I’m a newb, have a pro. Made my designs in Photoshop per community rubber stamp tutorial. Now, how do I get it into the GF interface? Go through Illustrator?
I’ve read mention of 3D engrave settings but can’t find any references. Is there additional information somewhere on the features of the GlowForge for more than just the basic Owners Manual. I feel like I’m missing the pieces of the puzzle and I’m just stuck. Can someone please kindly point me in the right direction? TIA
Susan
Well I’m certainly not a seasoned user, however, I have made some stamps. Save your design in PS as a pdf. Then open it in your vector program-I use Inkscape-free…or if you have illustrator and save as an svg. Or, you can just import the pdf into glowforge.
I have used the orange rubber stamp and found the best settings for me to be 340/70/225 with 2 passes and vary power. You will have to test yours depending on what type of material you have but there’s lots in the community with settings. Just do a search for rubber stamps!!
And, this will probably be moved to everything else as it’s really not a problem, but i’m not sure:-).
Welcome!!
If you’re engraving only then you don’t need to vectorize/go through Illustrator. Just export your art from PS as an SVG or PDF.
If you want to cut or score then you’ll need vectors and Illustrator is great for that.
The 3D engrave works best with raster images (Photoshop) rather than vectors.
And to add to what @ekla said, you can save it as a JPG or PNG as well. (Saving as a transparent PNG are my personal favorite.)
Yes, after you have made the stamp in your favorite raster program, you can place it in your favorite vector program to create the cutting outline and ensure the stamp is the size you want.
One thing to keep in mind is that 3D engraving settings are not available in all Proofgrade materials settings, just the ones it makes sense for (like Draftboard or hardwoods for instance). You won’t find those settings on any of the plywoods.
Thanks you so much. I want to use acrylic so I’ll try the Medium Acrylic PG settings. How do you set the depth of the engrave? The number of passes?
Wow! I didn’t know that. Thank you.
Since I want to make a stamp, then I guess it’s a reverse engrave, right? I want to engrave away the parts thar I don’t want to press into the surface of the leather? Apologies for not knowing the correct terminology 
Thanks! It’s my fav too!
Thanks cynd11,
Okay here’s where I get a little lost.
I should move a .png file of the design into Illustrator, create an outline where I want it cut, then I save it as an .svg.
Then upload it to the GF interface.
Then use the outline as the cut line and the design part as the engrave?
Oh, and make sure to do the cut last in case of any movement during multiple passes of the engrave?
Does that sum it up?
Regarding settings for 3D. I want to use medium Acrylic so I should search the Community to find the settings?
looks right to me
(in illustrator, use “Save As…” and remember to Embed the image in your SVG, and make sure “responsive” is not checked when saving.)
In your raster program (Photoshop, Gimp, or whatever) you will want to flip horizontal so the stamped image will be right reading, and you will also want to Invert the colors (turn black to white and vice versa) so the unengraved parts are your stamping surface.
Medium Proofgrade Acrylic already has 3D engraving settings you can choose. They should work for most any 3mm or 1/8” acrylic.
Oooh, thanks jbv! Good call! I wouldn’t have thought to embed it, I probably would have just opened it.
Okee Dokee then cynd11. I should be good to give it a go tonight.
I flipped and inverted it in PS before saving as a transparent background png.
I try it with the acrylic 3D settings and give it a whirl. I may actually be un-stuck! 
Thanks again!
Reverse engrave is totally correct 
To make the GF do that, reverse the colors in your artwork. Black engraves, white doesn’t. All the grays in between engrave somewhat with darker engraving more and lighter engraving less.
BTW - since you’re using Illustrator you can directly copy/paste via the keyboard shortcuts from Illustrator to the GF dashboard (screen with all the designs) and skip SVG altogether.
Well that’s a time saver! Good to know!!
Oh community you’re so great! Leaving this open to make sure you’re all set.
Oh YES! Community, you are so generous, helpful and down right GREAT!
With your advice and council, it worked perfectly! I’ll post some pix of the project I’m working on when it’s finished. It’s a leather guitar strap with a Native American theme.
Attached is a photo of some scrap leather with the first test of a monogram and some bear paw prints.
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