To me it really looks like the are trying to rush it to market. Its hard to tell from that video but the software looks really rough to me. Notice how the photo align uses 9 photos and stitches them together for the full bed shot, but then they show it with a small object that is just in the middle of one of the sections. My guess is they don’t quite match up yet.
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SMOP is a joke for a reason. Until a Muse is in the hands of multiple users the specs mean nothing. We see a lot of software that needs improving on the glowforge pre-release units. Dan has posted multiple comments about initial software not quite done yet. What we know is Glowforge doesn’t have all the software done and functioning correctly yet. Unless FSL was working on the same feature set for years, but kept it quiet until Glowforge forced their hand, it would seem unlikely they’ve nailed it. Heck, we don’t know for certain if it will ever be nailed by anyone.
SMOP = Simple Matter of Programming
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Didn’t see anything about auto focus. I must say the expandability and rotary sound nice.
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my issues with the video:
1st is the “notEtsy” page, which is clearly a quickly photoshopped Etsy page. If they had continued with the “notEtsy” mark to cover all instances of the (registered, trademarked) Etsy name, I would not fault them. As it is, I see infringement of Etsy IP.
2nd is at 0:44, when the camera pans down past the touchscreen. The “little person” icon is running backwards. Sure, they probably have the animation going the right way in real life, and that shot was probably a pan up that was just reversed in the editing process… cause if it goes the wrong way IRL, you can’t just put some tape over the touchscreen to hide the wrongness.
3rd is the language, which is all in past-tense: “Judy Washington (actor, not her name) did this with a muse” (which she did not, cause she ain’t real, and which she will continue to have not done, what with the difficulty involved in changing the past). Certain people were upset enough over Glowforge’s “present-tense” video… which referred to “you” and “the glowforge” being able to do these things, which should in fact be true when we actually get our hands on it, as that will be the “now” (ie present-tense). Should GF have used future-tense back then? maybe. But they did not say “look, here is a specific person who did specific things in the past” when the person did not exist, and they had never done the things.
finally, 4th is the narrator’s voice. Come on guy, get a little excited. Might as well be hawking tupperware.
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Yup. My brain kind of switched off after that…
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note the “wind” blowing backward as well… 
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It could potentially be a framerate conflict. Like when tires on a car are spinning at the right speed it looks as if theyre rotating backwards…
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Thought so at first, but looking at the capture in slow-mo — don’t think so. I think @jbv is right on this one.
I think you guys are missing an obvious explanation. The person is moon-walking. Well, moon-running.
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Okay. That was funny.
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I personally enjoyed the bowling scene. WHY DIDN’T WE THINK OF THAT?!
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11:30 West coast time and “inspiration” has yet to arrive on their website.
This is presented as an innovation, but how much of it is? Don’t they offer rotary on some of their other machines? Is it supposed to be friendly to the new home users of lasers, as the Glowforge is? I have to assume that it is class 4 right off the bat as the bottom comes off. Complicates things for some users. The software could be how it is made more user friendly, but we don’t see much of that and they haven’t said anything as of yet. They’ll have to do a little more work to impress me with their version of camera magic. And I’m guessing the touch screen is just the same as the physical buttons on other models made to look more “future.” Again, don’t really know. Also, like was mentioned above, cooling isn’t addressed either.
Her favorite inventors inspired her to make gifts and gadgets? It got her into selling honey jars with laser cut tags? Hmmm… I don’t follow.
Could end up being pretty neat, but I’m not sold at this point. Maybe if “inspiration” does show up on their website some time today I can feel more fully informed at least. Another guess, it’ll be a couple of months before these head out their door and there will be some initial problems.
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They must have read my post. I’m still not sold. The only one-up compared to the Glowforge I can really spot is the riser and rotary stuff.
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This is hilarious, you guys sound like the Laser Engraving and Cutting Facebook Group now.
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Site is live, although looks like they’re having stylesheet issues. (Looks slightly better on IE vs Chrome, but still not right.)
From what I can gather:
Tech Specs
40 Watt CO2 Laser
20" x 12" Work Area
Hi-Def Wide Angle Camera
Industry Leading Software
Mac, PC, and Linux Compatibility
Software is browser based. Has Wifi and ethernet capability, can also pull jobs from a usb drive.
Accessories include:
Rotary attachment
Removable floor
Rise rotor (I think this is the riser stand pictured in the video.)
Buy Now link pops up a card with sales contact info. Design Catalog link pops up a card that says “Available After Purchase.”
I asked “BJ Sexton” in the sales chat what the price and lead time is; no answer for going on 5 minutes now.
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I guess BJ couldn’t answer the question as now Matt has joined the chat.
“Right now we are only taking pre-orders and selling as a bundle. There are three different bundles starting at $5500”
“The machine is set to ship before the end of January”
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did they say what was in the bundle?
I used some 20th century tech to get the pricing info (I called them from my desk phone).
$5,500 gets you the base model including the water chiller & air pump/exhaust(?)
$6,000 gets you the base + chiller and a “basic fume extractor”
$6,500 gets you the base + chiller, air pump, and fume extractor
Rotary device will run about $700 - 750 (no date estimate)
No shipping date as of today (2016-12-16), but they “anticipate shipping by end of January 2017.”
No way — I’m really happy about sticking with the Glowforge!
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kind of reminds me of a Chinese laser
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