Very awesome.
Now if only I can has some snapmarks PLZ!?
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I zapped a pencil this weekend. It worked as expected. I hope Snapmark is promoted to a real feature.
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Here is a project I did a couple weeks ago for a client… using snapmarks on my basic glowforge.
“Wait… you can engrave silverware?!?”
I went into the technical detail of how it wasn’t really engraving but fusing material, so really I was laser printing on the stainless steel.
They heard “blah blah blah laser printing on silverware.”
And a couple weeks later they handed me an 80-piece set of flatware.
They run tours in Southern Utah National Parks - featuring RV accommodations and campsite meals. They wanted their logo on their flatware.
I used a variation of cermark/thermark with some copper mica mixed in… you can only detect that color in good light; but anybody sitting by a fire enjoying their steak in the evening will get that copper glint off their fork.
The client was happy and showed it off to a buddy who liked it enough to model it in a session for his photography portfolio…
I really like a happy client.
Thank you snapmark.
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Well that’s a nice niche market for Snapmarks! I wonder how many hoteliers, restaurateurs, campground operators, fishing camp operators and halfway houses would like to have their flatware branded?
Bunch I’ll bet! 
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That’s awesome. Thanks for the images and info!!!
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Sounds good Dan. As a Pro (hardware) user
it makes sense to me for it to be a Pro feature at a bare minimum and ideally all should be able to enable this. If that isn’t feasible, I could see this being a purchasable module for users who need it.
(Edited / removed mostly because there was some crazy sensitivity and I was misunderstood. Clearly the mob rules the community.)
Thanks GF team !
Joe
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I take offense and the implication that us basic users won’t understand it. Hate to tell you but I use very frequently for my business and produce more products than before.
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i think the intent of “won’t understand it” was to with “there are costs around it”, not with actually understanding how to use it.
i’m not sure i agree with that sentiment. i think most of us do understand. the issue is that GF promised tight camera alignment. at least right now, the only way to do that is snapmarks. unless and until there’s a way to have tight camera alignment without snapmarks, GF should not be limiting the final rollout to pro only.
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There shouldn’t be costs around it - read how this thing was marketed…
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it wasn’t marketed with snapmarks. it was marketed as accurate. if the camera can do that without snapmarks, then they could give snapmarks to pro users only and not be missing that promise. and while i would like snapmarks, i could live with that. but if the camera is up to 0.25" off, and snapmarks is 0.01mm off, then i think everyone needs snapmarks (eventually, as it rolls out).
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True. but without snapmarks it’s not ACCURATE.
Even if that was the meaning just because we have the basic in no way implies we have don’t understand anything or less knowledgeable than a Pro User. I think in fact there was a lot of presumptions on his part based on what he thought the user base is without knowing any facts… As retired Financial Systems Analyst I know for at least myself i do understand the cost involved in the development of both software and hardware…
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No offense intended. I think keeping the interface clean will matter more over time and some things being optional may be a good idea relative to power user or novice. There are many good reasons not to have too many items available.
I’m actually hoping the GF team is very friendly with all the early adopters when it comes to avoiding adding costs after funding this project. There will have to be a point where paying the pro price has benefits or value proposition beyond things that largely don’t work well yet and basic will have to give up something. Can Dan / GF find a way to grandfather year 1 users or something? I don’t know. I can only speak for what I expect with my Pro unit. The Pro is expensive. It’s supposed to be for Pro users. It would be unacceptable for this to not be available to Pro users by default. If you want to make the case for Basic users, that’s up to you. A one time cost makes sense as an upgrade to me over a subscription. The software is far too limited to justify a subscription model at this stage - especially for any early adopters / backers of the product. GF is running a business and I think reasonable expectations need to be in place or we will all end up with a worthless laser cutter with no cloud based means to use it.
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i’m not sure what you mean here. the pro price has HARDWARE benefits. passthrough slot, higher power tube, more efficient cooling. those were the benefits. there never was a promise that the pro software (beyond managing passthrough) was going to be better than the basic.
the pro is not for “pro” users. that term was just how they described the higher power machine. “basic” owners are not, by definition, less capable. pro/basic is not a reference to “power users” vs “novice.” it’s a hardware delineation.
i think i was wrong originally and you’re making all kinds of assumptions that are based on… well i don’t have any idea what they’re based on. they’re not based on things that GF has stated publicly.
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While i understand very little of your position, to make the assumption that just be cause you have a Pro and me a basic that somehow makes you a professional user lacks any common sense and logic whatsoever except with you. Especially since you have no idea what I have in my 60+ years of employment, 23 of which was spent in the Military…
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That’s your opinion. Slicing up what I’m saying without context isn’t helpful. I have had many issues. I’ve been waiting on various things. I’m patient. I don’t complain. I’m happy with the product on the whole. Accuracy has been an issue — especially in areas further away from the camera. I use my own files and rarely care about this. I agree that the snap marks should be available and not a subscription item - if they address the alignment challenges. How they justify it from a business standpoint, I don’t know. My experiences aren’t going to be for everyone and I have never said I spoke for everyone. Much as you don’t speak for me.
i didn’t see any context that made those statements make any sense beyond that. you seem to be delineating “pro” vs “basic” in a number of different ways, all of which imply that someone who purchased the pro deserves something “more” when it comes to software. and i don’t agree with that, no matter what context you put it in. the one exception being passthrough software. beyond that, GF has not said or implied in any marketing material or anywhere here on the boards that the software for the pro should be “more” in any way.
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It’s specific to what Dan said about it. Not my idea. Not my position. Having a Pro unit, I am agreeing that it should be there. I don’t know the basis behind his thinking otherwise. I am nudging in the direction of making it available to all backers, not being a subscription, and even later- being a one time upgrade. If they can’t do that for whatever reason they have, I just hope they are able to offer exceptions. I’m not sure what they would look like. Perhaps he was just feeling it out from users. I can see benefits to having an interface that allowed anyone to show or hide advanced options and thus would reduce usage / support from users that may not be as skilled as others. I’m trying to understand his position and not assuming anything. I don’t like the idea of it being a paid option for anyone, but I don’t know all the rational for his thinking.
So don’t read into it too much and relax. I’m interested in seeing the opinions of others for sure and imagine there are lots of strong opinions on any number of things. Most all waited ages for units, most all feel some entitlement to various reparations. They have exceeded my expectations on most things and it meets or exceeds 95% of my needs. I know that isn’t true for everyone so take it with a grain of salt.
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Snapmark worked as designed. My first try worked flawlessly. I was actually surprised as the score setting I used was so faint I didn’t know if the glowforge would recognize the marks but it did.
I don’t think it’s too complicated. While I have a pro I would vote to roll it out to the entire community.
I do however have a question on inkscape and having engraves work without repeating. In my snapmark design, I have an image repeated 4 times. Actually in my picture there are 4 pencils. the top 3 have an engrave copied 3 times and the 4th is 1 single jpg with pac man and the ghosts. Even though in inkscape I combined and grouped these images (first 3 pencils) , each one had it’s own engrave settings resulting in 12 separate engrave options instead of 4 (for the top 3 pencils). Any thoughts? I did try inkscape combine and group. I tinkered with copy to bitmap but it made the image so fuzzy I stopped. The file I used is the zip below.
These were engraved on a pro full power, fastest speed (maybe a little much for the ghosts)
Pencil Snap Mark.zip (38.4 KB)
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Yes, raster images are always treated individually. If you want them to be treated as one engrave, you actually have to create a bitmap that contains all three images. (Fairly easy to do in either Inkscape or Illustrator.)
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