Scanning problems / proofgrade not recognized

I have posted previously about my “looks totally normal so we’re closing this thread” very blurry camera. Today it is failing to recognize proofgrade materials. Attached is a screenshot.

Edit: I’ve finally been able to get it to recognize the proofgrade by closing my tab and reopening it (yes using Chrome). But the camera seems to be having a lot of slowness and trouble today. I should say I used the proofgrade acrylic after it kept failing on a not proofgrade piece of acrylic - the head kept moving to a hole in the material and measuring the material height in a place where there was no material.

What’s happening? Is the camera and bed refresh super slow today? Is there a problem with making cuts to material with holes in it? Please, don’t just close the thread again.

You might want to check to make sure there isn’t glare on the sticker - bright or direct light sources can cause them to misread.

If they do fail to read, you can click on the words Unknown Material at the top of the left column, and type the material name in the search bar, then click and choose the correct material. The settings will be loaded for you just like using the sticker.

From the posted photo, I’m pretty sure this is it. I think Glowforge’s code recognizer algorithm could be improved since, the photo shows a corner of glare on it, but there is still sufficient contrast for it to be figured out.

They probably will improve it at some point, but there are probably higher priorities at the moment. Perhaps by the time they get around to it they’ll have the UV watermarks instead.

Thanks. I guess I will try turning the lights off next time. It is a standard fluorescent light (the kind that go in offices and ceilings) and has always been on with the proofgrade sticker in that corner. It does not make sense to me that things seem to be failing between prints with identical / nearly identical set up, but I guess that is how it goes when software updates itself without a changelist.

I used to find a small difference in where in the corner the sticker was placed could make a difference between it reading or not. Haven’t seen much of that in the past few months though.

One way to check it is if you spin the piece in the GF so the code sticker is in the upper left and see if it reads - they don’t need to be “right side up” to be read.

I’ll try that next time too. It’s one of the 12x24 sheets so it only fits in there one way, if I put it oriented the same it’s always in the same place, and no windows so the light doesn’t change. I don’t know, I will do some more cutting this week and see what happens. Thanks for all your kind and helpful replies. It really has been a frustrating day between this and the same settings failing on the same type of acrylic.

If it’s PG, you probably meant 12x20 and it only fits in there with the sticker in two orientations (instead of four or more if it were smaller).

I think @jamesdhatch meant 180 degree rotation so the sticker is in the upper left of the image and upside down.

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Correct. :slightly_smiling_face:

exactly right thanks

Thanks for following up and for providing your feedback. I’m sorry for my delayed reply.

I’m looking into the issue where the app isn’t recognizing your material, and I’ll be in touch when I have more information.

Regarding the Glowforge scanning your material, when you click Print in the app, the printer head moves to the print area on the material to measure the height of the material. If it misses your material, don’t worry! The app will use the height you entered in each of the steps to focus the laser on your material.

Are you still finding that the camera seems slower than normal?

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That’s great news!

Thanks for your note, that is good to know. I haven’t spent time cutting over the weekend so I will report back after I spend some time today.

Indeed I am still finding the camera to be very slow.

It has been sitting on this screen for a while:

I guess I will try restarting?

Here is a snap of after opening and closing the lid, I turned off all the lights in the room based on an earlier suggestion and it still looks like this / not recognizing the proofgrade, but the colors are different. https://www.dropbox.com/s/m09svd89k86gw8p/Screenshot%202018-06-06%2016.09.53.png?dl=0

In upper left where it says unknown, manually select what it is from list.
Should wake up the image.

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I can enter settings manually, but I am more concerned that the camera is borked. I was able to get the cut done, it autodetected after I flipped the board around, so it seems it can’t autodetect on the left half of the bed.

Mine doesn’t auto-detect upside down and backwards either, although a few other people have said that theirs does.

Best bet is to just use the drop-down menu when it hangs up. The plan eventually is/was to do away with the stickers anyway. :slightly_smiling_face:

Thank you for your patience. When we look at the logs from your Glowforge to investigate reports of Proofgrade not being detected, we’re able to see a specific check that is run by the Glowforge whenever a new image is taken by your lid camera. Anytime a Proofgrade QR code is found and scanned, this check is successful. If a QR code is not found, or if Proofgrade is later chosen manually in the app, this check is not successful. My investigation found that this check was successful in all recent cases except two, in which the Proofgrade QR code was oriented near the top left hand side of the bed. We’ve passed this information on to our developers so we can continue to improve our Proofgrade experience for everyone.

If this happens again, you can always select your material – here’s how:

  • Click “Unknown” on the left hand side of the Workspace
  • Type the name of the Proofgrade material in the search bar
  • Select the correct Proofgrade material
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