lost too much detail, I just gave up on it.
I appreciate your help.
If I continue to have problems, I’ll contact support again.

Steve

[jestelle]

@swmisher

I did a trace bitmap

I’m not sure what you mean here… “trace bitmap” usually refers to when you already have a bitmap, and you want to turn it into a vector, you can trace it and get vector shapes, that you might use to cut.

But what you needed was the opposite. You already had a vector, but to make uploading and processing easier, you want it to be a bitmap. That’s where I suggested you use:
Edit > Make Bitmap Copy
in Inkscape.

Learning to use design software can be really challenging. There are good online resources, videos, etc, but it can be hard, and take some time.

I’d recommend lots of the tutorials here:

Community Glowforge Tutorials: Table of Contents

The Design Team Tutorial Project (aka “The Matrix”) This post and all related links are created and maintained by generous and helpful Glowforge customers. They have not been vetted or approved by Glowforge staff. List of Official Learning Tutorials from Glowforge: Safe Operations: Safety (Don’t be sorry later, read this now.) Operating Environment ( Don’t let your machine be uncomfortable.) Stop using your Glowforge unit if… Repairs to a Modified Glowforge Regulatory Information Des…

But specifically lots of thing things linked here:

Glowforge Customers Training Center - 2D Vector Design

are great to get some basic knowledge of Inkscape (or the like) for use while lasering.

Lastly @polarbrainfreeze recently started a course on Udemy to specifically teach laser cutting, and the design that goes with it:

New Introduction to Laser-Cutting Course on Udemy

Hello Everyone, I’ve been a regular on this forum since it started. I have not been contributing much in the past 6 months, because I’ve been working on a different project in my spare time. Instead of creating new designs, I developed an “Introduction to Laser-Cutting” course. You can find it at: For those who don’t know me, you can look up the list of topics in my profile: Profile - polarbrainfreeze - Glowforge Owners Forum You’ll see many of the projects I’ve contributed over th…

So that’s a good option!

Good luck!

[swmisher]

I’ll go through those articles! I just made a bitmap copy, but it now looks blurry. I’ll try it again, after I go through the articles you suggested.

Steve

[rbtdanforth]

@swmisher

I just made a bitmap copy, but it now looks blurry.

There are settings in Inkscape to how big to make the image that the default is quite low. Before I found it I would scale the image ten times bigger before making the bitmap and then scale it back down after bringing it back in. The result is a bigger raster by far but less “blurry”.

Lately however, I have been doing my raster to vector in Gimp that produces a superior line with nodes where they need to be and not getting confused by the jaggies that the pixels create, and Inkscape gets confused by.