This would save me hours!! Wow! 
3 Likes
Precision optical alignment was an original commitment if I recall? So far we have ~0.25" precision which isn’t exactly what was assumed to be coming. Snapmark seems to deliver on that original premise (albeit in a different manner, but works really well. About to post a new project using it tonight).
54 Likes
Ditto on cditty–this would be so beneficial to a lot of work I do, too, for my business, and would love to get this feature on my basic unit.
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this. the snapmarks help make up for the lack of true measured alignment based on precise location.
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WANT! Want MUCHO!
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Yes, and the underlying Snapmark technology part of our work towards making visual alignment better across all units. The specific Snapmark feature has a different set of strengths and weaknesses than visual alignment, though. Snapmark is more complex to use than simple visual alignment, but faster for repeat use once configured.
11 Likes
The Snapmark feature is great. I have been very pleased watching how the testing has progressed. I’ve seen the team be responsive to the issues users have discovered, and meaningful updates have come out in very reasonable timeframes. I wish all of us who have groused about the pace of development could have seen Snapmark from the beginning, because it was awesome to see feature development with community participation humming along.
These are big issues and it is too bad that they could not have been resolved before the announcement. To bill a feature as “magical” but also say that it might not even be released… Or that I may have to purchase it for an unknown price… That is a heck of a mixed message and it certainly changes my interest level in learning how to use the feature.
The Glowforge is a complex, advanced tool–please don’t be overly conservative in protecting us from complexity. The Snapmark feature, bugs aside, isn’t any more complex than some other Glowforge tasks that we already deal with and it unlocks substantial new abilities. I would hate to see it cut for being hard to use, because without it, we’d fall back on techniques that are even harder to use… or, just not do those tasks.
The best features are easy to use, but also reward increased commitment… the Glowforge is already like that. I hope Snapmarks are here to stay.
27 Likes
huh, after doing an order of 100 spoons recently that required a jig without the crumb tray and needing to redo the top cut that holds the spoon in the jig 4 times because the glowforge didn’t quite re-zero its self the same and being unable to do any other jobs in the mean time I’m literally pricing out a new laser on my lunch break with the price being “ok it will cost me $XXXXX once I sell the glowforge”.
This feature would actually be really useful for some upcoming projects and orders; I might keep the glowforge for straight cutting jobs and not sell it. However, knowing the pace that new stuff gets released to the non-beta testers around here… I’m pretty positive I’ll have a new laser by then
18 Likes
Continuing the discussion from Introducing Snapmark (September 2018):
Yeah, that seems to be the key here, is that snap mark is for “generated” projects, i.e. made in CAD or AI, Inkscape, etc… vs. I want to put this image on that already existing thing where simple optical placement works. Since almost everything I do is from CAD, I don’t mind setting up the marks, but I understand why not everyone would want to. For the current project which is a 48" wide oak sign for a barn, which of course had to be split into chunks using photoshop’s slice-selection/divide slice feature, the marks are super easy, plus I needed to make a ghetto crumb tray since I accidentally sent mine back to support with my warranty service (since the other 4 times you guys wanted everything back), So I just made a homemade tray with marks already on it.
5 Likes
If snapmarks are released as a paid feature before I can accurately position things with the camera… Yea I’d be selling my GF asap as that is the type of company policy I despise.
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I just read fiducials and I know everything I need to know. Same as PCB stencle…
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We can’t make this decision until we see how it performs in the wild, so I’d rather be forthright and share our uncertainty than surprise folks later. That said, I wish I had a definitive answer too.
exactly right.
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Or in my world radiation therapy…
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Or in nanolithography to go down the length scale…
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I’ve sent patients for lithotripsy, but never lithography (nano or macro)…
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This is amazing. I already have a couple of things I can use it on.
1 Like
Breaking the stones is good for the patients. Breaking your silicon wafer is bad for your yield.
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i’m not sure how GF or the users can see this as a negative. yes, snapmarks aren’t for everything and probably not for most projects. but when you do have a project that makes use of needing to remove an object for some reason before engraving/cutting again or to make multiple sets in jigs, the snapmarks are what makes that work consistently.
9 Likes
Snapmarks work quite well but require a little bit more attention. Thinking whether the company decides to keep the feature will depend on whether folks overload the Support staff when something doesn’t work as they expected. If the user understands how it works and follow a couple of steps carefully, it works great.
7 Likes