I get it. 
Silly me, over thinking things.
I plan on taking advantage of the internet access feature. Well, should I say, my sister is. When I told her I was going to get this I could see the gears turning in her head. She is a mechanical engineer and is into crafts, especially stamping and making cards. I am hoping I can give her access to send jobs, Skype me to tell me what material to put in, and then since she works close to my place she can pick up her prints after work.
Great information here. To try and answer succinctly:
- Your glowforge needs a wifi connection to the internet.
- You need a web browser.
Your web browser connects to our website, where you control your Glowforge.
As an optional helper, you may have a plugin to Adobe Illustrator, a phone app, or similar that sends your files to our web server - but it’s unnecessary and for convenience only.
3 Likes
As in a dedicated app? Or mobile browser on a mobile device?
The careers page says they are looking for iOS and Android developers… makes me think dedicated apps.
That would be epic if they have native mobile apps. Maybe have a basic (really basic) CAD package in it.
I wonder when glowforge will start sharing screenshots of the web portal.
Ok, so the cloud server controls the GF.
IMO, it would be desirable to have a way to download whatever the commands are to the local computer, especially for complex objects (long print times) or items that are printed/cut often. This addresses the issue of intermittent connectivity and potentially reduces the load on the GF servers in the long run. A locally run program that parses the command file should be very simple.
It’s not that simple. As Dan has shared with us in another thread. The glowforge does not operate with traditional gcode. In fact there isn’t a motion controller in it. All of that it processed in the glowforge cloud. They (glowforge) has already indicated that there is a local buffer with in it. And if the bit rate is slow and intermittent it will simply stop and power down.
On that note- they are open sourcing the firmware. So maybe you or anyone else can take a crack it and see if you can get all that working locally.
1 Like
Dan also mentioned in another thread that flashing a modified firmware was more than likely to “toast your Glowforge,” so is meant to be a last resort in the unlikely case that the company closed its doors & servers.
I recall Dan answering a question (couldn’t find it in a quick search) about a glowforge CAD program and he said it hadn’t been planned. I would suspect any official app would be to 1) print your saved files (or open source files), 2) buy stuff from the glowforge store, 3) a file transfer mechanism for files from your phone/tablet and the most important feature: connect to the discussion here. Also, an app could mean a third party app that could do all sorts of things (or not) before transferring the files.
Somehow, I really doubt that a Glowforge app would have a CAD component, or any design component for that matter. Your designs would be created in other places, and the app would allow your device to be used to upload designs, select cut/engrave/ignore settings for existing design elements, specify scrap areas, re-size/rotate/align designs to materials.
It would be neat if it worked in conjunction with other apps as well, such as Adobe Capture and Adobe Draw.
It would be sweet if it had a basic halftone or stippling function (or a set of half-toning “instagram” filters) to allow you to raster-engrave directly from a photo on your device without having to open another app.
But realistically, IMHO, the app should pretty much be the “Missing Touchscreen Interface” for the glowforge, and not a design program. I have used (or tried to use) the proprietary design software that came bundled with plotters and printers (Gerber Omega, HP anything, Graphtec Studio), and I find that if I can’t find a way to use the programs that I already know (and which work really well) then I end up frustrated or just not using the machine. Essentially, if I can’t use Illustrator (or corel or inkscape if that is your flavor) to design with, I’ll look somewhere else.
Mind you, I am not saying that @Tony is not capable of making a better, lighter, easier-to-use mobile CAD app. Just that, especially for now, his talents are better used making the glowforge do what we want it to do with our existing tools, and not get sidetracked with trying to one-up Autodesk.
That pretty well sums it up for me as well — there’s no sense recreating the wheel. There are many FOSS (free / open source software) 2D & 3D options available, each with an enthusiast community creating excellent how-tos for new users. The pros and semi-pros will no doubt have commercial options as well, with heaps of training options, so they’re covered as well.
Packet Capture?
with the eminent shuttering of the revolve home automation service having a cloud only app is very much a concern. There are no guaranties in life, but why require cloud service for what should be a “print” job ? agree with @jbv let me use the tool I like and use already and just “print” to the machine.
That’s what you will do, but part of the print process involves some processing on their remote servers.
We will still be doing the design in whatever 3rd party tool we want, then converting to cut paths and using File → Print to send them to our Glowforge via their motion planning servers
Disclaimer… very amateur.
The way the process has been described, the cloud software sends down streams of bits that are the actual commands to the steppers, laser switch and maybe more. This removes a massive amount of computation from the cpu in the machine.They do not require an enormous bandwidth. Dan has somewhere stated that there is an on board buffer for these, and that many jobs will fit into it.I believe that if Glowforge evaporates, or is purchased by an evil empire, there will be people out there who will be able to make a bridge between G code and these commands at the very least. Speaking out of massive ignorance, it may be that Mach3 already could do so.
Thanks. Do you know if (where) there is more detail about the workflow ?
There isn’t anything formal at this stage. Dan has said “… if you create an SVG with the in-house app, it’s very easy (drag and drop) to put it in the Glowforge UI” and has also mentioned that they have a print plugin for Illustrator which integrates well with their UI, if that gives you any clues, but really we will just have to wait and see
Here is an interesting topic.
2 Likes