Okay, I’ve got to correct a couple of assumptions going here…you and your makerspace director are very close, but not quite there.
A raster image consists of pixels. Vector fill is solid, but it does not consist of pixels, it’s a filled closed shape. The GFUI will Engrave (ie: move back and forth in a horizontal stair step manner), for all rasterized images that it encounters, AND for solid vector fill color.
But it does not automatically rasterize vector fill.
If you want to rasterize vector fill (ie: turn it into pixels) you have to do that in a separate step before saving the file. When we are recommending that people rasterize something, we want them to turn it into a pixel image. It frequently cuts down on the motion plan calculations and allows a more complex vector image to be engraved with a more efficient motion plan. (Which keeps the file from hanging up in the buffer.) That’s why we do it.
If you would like to understand a little bit more about rasters and vectors, you can read this short tutorial on the subject. It describes the difference between rasters and vectors and how the Glowforge treats them.
Hope that helps.