The shirt was awesome!!
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O.K. Laser lady… let slip the UI jewels!
With the extensive experience you enjoy, your assessment would be most appreciated! 
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In all fairness the shirt does say top secret…
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Never looked at the large images to notice the shirt. Is that a Death Star plans mockery?
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My favorite bit is the shooty part.
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I’m pretty sure the tshirt is actually the blueprint for the Glowforge… Which is why @dan didn’t want it shared
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Ok let me preface by saying I didnt mean in imply that I was privey to some top secret reveal by seeing the Glowforge in person.
What I experienced was no less than amazing though.
The software interface is simple and straightforward and seemed extremely easy to use.
The seemless transition from pen drawn object to cut was what I was most impressed with to be honest.
The cameras are, IMO, equally impressive giving full control over placement of images on the bed.
My lasers have suggested settings for materials but not all work without some adjusting, however with the proof grade materials its one click and you’re creating.
I really like how you can order your steps and its displayed clearly on the screen. Currently my laser’s raster/cut order is determined by color and it always rasters first unless I do the functions separately in 2 files.
The Glowforge is stylish and very functional…I love that everything is built in…no hoses to chillers or extra lines for air assist.
I was skeptical about it being run off the cloud…but if that means I can store my files online and run the laser from an ipad…It was a brilliant decision.
I’ve been playing with different vector apps on my ipad (Currently playing with Bez that exports .svg files) and am confindent that, out in the field, it will be my ipad that I use and not have to worry about bringing a laptop loaded up with the current programs to run the laser.
What the Glowforge team has created is IMO a unique experience and is revolutionary for laser cutting.
This NOT just another laser…its the whole package that is most impressive.
Its sort of like comparing an old flip phone with a smartphone…yes they both make phone calls, but the smart phones are so much more than that…obviously.
In conclusion…with my 16+ years of using lasers…this old gal was greatly impressed!
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I guess I also shouldn’t mention you dropping the mouse and it breaking either…lmao…whoops…nvm
Thank you again for an amazing experience. 
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Exactly what I was looking for Stephanie, Your insight!
You didn’t imply anything other than your caution not to step on any toes.
To be honest, your participation in the program was very assuring to me.
The fact that this highly experienced professional who already owned two high-end lasers was in the same line as me… That substantiated my decision and eased my anxiety over participating in my first startup.
Thank you Laser Lady! 
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What a concise, enjoyable, and fantastic review. Even though you ARE ‘laser lady’ and have copious experience with lasers, it means a lot to me to read your first hand impressions of the Glowforge. Thanks! 
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That kind of humiliation only occurs when there is an audience to witness…
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Yeah, but did you make a plug for CorelDraw support?? Seriously, thanks for your clear reviews of what you saw and experienced!
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Honestly…its one more step…and with the Glowforge software it takes no more time than doing print straight from Corel…
I had to see it to believe it though…
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Totally forgot to add this…I asked about the z-axis and how it determines distance and such. How @dan explained, it sounded like Triangle Similarity. (Yes I googled it…lol)
Where as its not new technology. I just thought it was brilliant using it in this application.
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This! 
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Its sort of like explaining to kids today how amazing computers are compared to when I was in Highschool…they’ve grown up with them so they will not really understand what the world was like without them.
For those of you whose first laser will be the Glowforge…you will never grasp the struggles us early laser users have had to endure…lol
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That was a terrific review!
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We went through the exact same thing with the craft cutters. At first, they did nothing, we did everything.
Manually.
Now, the users don’t have to understand how they work in order to use them, and the sales exploded.
I see this as the beginning of the craft laser “explosion”. (And I waited around until it happened, not because I consider myself too stupid to learn how to use one of the clunky ones, i probably could with about a year or two of practice, but because I had other things going on that kept me from devoting the time to it that I knew it needed, in order to get good at it.)
I’m still devoting a little time to understanding how it works, because it’s easier to design for the machine that way, but I don’t have to buckle down and really study it the way I did for 3D printing. (That took a year to get comfortable with.)
And that’s why, having someone with 16+ years of using lasers say they were impressed, is a GREAT BIG HAIRY DEAL! 
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Great review! Thanks for sharing your experienced insight and overall impression. Very positive! 
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Sounds like you are getting at something like this?
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