Thanks! I hope GF works on a way to do this in the future!
I’m loving the new fixtures. I’m going to try my first sign with my pro to make it as long as 48”.
The inability to export changes made in the interface is the biggest roadblock to my joining a subscription option. Not saying that I will or won’t but my preferred process involves continual small design edits in third party S/W that are at this point not possible with the announced new tools. For example if I find a really cool object in the library it’s almost always desirable to tweak it slightly. Can’t do that except sizing and orientation within the interface. Still, some folks don’t need or want that level of design flexibility.
Oh, the other roadblock for me is that I don’t have a lot of disposable income. Constantly running the numbers to decide whether Netflix or my online newspaper gets dropped.
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I really hope that these premium subscription features are all in the realm of design and design assist tools, and none that you would need to obtain the same level of precision of cuts and placement and precision of output as will be possible later. If this remains the case, then I applaud the team for adding these tools to make design easier for some folks who have not invested time in design and money using other design software.
Dan - can you please assure us that improvements to machine cutting accuracy, placement accuracy on the bed, and cut output accuracy will not require purchasing a subscription to gain such features?
This is terrific news. I’ve been waiting since the purchase of the Glowforge at the kickoff for the pass through update so it would be a more built in feature than the work arounds out there.
And just played with the premium feature trial. This will be a big help for getting the little one interested. He wanted to do more but the learning curve for Illustrator or Fusion was still above him and he could only draw and trace so much. I’ve found used for these features playing around already.
Hope the premium features are priced within reach of hobby users not making a profit with the laser.
Exciting stuff for sure.
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Update is wonderful I still can design in injector or AL. As where took me month to learn step to add text I can do in second I love it and look forward to trying pass though instead of just cleaning it for last year. Thursday how.fun be there G .F is.main thing getting though lock down. Thanks so.much,
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Well all of these things are fantastic. I like the new features even if they’re only free while in beta. You don’t know how many times I have to upload my ‘single_line_to_cut_things.svg’ to trim down material. Thanks!
I would like to make a suggestion to the subscription model. It would be super great to adopt something like the model Plex uses for their Plex Pass. Premium subscribers get access to all the latest and greatest, but eventually as the updates roll out, the older features just become baked in for everyone else as well.
It works out great for those who can afford it as they get the best and in turn fund innovation, but those that can’t know that they’ll get them eventually, they’re just always going to be three or four updates behind everyone else.
I started out very fund deficient when I got married, but as I moved up the ladder and had expendable funds, I couldn’t wait to switch over to the paid model. It was a great conversion tool.
Just an idea. I love what you’re doing and I’m very thankful for the free access to all these new features for now.
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Hi @jasonmichaeljones, are you referring to better accuracy than you have now or do you expect even better in the future?
If your cutting is not accurate to within plus/minus .003" or so you may have an existing issue with your machine. Things like cleanliness &etc.
If you are achieving plus/minus .003" right now I would not expect it to get better than that. This is a laser after all. Even very high end machines like Trumpf or Mazak will not be closer than plus/minus .003". This is based on my experience BTW, not just hearsay.
Placement: If you are unhappy with the current accuracy of the preview with the camera you should run the Camera Calibration. It is amazing. Plus/minus 1mm here all day long. In fact it is so close that I keep placing parts closer and closer because it is just that good.
I am not sure what you mean by “Cut output accuracy” do you mean the power modulation of the laser power?
The outline button won’t solve this as it only cuts around the text, it won’t cut out the inside of the letter “o” for example.
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Yeah… i dunno. This all looks awesome, but as a kickstarter backer of the pro? i’m STILL waiting for things in the pledge to be developed and delivered.
I’m honestly pretty surprised that original backers don’t get a full, free subscription for these features when they go live, considering the patience we’ve had with all the delays and obstacles. 
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As you know, this wasn’t a Kickstarter it was a pre sale situation. I believe that our “reward” was a discounted price for a product that, in my opinion, has delivered most of what was promised. At some point, the fact that we were there from the beginning no longer entitles us to perks going forward. We waited patiently for our machines, but we have had them (in the US anyway) for several years now and we aren’t really that special anymore. I appreciate that Glowforge continues to improve the user experience, and I believe that people that find the new features valuable should subscribe and those that don’t want the features don’t spend any additional money.
