Oh no, I wasn’t suggesting anything said on this post is a problem or that we shouldn’t ask. Still, I have seen posts where an insignificant piece of information has caused a mini revolt on the forum. Every time I see that type of thing, the company seems to pack up their information packet and go away for awhile. Could be just a coincidence. Dan is saying the info flow has been light because not much is happening worth an announcement. It’s the one thing he has said that I can only take as partial truth. The forum folks would get excited about a silly color choice. You want more, I want more. Asking works very little, saying we are entitled to more definitely doesn’t work. How do we convince them that there is a middle ground between the company interests and the customer’s where both are happy?
I completely get that. I’m not saying what GF should do, but if I were the Product Manager I wouldn’t have released that single screenshot, because I’d know without context it would cause distractions, doubt, and backlash I’d have to deal with. I completely agree with the silence, as hard as it is for us to handle. Trickle-out information is more trouble than it’s worth. Large, clear and well-considered information release makes customers much happier than a context-free nugget. User testing and Beta testing should catch all the concerns we have, and my reading into that single screenshot is as a in-the-dark customer. As a product designer I completely get their quiet, as a customer I find it infuriating.
I took it as the “Steps” section was the steps the cutter will take in order from top down. My guess is you can add and remove Steps as needed. The ignore may be to ignore a specific step in a program that is already written. For example, if you are cutting bird coaster, but you already have a circular blank, you could ignore the “Cut” step without deleting it.
If this is how it works, it would be nice if you could add a “Dwell” step as an option. It might be nice to stop after a certain step to check before continuing.
I have been thinking lately that the Glowforge team is a bunch of adults and not six-graders on the playground. As much as I would like their behavior to be tied to what we discuss in the forum, ultimately it is in everyone’s best interest that they stay focused. @dan is doing a masterful job of running screen for the team and filtering the gold from the dross in the discussion forum. @dan has given every indication that he does not do knee jerk reactions or freak out about what is going on here. He responds very well to the suggestions, both encouraging and critical, in a tactful but professional manner. I think we all agree that there are some major hardware and software issues that the forum community is still not quite sure about. We wish we had some more specifics. Alas, we can only request and hope for the best. Makes me kind of think how courtly or chivalric love played out in the middle ages. Tokens of love were a huge part of the power dynamic. The funny thing about it is that the knight never really had a chance of his dream coming true. The love would be physically chaste and never consumated, but the interplay between tokens and honor was just amazing. The troubadours give us great insight into this dynamic.
http://condor.depaul.edu/dsimpson/tlove/courtlylove.html
Finally, so much of modern pop music is about the emotions of relationship and not the reality. It is really hard for all of us to make decisions that are influenced as much by reason and logic and by emotion. So what might be productive in the forum is asking concrete questions that have to do with our need to prepare for efficient use of the Glowforge. Hence the spefic questions about venting systems, file formats, cloud usage, physical dimensions, portability, tube life, power levels have gotten some good responses. Questions like “please help us feel more secure about the money we payed out,” are a little tougher to respond to. Perhaps in our monthly hangout we can come up with some specific questions that the Glowforge team can address.
My main goal when asking questions is to better understand the product we will be given, to see if they missed anything in the software I would find useful, and to make suggestions towards new developments that would be useful to me based on the information given.
If we arent going to have a beta test (edit: looks like its happening! woot!), this will be the closest they can get to outside feedback on the things they are working on for the end-user. Being an end-user and a UX designer by trade, if I can influence product development in a way that will benefit my (and everyone elses) future use, I will happily share my experienced feedback with the team based on what theyve shared with us.
Ultimately we are their audience. Good communication is key to make sure they dont miss their mark on deliverables.
If we arent going to have a beta test
I was about to say, “That’s news - they never said there wouldn’t be a beta.”
But I see that you may just as well have meant, for any person that will not be part of the beta, here is a chance to get outside feedback.
I’d love to get a beta unit, I’d love to get my eyes and hands on specifics, and I’d love to have a queue already lined up when the delivery truck pulls up my street with a Glowforge inside.
I’m pretty excited, no matter what.
Thank you for the info. I wish you could send out periodic teasers like this. This does wonders for our spirits, and is especially nice for us who know nothing about using lasers.
It’s getting more and more that I’m actually GLAD that I know nothing about lasers, design programs, vents, vectors, rasters, and myriads of other technical stuff. I am merely someone who loves to imagine and try to create things that come from the process. I can’t think of anything to ask of the staff at Glowforge. I am…and will remain… in the dark, until my machine arrives and I get to figure out everything firsthand. I know I will have many questions after that, though. And the forum members are such a valuable resource…I will be very grateful for their help.
Couple observations after repeatedly looking at it over and over and over (ha-ha).
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The rulers. I’m curious about this as the rulers are offset by 1/2 an inch. Not sure if this is just a bug?
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The camera lens is surprisingly not too distorted (besides a very small amount of barrel distortion). And It looks like you can zoom in for precise placement.
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“My Designs” infers that we’ll be able to keep our projects on their interface. Something I had personally assumed, but am glad to see.
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“Showforge #3” this may indicate that owning and operating multiple GF’s on one account is possible.
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“Paul Bunyan” I think that’s a photo of Dan… Or maybe his lumberjack twin? Haha. (Kidding) But this does indicate being able to have multiple users. (Either each logged in or multiple users per unit?) Or it could just be where you access your user account stuff.
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“Engrave By Shade” Could this be what the GF does to look for what you’ve drawn on the material and you just select the color it needs to engrave? (Probably not due to the hand turkey, but just a thought)
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I’m flipping excited!!!
Maybe “Ignored” means to ignore any hand-drawn markings?
- that area is probably there on the bed, but the laser cant get to the edges.
- I found some old tests on the web from about a year ago from glowforge. They were dealing with barrel distortion and correcting it to provide a square image
- I can confirm this, and it will probably be similar to the way inventables/fusion360 does it.
- I can confirm that this is possible as well.
- Not sure about this one
- Im pretty sure this will just let you engrave at different depths/power. Im thinking the settings for each of those shades will be in the advanced menu below it
- me too!
Thanks man, this is exciting!!! 
I am very delighted to see this. We all have many questions that will need to be answered at some point, but please be patient. I would be very surprised if beta testing wasn’t already in process to some extent, but I am sure that if anyone leaked a peep they would lose their beta unit. That’s how I would do it anyway. I would love to apply to be a beta tester, but alas my schedule hasn’t allowed me to become proficient enough in linkscape etc. I like the clean look of the interface. I have been involved in several complex startups, one where I managed all of product development. It is not at all uncommon for there to be periods of a few months where one has nothing tangible, followed by a week of those things you’ve been working on coming out in the product in a burst. I believe our money and expectations are being managed by a expert team.
Great point-- the steps are drag-drop-re-order, and engraves default to happening first. I don’t know why I dragged things to a wrong order before I grabbed a screenshot.
Are you serious? This is exactly the desired result. A diversion to keep the hungry irritable wolves at the door at bay.
How many of us could have guessed that? 2 sentences of illumination in our dark anxious worlds. Thanks, @tony for the material with which to speculate and salivate for several days.
Clever
Yesssss…and we can make a new print button to fit over it, using our glowforges, once we get them!
I am personally excited to see the time listed on step 2 in the image. As someone who has never used a laser I am completely in the dark as to how long different types of cuts and engraving take and it will be nice to get that input as I put together the elements to print.
It’s really not a very good way of controlling a laser. This is the voice of experience 
http://blog.justaddsharks.co.uk/arduino-based-etch-a-sketch-laser-cutter/
