I am etching a logo on 1/16" IPL Heavy Metal Gold. Looks really good, but I’m having an issue getting the middle pint glass of the logo solid black. I’ve attached the logo image. Then, you’ll see the following:
Image of 3 sequentially where I turned up the power from a start of like 40 to full and also (on others not photo’d here) turned up the pattern density to most dense
I am using Convert to Dots. Convert to patterns made a funny pattern. I do not understand Vary Power yet (super newbie) but in the preview in the app it doesn’t seem like a great idea. Any explanation of Vary Power is appreciated.
The final of the 3, the most right one, gives the most black center, but it’s way too strong for the writing.
Please note, this was done from a png and jpg, both about the same. Would it help to open and export it from Illustrator?
Any help/insight to achieve this is appreciated. Thanks!
make sure your entire image is 100% black. if any part of it is a color or less than 100% black, when you engrave it will not be at the same power level as it’s trying to engrave a shade of gray instead of 100% black. so that gold will be a percentage of black.
this is what it looks like converted to grayscale.
that gray portion will not engrave as fully as the black.
If the color image you placed in your original post is the file you’re trying to send to the GF, the resolution is way too low to get a clean engrave (see all the pixelated, gnarly edges?)
Do you have the original VECTOR artwork? That will give you the best results. Failing that, can you get a higher resolution version?
You’d want something at minimum 300dpi.
Just opening a png or jpg in Illustrator is not vector.