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Anyone experiencing lower resolution after the update? I engraved and cut out a leather project before the update and a couple afterwards and the resolution after the update is noticeable lower. Did the default resolution get reset to something lower? If so what was it set to before so I can go back to that? If it did not get set to something lower what exactly am I experiencing?
-Zombie Jake
Pictures of what you experienced and settings used would help. I do not think the update changed anything having to do with resolution.
That’s fair. I should have included that. I have saved settings for the engraving so I just selected from my saved options. I engrave on 8/9oz leather at 600/60.
This is the quality I was getting:
This is the artwork I uploaded:
This is what engraved:
You can see the huge amount of loss of detail on the nose and in the teeth of this Joker design. As soon as it came off the laser I could see the difference and was pretty disappointed. I’ve had my laser for 2 years now and I used the exact same process to create this art as literally dozens of other projects in that time and never had a problem.
-Zombie Jake
I generally don’t make any predictions about future product development. When I do, they’re very narrow and detailed and probably sound evasive even though they’re just really trying to be precise. 
With that caveat, I’ll restate that everything we told you was included in your Glowforge (via ads, web page, etc) will be part of your free Glowforge Print membership, not Glowforge Premium. We have many new features planned for both Print and Premium. Premium will definitely expand beyond just design tools to other new things we can build for you that we haven’t been able to build and support before for free.
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Good morning and hello.
I am having issues with the new update. The new toolbar plus sign drops into my top ruler and then when I do click on the image I want to work with , a whole new window that covers the whole image appear that wont let me see what I am actually doing. On top of that the window that allows you to cancel a job when the GF is ready to print… does not show anymore. All I see is the HIDE letters. Can anyone please advice.
That doesn’t sound normal at all. I’m thinking you should probably open a support ticket by posting over in Problems and Support, so they can take a look at this. If you can include a screenshot of what you’re seeing, it will help them understand what’s happening, and also go to whatismybrowser.com and copy the URL it gives you to pass on to them, so they can get necessary browser info.
Sad, I just saw the pass though slot opt in for the testing of it and it is already past the deadline.
I submitted anyway. It could be really helpful to be able to try it out.
I am also really worried that the pass though slot on older GF pro units will not work well. It comes across as a bit of a gut punch considering that was the main reason I bought the pro rather than the basic… Something like 5 years later at that.
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i do not think it is the age of the pro that matters. Some Pros simply appear to have issues that others do not. I have shared your concern as my machine appears to be a bit of a dog and this feature was why I went pro. However, am ever hopeful that their improvement and my efforts to figure out how to get it to work will win in the end. The instructions are evolving as is the code. I have had a run of success that I hope continues.
Major keys to success (note some of this could be pure voodoo)
- Keep your material flat and support the ends outside of the machine (particularly at the end of the cut)
- Make none of the cutouts are under your material, causing a lack of flatness
- Make sure the cutouts are in place near the seam where the machine will be trying to visually position the next section. blue painters tape works for me to hold things in place while moving, it is easy to remove after the move.
- Start with your design and material to the left
- Secure your tray with “the boot” and guide off the left hand edge
- Avoid external light sources (I cover the glass right as my prior cut ends so that the light is constant for the photo and then the effort to match
- Clean optics are your friends, including the camera(s)on the bottom side of the laser head.
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I mean, from your mouth to God’s ear.
Though the post literally says that older models have different hardware and says that some “may even be able to use auto-alignment”. That is marketing speak for it will not work on others, and considering that tests were done on newer hardware, it is an open question as to if it will work on older units.
It is also worth it to note that the pass-through slot was advertised as having auto-alignment when I made the decision to buy.
Let us hope they have auto-alignment. For some art projects, it is not needed, but it will make it hard to do precision work using the pass-through slot.
I’ve had my machine since Dec 2017, works almost perfectly. Never had an auto alignment failure with a passthrough job, and never taken any unusual steps other than installing a strip to fill the gap between the tray and the lower door, to prevent small pieces jamming as the material is moved through the front slot.
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