I just received my GF, and I want to make a surprise to my parents engraving their names on champagne glasses for tonight!
Can anybody help me step by step on how I can type something to be engraved or how do I import a picture from my library to the GF ?
Also, how do I select the material as a champagne crystal glass?
I just turned on the GF and went to app.glowforge.com ! The Only thing I got right was To engrave and cut the keychain ruler that was already on the samples.
Yeah, unfortunately you have to create the files you plan to use first. 
You will not be able to etch directly on champagne glasses, unless they are under 2 inches in diameter. And even if they are, it requires removing the tray and creating a jig to hold the glasses unmoving, and at the correct engraving height, so you might want to do some other little token for them for tonight.
It’s best to learn it by doing a couple of files and then reading through a few tutorials if you are new to designing files.
I’d suggest following the instructions here at the Glowforge site first, in the Learn By Doing section, then when you get ready to expand, there are more tutorials that will get you going pretty quickly. The second option shown there would make a nice little plaque.
There’s more discussion of the Trace function below, and other tutorials that give Tips on how to use the App when you get ready for it.
Thanks Jules!
I was having trouble even to import my pictures from the library to the app, but I found out that the GF site buttons don’t work well on my iPad Pro, but on my desktop it worked fine! Too bad For my IPad!
Tried doing some engraving on the champagne glasses, but it chipped the glass until it almost brake! Now I will focus on learning how to work with the design programs!
Thanks again!
Thank you GF Interface!
But I also noticed that the scan camera is not that accurate, and I wasn’t able to trace the thin line I drew around a picture I engraved!
Shouldn’t you guys put at least a few geometrical forms so guys like me that don’t have much computer skills could import to the project and be able to cut my engraved picture (for example) out of the board I used?!?!
Currently, we can just drag and drop a little vector shape file onto whatever is open, then place the engraving in it. (Adding simple vector shapes to the GFUI is in the hopper for later.)
You mean print the vector shape and then scan it when ready? This way I would be able to select the shape and cut from the trace tool directly!!! Great idea!!!
The only problem I see is the quality of the scan cam, it always too dark, and if my background is not white, the problem will be even bigger!
I’ll try your idea right now!!! Thanks again!!!
No, you don’t have to print it, just drag and drop.
For instance this is a little square. Unzip the file, save the svg file on your desktop, and when you have the engraving open, drag it over and drop it on top. Then you can drag the square to resize it on the board and place it around the engraving.
Square.zip (502 Bytes)
You can make circles, ovals, rounded rectangles…whatever you want to use as an outside shape. 
There are probably some tutorials you ought to read to get started…I’d suggest starting with these:
Alright! Got it!
I see now that my whole problem is that I’m working on it with the iPad!
Than it pops up a ballon saying that the square is recognized as a picture, so it says that bitmaps are only for engraving!
On the desktop it works fine!!!
Thanks again! I’ll retire my iPad for the GF works!
@eduardosikorski The community is so helpful here, right? I’m so happy you’re up and running - I’m sorry the ipad wasn’t working perfectly for you. Right now the best experience is desktop Chrome on Mac or Windows, although we’re doing some work on tablet and mobile as well.
Since this is about engraving glass, I’m moving it to Beyond the Manual.
Dan, the machine and the community are the best! I’m in south Brazil, and there would not be a better way to get help if it wasn’t from here!
I bought two GF pros, and just spend my first two days “playing” with the first one that arrived!
Still have tons of questions, but I’ll take some time to read what people already asked here before!
The main question is about the material recognition or how do the GF will understand that I’m engraving glass, wood, metal, rocks or even a egg shell?!?!?! It is only at the settings for material thickness? Isn’t that the distance between the laser lenses to the top of the object like I read in a few posts?
Thanks for everything! The whole family is having a great time together thanks to your invention!!!
Re: materials.
To an extent the GF doesn’t care what material you’re using, it just shoots a laser at a certain power at something that is below it while moving at some speed.
So if you want to engrave a tile, you just enter its thickness from the top of the tray (that is, how “tall” the item is) and how fast to move the lase and how much power to use. If your tile is .25” thick, that’s the thickness you enter.
Figuring out what speed and power to use is a bit of an art but searching the forums for the material can often get you going. Searching for “Rock settings” or “eggshell”, for example.
Glowforges can’t yet recognize any material except Proofgrade materials with the QR stickers still on them. In the future, they might be able to recognize a very limited list of mass-produced items, such as Mac products, but that feature hasn’t been released yet. It likely won’t ever automatically recognize things like eggshells or glass, because they’re just too similar to many other surfaces. However, you can still engrave such items just fine by measuring their height with calipers and putting the appropriate settings (height, power, speed, lines per inch) into the app. Also, CO2 lasers just can’t really engrave any kind of metal, but they can mark the surface of it.