Seems like you can’t do anything after trial subscription ends. Is that true?
Hey, welcome to the forum, nice to see new people here.
“Can’t do anything”, isn’t exactly true. There are two major things that subscription gets you: access to the built-in design tools and (if you have an Aura) the ability to upload larger files – fairly necessary if you intend to engrave photos.
The machine can still work with any svg, pdf, or raster you give it, but you’ll need to either get the files pre-made or learn third party editing software. The design tools in the UI are handy but definitely not necessary.
If you aren’t sure what I mean about third party editing software, there are whole threads about various options. here’s one:
The good news is that there are plenty of free tools that are very capable, and others that are paid that are quite nice too. It all comes down to preference.
Let me know if you have any other questions. In the meantime, you might like this post I made that covers a lot of things that are good to know as a new user:
Welcome!
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Not at all. The trial it to entice you into premium but you can do most anything without it.
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Welcome to the forum.
You can do lots of great things without the Premium Subscription. The subscription is a relatively late addition to the Glowforge app, and many people never had it. Is there something specific that you are worried about losing? Reading through this forum will give you lots of information and helpful tips. If you have experience with Inkscape, Adobe Illustrator, Silhouette, Affinity Design or any other vector program you will be fine without the subscription.
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As everyone has said, you can do lots without. That being said, I don’t design much and use the designs in the catalog a lot so I appreciate the subscription.
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Thanks for your reply. The software won’t let me create a simple text box without upgrading??
No, the Glowforge interface as designed is not a graphics program. It is basically a print driver. The text function is part of the subscription. You can, however, create text in any software, save it in pdf format and upload to the Glowforge dashboard. That text will only engrave (not cut) and overlapping letters in script fonts will not engrave as a solid block.
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Oh Ok. Thanks dklgood!
Ken
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