Draw and Cut Variation (One for the bucket)

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Thought I had regarding Glowforge’s 'Draw and Cut/Engrave" feature.

The way this feature has been advertised is a to have the item to be engraved/cut is drawn on the material, then the drawing is slowly burned away by the laser, forming the finished piece of art/etc.

I think one feature that Glowforge users might enjoy would be the option to place material in under a drawing or outline on a separate material (kid’s fridge-worthy art, that pattern for your gear concept, etc.), have the Glowforge scan the drawing, allow the drawing to be removed/recovered and then cut the drawing on the material as it was laid out.

The impetus is primarily the thought of reproducing kids artwork without destroying it, but I could see it being used extensively to make manual/outside of the Glowforge nesting arrangements easier (pre-print the patten and lay it out on your material before putting it in the Glowforge)

Hopefully a few more of you think this is a potentially useful feature.

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I think this is a great idea, and I bet it would work with the software even as it is now.
If you put a piece of wood in the Glowforge, and drop the drawing on top then you can have the Glowforge scan the drawing. If you then take the paper out, then the Glowforge can do its thing without damaging the drawing.
Unless there is something I am missing from your idea…

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Based on the description of the process that @Kiko described here, It can already do this!

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Sweet, I must have missed that thread in my daily perusal (admit it, you watch these forums like a hawk too). Glad to know that we’ll be able to create without sacrificing the originals.

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It was actually in the launch video, but not directly. The rocket they draw, they proceed to make many copies of. Making the copies requires the “don’t have a drawing on it already, use one from before” aspect. Took some reading between the lines to go from that to this though.

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Exactly. The initial scan basically vectors the image, then it can be moved, duplicated, edited, then fired. I’m extremely excited for this feature. Add the variable power control and it is going to be met with 10,000 glowing faces of maiden Glowforgers.

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You could of course already do this without the glow forge at all, by simply scanning on a scanner and bringing into Illustrator and doing the tracing function. This also allows you to do this with things too thick to go into the GF (like say the illustrated cover of some thick book) or irregularly shaped items, or combine images together.

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If you look at this thread: Legends of Wrestling it’s exactly what they do - scan the paper drawing, then replace it with the acrylic.

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At 8:15 in this interview with Embedded they discuss this in terms of positioning. A cheap source of leather is the scrap left over from manufacturing. I could set up a whole bunch jobs on a bed of different scraps and efficiently cut and engrave whatever. At least in theory.

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Or you can take the drawing you kid create, make copies (on special material), and use that instead of worrying if the drawing gets damaged. What we did with all the arts & craft the kids would make, we make digital copies (scan, take pictures, etc). This way, the kids can make it again or the parent could hold on to the original digital copies for memories.

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