Very few people understand the difference between power and energy. Or know what a Watt is a measure of. But they understand their electricity bill just fine: they are billed by kWh used, and beyond a base charge they are charged a standard amount per kWh used. They don’t have to understand what a kWh is, or how it’s calculated to understand their bill. They know if they use less electricity, then kWh goes down, and they are charged less. And the opposite.
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When I talk to folks about building my electric car project, they clearly have no understanding of the differences, and correlations, of total battery pack energy, instantaneous power output of that pack, and motor power output. They are curious about it, but only electricians and the technicians/engineers get it.
I have no doubt their electric bill confuses them, it’s how the utility keeps them under control.
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I wouldnt mind taking a look for comparison.
So far I have been bad about recording settings so I think I just need to keep burning them onto the actual samples like these above. 
Makes me actually plan these so I can put the settings into the artwork.
Thanks!
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Keep in mind that the speed units they use in this file are not inches/min. They are in mm/min IIRC.
{
"id": 18,
"name": "Acrylic - Colored",
"thickness_name": "1/4\"",
"thumbnail_url": "https://glowforge-files.storage.googleapis.com/materials/26/original/Magenta_Acrylic.jpg",
"type_name": "Colored Acrylic",
"cut": {
"speed": 320,
"power": 100,
"corner": 50,
"focal_offset": 5.8,
"passes": 2
},
"vector": [{
"color": "",
"speed": 2540,
"power": 75,
"corner": 50,
"focal_offset": 5.8,
"passes": 1
}],
"raster": [{
"scanGap": 6,
"color": "",
"raster": {
"dither_method": "o8x8",
"rescale_method": "LanczosFilter"
},
"speed": 8500,
"power": 50,
"corner": 50,
"focal_offset": 5.8,
"passes": 1
}],
"validators": {
"speed": {
"min": 100,
"max": 8500,
"message": "Speed ranges from 100mm/min to 8500mm/min"
},
"power": {
"min": 0,
"max": 100,
"message": "Power ranges from 0 to 100%"
},
"corner": {
"min": 0,
"max": 100,
"message": "Corner ranges from 0 to 100%"
}
},
"default_focal_offset": 5.8
The engrave settings would be this section:
"raster": [{
"scanGap": 6,
"color": "",
"raster": {
"dither_method": "o8x8",
"rescale_method": "LanczosFilter"
},
"speed": 8500,
"power": 50,
"corner": 50,
"focal_offset": 5.8,
"passes": 1
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Actually if these have been done with the new speed settings it is not constant energy because 185 is not half the speed of 370, is is 1/3 as fast. This is what is so crazy about the new settings. You cannot do experiments like these without a spreadsheet.
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Ha, that is exactly what I proposed here: Well THAT'S new - #79 by palmercr. Speed should go from 10cm/m to 850cm/m and that is actually what it does internally. It just obfuscates it for the GUI.
Gah! You’re right. Well, I got lots of sample chips. 
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Surprising question. Of course the answer is Yes. I mean, you can go ahead an get a random sampling of people on the street, but I’d be amazed if you found as much as 10% knowing the difference.
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I think we need to all chip in and buy you a case of your favorite {varFoodBevProd}. You keep doing all this legwork for us!
ice cream. 
I’m back with more! Muwahahaha!
I’m letting the sample tell the story because any one of these is perfectly acceptable in my mind but if I was gonna be a Picky Pete, it’s gotta be a combo of the lower speed, and @Jules idea of limiting max power (ie: I used 80% power in the GFUI, no modifications to the artwork) and then using additional passes to get the depth.
That gradient on the top left is so buttery smooth it’s unreal, before it gets into the higher power area.
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That’s just awesome.
I wonder if the higher-power area you’re talking about isn’t a result of the power, but the focus. So if it were possible to vary the focus-per-color it might be smoother?
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Squee! (And I’m so pâques at having to focus on something else for the next couple of days…you have no idea! And August is going to be worse…always a busy time with the business.)
I’m jelly.
Which way up are these when they are engraved? I am guessing sideways on as the raster lines seem to be vertical.
Yes the dreaded ripple seems appear as it gets deeper. It would be interesting to see it rotated 90 degrees. The deep end would be visited once each line so might get less melty.
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This might frighten you a bit but it looks like we shared a brainwave… I was curious if the rotation had anything to do with it as the laser basically burns the same area twice in a row. Below is a photo of the rotated artwork
I dont know if it would be the focus because as it is, the focal point was set for 2X the material thickness. By the time the laser gets to the bottom of the deepest area, it’s way below the focal point. Just for giggles though, I ran another test with an even higher focus and it didnt help the ripples substantially.
Also I wanted to iterate these photos are being taken with a pretty high end 100mm macro lens that resolves detail you simply are not going to see with the naked eye, and amplifies everything else. The tiny ripples at the shallower side arent even visible to the eye and the deepest ripples are barely visible. These are simply nothing to fuss over. The settings are all here now so run your own samples and see for yourself how completely amazing it turns out!
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Yeah I don’t see much of a difference in the photos. Thanks for running the test though!
I’d done a defocused vs focused acrylic test a few weeks ago and didn’t notice a difference either. But I know others swear by it. Must depend on the acrylic.
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Curious how you added text to the photo…? 
I used GIMP, an Open Source image/photo editing program.
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Ok, Thanks.
I thought perhaps there might be another trick. Man, I need to build myself a better computer. Takes a long time for this 10 year old laptop to load heavy programs.
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Yes and yes they do. Most people are clueless when it comes to things like this. Honestly.
It used to surprise me but then I really hate the concept of quanta energy and electrons that jump orbits without ever occupying the space in between (I finally just decided to pretend I believed so I could get through EE classes and it does seem to explain what is observably happening). But then people I know seem to fundamentally understand how it’s possible and think I’m one of the slack-jawed one-eyebrow neanderthals. So now I’m not surprised.
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… Mike’s sitting as his computer staring at his fingertips…
Take a look at the second photo of the bubble gum pink sample and compare the ripples with the fingerprints. Fairly close in size, pitch and depth. Now look at your own fingerprints. Wow!
Sorry I’m just geeking out. 
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