Project File Too Big? Too Many Processes?

kirruu.berry · January 4, 2018, 9:54am

I spent quite a bit of time putting in all the custom settings for each section on this project just to find that once I go to print, it just times out. So I ended up ignoring about 15 processes and that went to print just fine. Is there a limit as to the number of processes that the Glowforge can handle? It’s odd that it can handle 95 processes but not 112…?!

johnwills · January 4, 2018, 11:19am

My understanding is it’s more about the size of the overall job. I have seen estimates that the limit is around 3 hours of processing time. I had a discussion with support about this recently. It seems to be an issue they are working on. In the meantime, your workaround of “ignoring” some of the processes on the first pass and then switching which are run and which are ignored is the best option for complex jobs.

kirruu.berry · January 4, 2018, 12:23pm

Thanks John. I’m pretty sure you are right about the 3 hours because after ignoring enough processes it brought it down to 2h 44 min. So I know the other processes bumped it over the 3 hour mark. The only issue with ignoring is that it erases your settings when you set it back to manual…

Tom_A · January 4, 2018, 1:38pm

Your design is both functional and lovely. But another way to reduce the time would be to either change the shape of the ovals (making them potentially smaller), or make the entire thing smaller until it works.

PrintToLaser · January 4, 2018, 2:02pm

You can also reduce the LPI to help shorten the required time.

kenneth_larsen · January 4, 2018, 9:10pm

I love the test pattern matrix though. I had been thinking of doing the same thing to build a reference library for my non PG materials

kirruu.berry · January 4, 2018, 10:42pm

Yeah, agreed; I’ll make it smaller. I also don’t really need for it to do full power at 10 speed so there are some processes I might want to ignore anyway.

kirruu.berry · January 4, 2018, 10:47pm

Glowforege Engrave Test ![Glowforge

Glowforge Engrave Template 3.zip (1.6 MB)

Xabbess · January 4, 2018, 11:34pm

I very recently ran an engrave that took slightly over 3.5 hours, so apparently that ‘3 hour’ limit is not always the case. My engrave was but one process, though…so perhaps it’s a combination of steps and file size?

kirruu.berry · January 4, 2018, 11:39pm

Interesting…

marmak3261 · January 5, 2018, 1:35am

Weird. There is a black filled rectangle over everything. I opened in Inkscape and deleted it but the processes were all black and undefined.

What program did you use to do the SVG? Sometimes Discourse strips info from SVGs.

These are the most processes I’ve seen in one file. It’s pretty amazing that it handled so many.

kirruu.berry · January 6, 2018, 4:59am

I used illustrator.

kirruu.berry · January 6, 2018, 5:10am

So I shrank the overall engraving size down once in the glowforge app and brought the engrave time down to about 1 hour 45 min. and it worked just fine.

Scott.Burns · January 6, 2018, 3:39pm

Just so I understand this–you had to manually define 110 different settings in the GFUI after uploading this SVG?

kirruu.berry · January 6, 2018, 11:07pm

Yes, but now it’s done and I can apply it to anything. Took maybe 20 min. and then I just upload a separate SVG with the name of the wood and I am good to go.

semhar · January 15, 2018, 6:37pm

Thanks for all the help everyone! @kirruu.berry there’s a problem with our software in handling very large engraves and it looks like that’s what happened here. Your message will help us improve our software for everyone.

As @johnwills and @Tom_A suggested, reducing the size of the print or dividing your image and printing pieces one at a time will help.