You could also get a rough scan with the lid (to get area), then refine the scan with the head camera - just scan ahead a few rows and send those to the cloud, then keep scanning as you engrave, and stay a few rows ahead of the laser.
1 Like
Sorry for necro-ing this thread, but I was just searching for exactly this info! Would rather ask for clarification here, than start a duplicate thread 
Yay! I thought so, but just wanted to confirm before I start in on scanning and editing all of my leather working patterns for AI (cause if I can just trace them, it saves me a huge amount of work).
So then this is my next question:
@dan can you please confirm or deny if this is possible? i.e. - if I use the GF trace feature to create and save a file from a hand drawn image, can I later import that file into my favorite editing program and make changes there?
Forgive me if my question seems redundant or silly. I just want to be 100% sure that I understand the answer, as it has a big impact on where Iāll devote my time and energy.
Edited to add: pre-releasers may be able to answer this also? @marmak3261, @Jules, @markevans36301, etc - can any of you shed a bit of light on my question above?
8 Likes
At the moment you can scan and save, position over material, choose printing operations. Then you can open it up and resize it later as you wish, all within the GFUI. There is no file saving such that you can open whatās in your design space in another program like AI. I do not recall this being a promised feature nor in the hopper, but perhaps it is.
I certainly have not been considering this as a possible workflow thing. In places the comments have been to scan a design with a scanner and digitize it and then bring it in to print.
But it does some nice stuff with scanning. Iāll test it out to demo.
4 Likes
Yeah, Marionās right - currently you canāt download any results that you generate from the GFUI and edit them in any other programs.
I donāt think they are planning to add that function either. (I could be wrong - they might allow us later to download our own designs for modification in some other programs. The problem is that they canāt allow us to download other peopleās designs or purchased designs in order to keep some kind of control over them for the copyright concerns.)
They might also intend to add editing upgrades to their own software down the road. But up front, I donāt expect weāll be able to download files at all.
3 Likes
@marmak3261 summed it up nicely. It is a one-way thing right now and nice to have but if you want to edit later you will need to use a flatbed scanner.
1 Like
Thanks guys, that helps!
For what itās worth, nothing beats an inexpensive flatbed scanner for detail, which can typically scan at 1200 dpi and millions of colors, because it flattens the material and uses a constant lighting source. If youāre capturing an existing design to create a template out of it, Iād flatbed scan it & vectorize in illustrator.
15 Likes