The app screen of the bed is so dim I can barely see what I am doing

I have tried cleaning the camera, the entire machine actually and its still so dark I can’t place the art. I read a prior thread but there did not seem to be resolution there either.

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When your machine is turned off and you open the app, what does it look like on your computer? What happens if you open an old design like the gift of good measure? What about using a different browser - Chrome seems to be the preferred.

it is very dark when machine is turned off and just a tad lighter when on. I am using chrome currently on a surface 2 book. I will try the good measure and see what that does.

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its not the artwork I can not see, its the material on the bed is really hard to see.

If the material you are working with is dark, it can be hard to distinguish from the dark honeycomb crumb tray. You can try placing it on a piece of white card stock (be aware this will change your height so you should measure the thickness of both). Or some people have covered the crumb tray with 12” wide masking tape and that helps increase the contrast.

Can you post a screen capture of what you are seeing? (And sometimes you need to enter settings or a material thickness in order for the image to focus and brighten up.)

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I have his issue with my black cardstock, what I do to get around it is use the flashlight on my phone to add even more light and refresh the bed image either by opening and closing the lid, or clicking the option under the three dots in the UI.

What material are you using, like others have said, if it’s a darker material then it will “absorb” the light the machine uses to take the picture. If it’s something normal like PG with the masking on it, then it’s possibly something with the flash on the machine while taking the picture. Could also be the brightness on whatever it is you’re using to view the UI. I especially have problems with my laptop screen, but my desktop does a pretty good job either way.

I’m afraid we’ll need more information to investigate further.

If possible, could you please send me a screenshot of what you see in the Glowforge app when this happens? Make sure to include the rulers in your screenshot and show as much of the bed as possible

To take a screenshot:

  • Mac: Press Shift-Command-4 and click and drag a box around your image. You’ll find the screenshot file saved on your desktop.

  • Windows: Click on the Start Menu and type “snipping tool”. Open the Snipping Tool > New then click and drag a box around your image. Click the Save icon and name and save your file.

Send us the screenshot, and we’ll be happy to take a look.

A possible clue – I’m hoping I remember the sequence and details correctly…I had this happen to me yesterday when the machine had gone into “sleep” mode. I opened a design and the bed was so dim I couldn’t see it, even with the material and settings selected. I had to go open the lid to refresh the bed image. The machine appeared to be “awake” before I opened the lid, but the bed image hadn’t refreshed, making it look dim on the screen.

thank you. I have tried this and it did get better when I switched to ligher materials, not a lot better but it impossible to see black acrylic so I don’t know.

I read somewhere, someone said that they updated their glowforge? Am I missing something because how does the glowforge do updates / system updates or however? Maybe that is part of it.

thank you. I think that sounds like good advice. I was thinking of doing the masking anyway to input a ruler as I think that would be helpful inside the machine.

It updates automatically when you turn it on. Maybe other times, too; I’m not sure.

I will do this tonight and post, thank you!

@raymondking32 it is a pg black acrylic but the masking is off
Maybe I can position a brighter light above the glowforge to help

So what I’ve started doing is putting a piece of (white) paper under anything dark. Because, yeah… It’s impossible to see anything black.

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@Tom_A well I guess there is relief in knowing everyone has this issue! I will try that. I think I was concerned that it might catch fire but guessing not

Oh, you’ll definitely have a hard time seeing black proofgrade, even with additional light. Just today I put walnut proofgrade in without the masking and it was dark, so black PG is going to be hard to see.

What everyone else says about adding a backing sounds great, just make sure you account for the difference if it’s anything higher than paper. Since you’ve removed the masking, you may be able to get away with not adjusting the settings with a regular sheet of paper underneath as the difference will be miniscule, but it’s up to you!

Black chipboard on a black tray, held down with magnets wrapped in black duct tape… I can’t see anything lately.

I think they should turn up the exposure on the camera. The dark, hard-to-use image we get now may be a more technically correct exposure, but a lightened version would be easier to use. I don’t need great color fidelity and rich blacks; I need to see stuff.

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@GrooveStranger agreed
@dan

I think whatever exposure compensation they do, it’s not enough. (I was on the other end of the gamut, where I had so much light coming in from a south-facing window that I couldn’t see anything)