Photo engrave demo?

Yeah there are a lot of things its supposed to do. As of last weekend there were a lot of things on that list no one has seen it do at all. Id personally rather see some of the high end functionality than the trace stuff which is more of a gimmick to me than being able to 3d engrave etc. I can trace images on my computer. Unfortunately that is a big selling point for them and it seems it was a bit more work than they thought.

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The biggest benefit for me when I placed my order was the ease of use. I’ve used chinese laser cutters before, and they are anything BUT user friendly. It takes quite a bit to get them running the way you want to. The idea with the GF is to get something that is “plug and play”.

Not having some of the advanced features that make it plug in play will be a big bummer.

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I want to put my vote forward:

If I receive my laser in December, but it has none of the high-end functionality shown in the videos, I would be perfectly happy. Cutting an SVG file is what I am looking for. If I received the ability to engrave photos as you have shown, but it was six months down the line, I’m OK with that. Even if the ability to continue a cut after moving something through the pass-through slot didn’t happen until later, I would be ok and understand. Those all seem like solvable software problems.

I would rather get my hands on something in December that can do what 95% of other lasers can do, rather than wait through another delay for 100% of what they advertised.

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At this point I’m inclined to agree, particularly since software functionality can be updated online.

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I’m not going to be happy at all. Those are the reason I bought the glowforge. I have a chinese laser that can do all the rest. I paid for the high end functionality.

First I paid for a laser over a year ago and was promised this functionality.

Secondly we were supposed to have this 6-9 or more months ago. Not only was it not ready at that point, it STILL isn’t ready, and we haven’t been shown anything that the laser is capable of doing those advanced features in the meantime.

So it’s one thing if it really is just that for some reason the software hasn’t caught up to allow for that functionality (even though it’s already way past the initial target date), but it’s another if it really physically isn’t able to do it at all and it’s going to be one of those sad crowdfunding stories that are happening all too often these days.

It’s getting down to the wire and we have seen absolutely nothing to say that this is going to do what they say it will.

All our chips are on black, let’s hope that’s where the ball comes to rest.

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Not exactly what you are looking for I don’t think but it seems high res text and I believe they cut away material for placing letters

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I suspect the situation looks a bit worse than it actually is, since many of the cool features that were promised are software based and the software appears to be some way off being ready. This isn’t a real issue, however - as long as they ensure the hardware is capable, we will eventually get the software to match.

I’m more concerned about features becoming pro-only after we’ve already received our lasers. It has been presented as if the pro and basic will share software functionality, but we haven’t seen any explicit confirmation of this. More recent comments give the impression that they intend to limit functionality on the basic.

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We have. It would take some searching but pretty sure this was specifically commented on. Let me see what I can find.

It may have been; I wouldn’t be at all surprised to have missed many posts on the forum. I haven’t found it using search though

It was a while back. Thankfully, I have one of those memories where I know something was said. Finding it is a different story!!

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That answers quite a different question, though. I’m more interested in whether they pull some of the registration features to thwart the people who cut a pass through slot in their basic

I’m not sure if you mean:

  • Using a source greyscale photo, converting it to a dithered black-and-white image, then engraving that, or
  • Using a source greyscale photo, engraving it with different grey settings representing different power settings?
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I disagree regarding software shared-functionality.

It would be illogical for both versions to have the same features, given the 3 Grand price difference between the two, and hardware differences, it would be completely inappropriate if features weren’t eventually introduced that took advantage of the Pro versions better hardware.

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Actually both of those would be great. We haven’t seen either.

The second one would essentially be a 3D engrave, which if that’s possible, would be infinitely cooler than a dithered image

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From all the posts and all the replies, the only item I see that differentiates the basic from the pro from a software perspective is the pass-through function. All the others are identical. The Pro offers better continuous runtime and the basic, and the “upgrade optics” you can take to be whatever you want, since I have no idea what that actually means.

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They don’t have the same features. The Pro model has an infinite pass through slot, upgraded optics and better cooling which give you a much higher duty cycle.

Other than features directly related to pass through, there won’t be any that take advantage of hardware that isn’t available on the Basic. Most of the innovative software features rely on the camera and clever software, both of which are present in the same capacity in both models. Any software limitations created for the Basic will be artificial - the Basic doesn’t have a less capable camera and it’s registration related features shouldn’t be any less capable either.

In addition to this, the Basic and Pro have been marketed so far as having the same software. There is a list of differences on the Tech Specs pages and no software differences are mentioned, and in interviews the clever registration functions have been described as available even on a basic without the pass through slot. The only thing that I think would be “completely inappropriate” would be if this turns out to be false after we have paid our money and waited a while year for the product.

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Probably best to keep this in the other thread where you’ve been asking about it.

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Dan, the latter. I recall reading a 256-level engrave is what we’ll be able to do. As such, I imagine an 8-bit grayscale raster image will utilize variable power levels to engrave that image. Please confirm. Also please provide any real-world Glowforge examples of that if they exist. If they don’t exist, can you have somebody produce one?

Thanks!

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Yes, 256 level engrave. Our bitmap rasterization code isn’t polished to the point where we’re showing it yet.

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Well, thanks for confirming. Disappointing to hear it’s not ready for prime time yet. But, hey… You’ve still got 77 days, 7 hours, 3 minutes until shipping. No pressure.

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