I think the selling point was that you dont need to be an expert laser operator. I suppose the catalog would be the alternative for someone who doesnt design and doesnt do lasers. But for the most part, if it’s plug-and-play, we still have to know what to play.
I think glowforge tried to make that as accessible as possible, by working directly with a lot of file types and even traditionally with the trace feature (however good that works - I haven’t really kept up with which features are still hypothetical. Thats a different issue).
I think of it like a Roku. Super user friendly streaming device, but I dont expect it to trouble shoot my wireless network for me.
Just my opinion, of course. I think people saw a lot of different things in the marketing and promo video, and we all approach it from our own perspective.
By that do you mean that you choose not to help (totally fine) or that you don’t think you have the knowledge or skill to help? If it’s the latter, I think you’ve already proven that’s not the case. We all bring different skillsets – I’m in IT and can help troubleshoot network and general computer issues. I’m learning Inkscape and can help someone with basic questions. Outside of that I let the experts take over. I’ve learned a lot on these forums and try to contribute where I can, even if it’s just as comic relief.
There are easy shortcuts and functionality that a lot of beginners won’t stumble across for a while, and they are always adding new goodies…I’ll see what I can put together.
There was a 2-minute-or-so piece of the video that talked about a design group called Digital Telepathy was working with Glowforge to design a new mobile app experience. The connection with Adobe is they were using a UX tool to create a prototype user experience that they could then use with both internal and (I presume) external user testing to see whether the user flows worked well.
All this was to support my statement:
That they used an Adobe tool is completely irrelevant to us end users. That was likely used as a visual design spec for Glowforge’s mobile developers. But that they brought in an external design consultancy to work through the user flows says they did not feel they had that expertise in house. And if it hadn’t been highlighted at that conference, we wouldn’t know that Glowforge is working on a mobile app.
As others have said, the text part is handled by converting text to objects. That is for now. I would expect they will support text at some point.
For cut order by color, that is in there already. @Jules mentioned she’s going to put a tutorial together for it. But your comment tells me you already have the cuts differentiated by color. Am I right? All the strokes of a single color are grouped by the GFUI as operation steps shown to the left of the preview window. There you can assign the operation (cut, score), and adjust other parameters like speed and power. You can also drag and drop the operations to change the order. The default order is based on the numerical value of the RGB color values. See more here:
You simply set your cut object to Cut on the left of the UI. Obviously you’ll leave your engrave object set to Engrave. Be sure that, in your Intaglio, your engrave and cut objects are different colors so the Glowforge can tell them apart.
Yes. That’s the way. If you have 10 different color objects, each of their settings can be unique.
Pretty much. I once tried using a tablet for that. But it seems tablets just aren’t precise enough to do precision work via a webpage. Which, of course, makes sense. I mean, it’s not like we’re using an app… it’s a website. Ever since my one attempt, I’ve just used my computer from then on.
Text works great. You’ll see a bagillion examples throughout the forum. You simply need to take a few seconds to expend the text before you save the svg. Sure, sometimes I still forget to do that. Of course, the GFUI quickly reminds me. No big deal.
Sing it! I really do hope this is in the works. Sooner would be better than later. Hell, I’d go as far as to say I’d rather see this feature BEFORE double-sided cutting. (And I REALLY want to see double-sided cutting.)
Not the same. And “similar” is the same as saying “different.” The price you’re paying is for never having to set anything… ever. With your different materials, however, you’ll have to test every single time. Depending on how much you care if your results are the same or not. There are countless examples, here and other sites, of people buying the “same material they bought last time” and having to change the settings. Sure, there are exceptions. Likely if you buy the same acrylic, it’ll respond the same. But woods? Leathers? So many other materials? You’re increasing your cost in testing time. That said, if you can really buy similar materials at ONE TENTH of the price?! ?!.. we need to talk.
i don’t. That requires the GF app to convert it to a path. That’s a design software job (CAD vs CAM). I do that in design for my other lasers, don’t expect that GF would/should do that so I don’t have to. One of the advantages of using Corel is that when saving as SVG it automatically converts the text to paths and lets me still treat and edit it as text in Corel.
I finally got a wing rib cut with holes aligned and also text…sort of. My SVG files will not work with the GF so not bothering also not the fault of the machine but my software. I’ll use PDF which work great. For text I have to convert to an image prior to exporting.
Did a couple of test using different line colors for cutting/engraving. I now see what Tom was saying about the left panel selections. It works but not very obvious in the beginning and the way it is will be a PITA when processing jobs with multiple cut files within a file. To make this laser useful we really need the option to save a material file with colors for order and cutting. Without that feature the GF is basically useless for manufacturing small jobs. Still more testing to be done.
