Printing at 75% actual

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I’ve been away for a while, so maybe I missed something. But, my files don’t come into the laser view full size. I’ve resized the last two in case it needed to calibrate, but it hasn’t. Christmas is REALLY soon and things are not right.

Here’s the file Ben-100-crop-INVERT-night-lite It should be 2-15/16" wide, but it cuts at about 2.25"

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What design program did you create your files in? In Illustrator, there is a setting in the SAVE AS and the EXPORT functions that can cause this. In SAVE AS, your font should be set as OUTLINE, your image links should be set to EMBED, and then in the Advanced options, you need to make sure that RESPONSIVE is deselected.

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That helped a little. Now it’s 2-11/16" wide instead of 2-15/16". But, not all of the layers exported. Which is worse than rescaling…

The image isn’t an embed, it’s a vector. And, the text is already outlines.

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Since you’re using Illustrator - try copy/paste instead. I’ve never lost any parts or had size issues that way. Use the standard keyboard commands to copy in AI and then paste into the GF dashboard screen (the one with all the designs, not the crumbtray).

Alternatively - PDF works well, too.

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It’s probably a DPI mismatch thing. SVGs don’t retain sizing information. The GF expects things to be created at 96 DPI and scales accordingly.

One easy fix is to size the canvas in your design program to 12x20". The GF interface recognizes that ratio and will automagically size the artwork correctly when it sees it.

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I have found that when I set Illustrator to inches before I create a file, instead of any other measurements (like picas, points, or whatever), everything imports fine. Perhaps that’s the same issue with other drawing programs?

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I’m not sure this is even legal to engrave! But I’m not a member of the FBI, so… :wink:

Anyway, I came in to say what @geek2nurse has already said. So I’ll check back to hopefully see you have a happy result.

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all of this

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In addition to the advice offered here, there’s a method involving your initial file settings that can be used to ensure the scale of your file in Illustrator matches what loads into the Glowforge workspace.

  • Choose File > New
  • Set height to 12in. and width to 20in., then press “OK”
  • Copy and paste everything in the old design to the new design.
    • Mac: Use Command-A to select all in your old design, then press Command-C to copy. Move to the new file and press Command-V to paste
    • Windows: Use Control-A to select all in your old design, then press Control-C to copy. Move to the new file and press Control-V to paste
  • Choose File > Save As, making sure that “Responsive” is unchecked.

Please give this a try, and let me know if you’re still running into trouble!

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If you already know the dimensions and bring it into the GFUI while it is selected the precision size pop-up on the lower right side will let you scale the piece to exactly the size you want. :grin:

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Thank you all for the problem solving advice. I did a trial and error work around for time purposes. I’ll test things out with your advice when Christmas Day is not looming.

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Thank you for following up. Feel free to get back to us at your earliest convenience. We’ll be here to help!