BUG/REQUEST: Easily enable/disable tasks (cuts)

More and more, my designs are double sided. The easiest way to achieve this is to have all the engraves, cuts, and scores in a single file. Load that, then ignore the steps for one side, do the cut, switch which are ignored and performed, carefully flip the cut out pieces in place, then perform the passes for the other side.

The problem is that all the settings are lost when a cut/engrave/score is ignored.

I’d like to be able to easily toggle whether or not any given step is actually done without losing the values.

13 Likes

I just experienced this same thing last night. I didn’t try it, but was thinking that moving the piece to be ignored out of bounds might be a work around. Just leave the settings as is and move them to the no cut zone. A real fix would be nice, but this could work in the meantime.

Another thing I’d like to add to the want list is being able to select multiple pieces at onves and give them all the same setting versus having to do each one individually. It was a pain having to “ignore” a dozen pieces and a quick check mark for each would have been so much easier.

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Doesn’t moving the object result in losing alignment, which is the whole point of doing it this way?

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I agree, this ability would be very helpful. One of my recent projects was 6 steps and having to reset all the settings is time consuming and increases chance of errors. Of course, this feature would be related to being able to save project settings in general…

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This sounds like a great idea. I fully endorse

Strange. Not sure I understand.
On those large token jobs I did the engrave settings were identical on both sides. I only had to enter the settings for each side once. Losing the settings because of ignoring one side never happened.
It was engrave first then cut while the other side was ignored. Flip then ignore first side and the cut, and enable the other side. I did 2,000 tokens and never lost the engrave settings once.
Has something changed or am I missing something?

I dunno. But I just tested and found if I set some setting manually, then change to Ignore, then switch back to Manual, I lose my manual settings. Of course that was without running a job in between… just flipping back and forth in the GFUI.

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I don’t have this problem. When I ignore/enable things, they retain at least the top-level settings. Specifically, I routinely set all my bitmaps to “3D Engrave” then set most to ignore, to run in small batches that fit in the Glowforge’s buffer.

What I do need is an easier (fewer clicks) way to enable/disable objects in the GFUI. Ideally a check box on the items in the list so that I can directly turn them on/off, without clicking through several levels of (very sluggish) menus.

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oh duh, guess it does. :stuck_out_tongue: I wasn’t worried about alignment with my project so I didn’t think about that.

The difference may be between Proofgrade settings and manual settings. The top level setting – engrave, cut, score – is remembered. The manual configuration options are totally reset when ignore is toggled.

While I understand the desire to drive folks to Proofgrade-- both for safety and quality reasons (and not razor vs. blades model – the pricing on PG is quite reasonable), I still find that I use manual settings with PG materials to fine tune the resulting product.

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Me too. I’ve got serious humidity issues in this area, and sometimes a tweak or two saves the project. (I’m sure the default settings would work 99 times out of a hundred, but it doesn’t take long to change a number, and saves a lot of time having to cut a second pass.) :grinning:

Totally agree with all these fine points!

  • Can we also get a scroll bar next to the art pieces, I have a Wacom Cintiq Companion tablet that I use with my GF, so I use a stylus and not a mouse with a scroll wheel. If I have a long stack of elements it’s hard to go down the list because they’re below the end of the browser.

  • One more request: can we have reciprocity when you select a piece of art on the work area or on the side list, that the other one gets selected. It would make the workflow easier. Sometimes it’s hard figuring out, specially with overlapping stuff what you actually selected. Or when you have a small element inside of a bigger element that you need to move, it would be easier picking it from the list, and then moving it with the keyboard arrows…

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I would love this!

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Thanks for the suggestions! I’ll make sure the team gets them.

1 Like