I use this thing all the time. For months. I’ve never made a “large” job. So all of mine have been “small jobs.” Never had the problems you have (sort of) described. Everything just works. And works unbelievably well.
You’re clearly still missing something fundamental. Glowforge doesn’t provide you with design software. What you use to design is completely up to you. In your case, you set the colors in your Intaglio. You seem to be trying to make the Glowforge software turn into something it will likely never be. Like I said earlier, it’s little more than a glorified printer driver. But that’s all it needs to be.
But others have done large production jobs. From hundreds (thousands) of tokens/coins to stacks of boxes (was it @jbmanning5’s project with all those customized walnut boxes with the trick sliding top?). I’ve done up to 100 units of a project myself.
This is just conflating someone’s individual experience with gross generalizations about usability for everyone. The reality of others doesn’t seem to have an impact on the broad brush conclusions.
Certainly. That wasn’t what I was getting at. @jamesaellis1’s point was that the Glowforge is “useless for manufacturing small jobs.” I’m saying that that’s all I’ve done and haven’t seen what he’s seen.
If you had a wide variety of products that you cut when ordered and each had 5ish colours, setting each one each time will be a pain. But except for one company most lasers require extra software purchase to save a job/material with settings. So valid complaint but also semi valid for glowforge to ignore
Oh yeah. That’s been a long time complaint/suggestion & I think Dan said it’s in the hopper but no commitment to delivery. I usually have a handful of colors to translate to different orders or settings and it’s mildly irritating. Then every once in awhile I’ll do something with 20 different operations and I say bad things in my head while I assign the operations and parameters
I cannot disagree that I’m being a bit of a pain and maybe expect to much. However, working through the GUI over the last few days and insight from many of you folks. I have finally been able to do most of what I need to do. Yes, its a PITA working around the GUI which definitely could be so much nicer. When the GF does its thing then it does it well.
What I think is really needed is the ability to save off user settings for materials, cut order (color) and engrave settings. What would make the cut/color order so much easier would be to display the object color in that left pane where you select power levels and cut order and not just a black graphic.
The above feature alone would make life so much easier for those of us who need to cut and or engrave repeatable production units.
I believe that Tom would also be happy with that feature.
Tom… I agree with you that the GUI web window is pretty much a print driver. Still, a company must and should make all efforts to make a product user friendly whenever able. New users can easily be overwhelmed with the current iteration until like myself spends a few days getting help and trying to figure things out.
I hope Dan and the lads can make this happen to ease the life of current and future customers.
The ability to save settings has been in the glowforge hopper since the first pre-release units. We’re all waiting for that. By my count the most requested feature.
As regards using with a tablet, I’ve commented several times about things they could improve to make it work. I try to use an Android tablet, but find myself mainly walking back and forth to my PC.
That is silly. Of course you can fail. I’ve seen people fail at buttoning up their shirt (ever notice someone where their buttons are off by one, or…), and I have no idea the number of folks who have never been able to set the clock on their VCR, DVD player, or microwave.
It is more less plug and play (don’t recall them ever using that phrase ) – easy as anything I’ve ever done – but let’s be honest, it does take a wee bit of attention and thought.
So far, every failed print I have had has been due to user-end error – my wifi connection was fritzzy, my designs had a problem here and there, there was a warp in the material unnoticed until after the fact, etc. I hear there are occasions when the cloud service might have a glitch, but I personally haven’t experienced that.
I’m sorry that there is disappointment in how their unit works and what it does – new tech sometimes has its growing pains. My new generation tablet had to have its power connector replaced, twice, and my first 3D printer required me to replace the mother board once, as well as a switch and the wiring harness.
So don’t take this as some sort attack. Please take a listen to your calm, rational self here. Do you see the difference between saying “would make life easier” and saying the machine is “useless” without it? One of those statements is likely true for many people, the other of which is likely true for none.
When presented with a reasonable issue or concern, you can expect an equally-reasonable response from so many people here.
@jamesaellis1, is it safe to say that Support can process the information in this ticket and close it? Or do you need some additional assistance? (Understand, of course, you can always open a new ticket for any specific concerns you have. Or you can post in other sections of the forum to simply get advice from your fellow owners. We’re always ready, willing, and (usually) able to help!)
For what it’s worth, people keep phrasing it this way, but for a typical workflow it’s not an issue because “convert to outlines” is a checkbox in the SVG export settings in Illustrator. I believe the same is true of many other programs. It would bug me if I had to actually expand the text to curves in the document. As pointed out, that would make it no longer editable, and I’d have to make sure to keep the source version around in case I wanted to make changes.
I’ve learned a lot on these forums and try to contribute where I can, even if it’s just as comic relief.
Be sure that, in your Intaglio, your engrave and cut objects are different colors so the Glowforge can tell them apart.