They haven’t finalized and rolled out the grayscale engraving features have they? 
It doesnt matter what you put in there, or in what format. Everything is post-processed unless its a vector.
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I hope this isnt the final version =P
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It would be a shame if a plane crashed on my house too.
They are trying to make lasers easier to use. I dont think they have any malicious intent. All that would lead to would be a bevvy of support calls and angry people. No one wants to deal with that. Why make a product just to piss people off? Doesnt follow logic.
Even then it wouldnt matter. Im going to have to remake them all anyways once I get my release unit.
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I don’t understand why people think I believe GF is up to something nefarious?
Let me try this again.
The GF philosophy to updates is to silently push them to our machines, with all the best intent in their hearts, God bless them 
, so that the average Joe doesn’t have to deal with the details.
One unintended consequence is that people like you, who work hard to make reference materials, may suddenly find that the reference cards are no longer valid! And there’s no indication of when that might happen.
Better? Sheesh! 
lol
(edited as per @millersw.628 
)
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I seem to remember @dan saying exactly that, and discouraging pure material testing at this point. But running a test on what you are about to use, keeping those tests, and looking back over them serves more than just a specific setting reference, it is also a basic material reference and a starting point for the next unknown but similar material.
@takitus will have a very interesting material history of changes to the device as well. By making a test sheet before engraving the first version of something, he has a reference point to the power output of the machine at the time. It the event of a software update that alters the performance at a given speed and power, he has a sample sheet to try to replicate, and use to determine where the same depth/color/etc now falls in terms of speed and power.
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So, yes, I think you and I are saying the same thing. The silent updates will make the machine a moving target for getting consistent results from manual settings.
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Hmmm I think you need more hearts and “lol” and fluffy happy words. 
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I got what you were implying. Ive seen the conversation.
In the software industry frequent updates to push out features isnt a new or uncommon thing. On most teams ive worked on in recent years we push out new versions weekly. We dont notify everyone that we are doing it, they just know that it happens as part of our product. They will see the changes noted in the online documentation, changelog, and maybe some new shiny buttons in the UI that do things that they can consult the documentation on.
What youre referring to is known as a ‘breaking change’ in the software world. I dont know if its named something differently in a software driven device, but to release something like that without prior notice is a pretty big dick move, and completely different from standard updates. Usually it comes with a notice, and a couple weeks or months transition time so you can be prepared.
It would be a support nightmare for them to deal with, or for anyone, to make a breaking change without notification.
Were still in pre-release land. I dont think its safe to base future expectations about how things are going before the product is released. I wouldnt be releasing changelogs publicly at that point either…
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Well… yes… sort of. But that making test samples along the way is not a waste of time or material, and that updates would not make test samples worthless, it would just change their utility.
I mean…
Silent updates could also make manual settings more consistent.
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It’s not as black and white as you paint it.
Different people will have different ideas of what a ‘breaking change’ is. For someone who relies on the machine for a business, and needs as much control and consistency as possible, their tolerance could be quite small. A minor update could be a breaking change for them.
At the other extreme, a breaking change has been described as akin to a plane crashing into ones house. 
For most, a breaking change would be described somewhere between these two extremes.
To me, a win-win solution would be to push updates, but at the same time, notify and allow version management by the end user, if they so desired. (Well, it might not be a win for GF due to the complexity it would introduce on their end!)
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Right. It actually saves a lot of material and time in the long run knowing how your material works with the machine instead of trying to do a complete 4 hour job without ever testing and having it fail. ill chip off .5" of a piece to run a grayscale. It takes 4 minutes. no biggy
Yes. This is generally the case. I prefer to have a changelog with any updates, but I dont need to be notified every time an update happens unless its a breaking change.
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THANKS FOR THAT!
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ANYWAYS,
I do think it would be great to have an option to choose whether you have post-processed dithering added to your image, or just have it shoot out a straight grayscale engrave with power levels matched to the color value.
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One thing I am seeing a lot of in the forums is what is called “story making”. We all view the world through our own particular lenses and filters – but what we often do is make “stories” up based on limited (or no) information and then our heads start to believe those “stories” are true. Mal-intent on the part of GF to betray our trust, updates that will ruin hard won efforts, devices that won’t ever ship – all these are “stories” that have appeared here.
A great exercise is to look at everything we think about this or that, and ask ourselves “Is it true?” Then ask ourselves “Do I know absolutely it is true?” If the answer to both of those is yes, then it is easy, and we can proceed accordingly (get a refund, buy another laser that will do what we want, etc.). If the answer is no, look at why we are thinking that way, and ask ourselves how we would feel if we thought the opposite…
In this case, silently pushing out updates is true because @dan has told us it is, and we accept him as honest and authentic. That those self-same updates will sabotage and ruin hard work – we don’t know that is true (we really have nothing but fear to tell us it might be), and so how would we feel about this bit of GF stuff if we thought it isn’t true? (with apologies to Byron Katie)
Makes the world a far more clear and welcoming place with far less worry about “what might be’s”.
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As an engineer, when working on my own projects, I have to think through all the “what-ifs” and have contingency plans for each. It’s just in my nature to extend this mindset to my observations of the GF development process.
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It isn’t a matter of intent, its a matter of time before this type of update without notification can really mess someone up. Countless examples of it out there in the world today. Pointing it out isn’t a matter of is it true or not, its just a matter of time. It is a valid point for some users, and a worthwhile discussion.
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It can, but hopefully they are smart enough to realize that and will give people a heads up if its a breaking change. Its bad business for everyone involved in situations like this otherwise.
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@takitus, back to the op, does lpi have any effect of the smoothness of the gradient/dithering?
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