That’s cool. I am not only reading your posts, but quoting them as well. The facts stand. The glowforge camera is not accurate and placing things using the camera view will only ever get you in the approximate ballpark.
More importantly though, she is not having any kind of alignment issue where focus or jig would help. It does not matter where on the bed she cuts her item, because it is only a cut. Her issues is that the cut piece is a different size than the stencil she is laying on top.
That has nothing to do with alignment at all.
It appears you are trying to trace a design in silhouette studio, then cut that in the glowforge, and are having issues with the size of the cut not matching your physical stencil.
Pics of that issue would go a long way in having people understand your issue.
BUT, I would suggest you print your pattern all alone on paper, and test the glowforges built in scan ability, then cut that and see how it lines up.
My GF cuts to within 0.1mm/.0004" in every dimension (the difference is due to Kerf). I have industrial calipers (Mitutoyo) and micrometers (TESA) that measure down well below that. My father was a toolmaker and I have several of his tools.
I’ve mentioned elsewhere but I never bother setting the work space to 20x12 unless sharing a design here, and have never had an issue with sizing. I’ve only used Inkscape and Fusion since getting my GF, but have designs from folks using Illustrator as well.
I also have a large 100 watt laser, and lightburn has an option to fix svg on import, but this requires you to know what program was used to make the file.
In illustrator, I export most things as PDF to avoid and size issues, and if I must use SVG , I click advanced and uncheck Responsive.
I used Illustrator for many years and never had any issue, and never have since adopting Inkscape. Used to make a bunch of decals for RC models for friends. I bought a PC specifically to create a documentary about my ex’s father, the entire computer and monitor cost less than the cost of the bundled Adobe suite at the time. Learning Premiere was a lot of fun (I am not being sarcastic) and it came with Illustrator and Photoshop.
It’s obviously an issue for some, I just can’t reproduce it - and I have never changed any default settings.
It is most noticeable when doing something with slots and tabs, because they wont fit. But you can also resize things in the glowforge UI easy as well. So if someone was to add a text note to the design that said This part should be 12.4 x 8.26 You could check that and fix it easy enough.
Then again, people dont seem to understand that if a wooden box was designed for 1/8 and you cut it in 1/4 that is not the fault of the designer. And further, in this laser world, nobody should be referring to 1/8 and 1/4, but specific material dimensions like Made for 0.20 birch or 0.18 mdf
