Trace function is useless

[marmak3261]

Welcome @crazyheck2013.

Useless?

Collaboration with Cassady Bell / Stress Testing Trace

I’m one of those people who would give their left arm for an original piece of art from Cassady Bell. Okay, I’m one of those people who has given their left arm… he’s just not done with it yet. But after 13 hours of sitting in a chair, you get lots of time to talk about lots of things, including what it would be like to throw some of his designs in a Glowforge. So, he handed me a book and said ‘see what you can do!’ [image] I figured a wallet would make a good test… [image] Nothing too fanc…

I have had luck. Did you use the arrow keys to change the contrast?

Glowforge Interface - Using the Trace Tool

The Trace Tool in the Glowforge User Interface can be used to scan printed artwork for engraving, and to create cut lines around the artwork, or inside the artwork, by clicking with the mouse. There are a couple of ways to do things with the Trace Tool. (I’m going to borrow one of Glowforge’s freebies to demonstrate since my drawing skills are non-existent. I printed this airplane out - pretend it’s hand drawn.) Procedure To Scan a Physical Drawing and Add Cut Lines: Black ink d…

A good discussion on utility and limits:

Glowforge's Trace Functionality

In my experience so far I am using a laser for accuracy beyond what I can achieve with my hands. I use a laser when I need perfection. It seems a lot of emphasis is being placed on the trace function, which is cool, but sometimes its hard to see where it would be actually useful beyond the gimmick. Here are the things I have run across where it would have been helpful: Templated/repeatable cloth/leather pattern cuts for wearables, especially synthetic fabrics. I had to make 6 deadpool masks a…