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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
You’re using a different calendar than I am… but I am being optimistic.
and if it doesn’t ship, I’ll just say I was counting down to my daughters 16th birthday