I know of no other program where you need to login every 30 days, open and close each and every one of your own files, just to keep them as your own. And if you miss, your files are forever deleted with no way of backing them up or ever restoring them.
Yes, I made an assumption that my projects were my own property and not Glowforge’s. And I made the assumption I didn’t have to run through the ridiculous gymnastics of opening and closing 200+ files every 30 days in order to keep them. And I made the assumption I could reliably back up my projects locally.
I understand your frustration over things you assumed it should do. To me, manually focusing on material and setting print settings for every step is no different to when I put paper or an envelope in the top-feed of my inject printer and confirm or change the settings on the little screen. They both take just a few seconds - although for files with many steps for the 'forge it can take a few more.
The printer itself stores nothing, even though I don’t need the cloud to print it’s an option if I wanted to - I could print from anywhere in the world, if it was on and paper loaded.
The machine isn’t designed for commercial use, so I’m not concerned over the fact I need to validate placement for things where it’s critical (I engrave onto silicone rings and 1/4" wooden beads, for example.) I have a test target that I run first over the same mark on the jig to verify placement before running a print…
A couple people here mentioned I should contact support and see if they can’t get me access to those files. I finally received a reply from Glowforge support:
Hi Chipp,
This is Emie from Glowforge customer care. Thanks for writing in with this request. I can definitely help!
I understand your concern about losing access to your legacy files and settings. Unfortunately, once a Premium subscription is canceled, we no longer have access to the old designs and settings associated with that account.
So I thought I would wrap up this thread with my understanding of what I have learned from glowforge support, my own investigations, and the helpful comments here.
There is no foolproof way to save or export your project with all its settings to your local drive and then re-import them later. Projects with full settings can only be stored in the Glowforge cloud. This means if you have a very complex setup, you’re going to need to pay for the premium subscription or else log on every 30 days and open and save every single project you own.
If you have a premium subscription and you let it lapse, you will lose all of your projects in the cloud. This was told specifically to me by Glowforge support.
This would mean that if you intend on saving projects that you’re working on, it will run you $240 a year for the life of your glowforge. That assumes that they do not raise prices.
While it took me a while to figure all this out, I hope that others find the information valuable.
#1 Not actually true. When you save your design it includes settings. What is not saved is settings like text that can be changed if in the cloud. Of course, that is a premium point. Virtually all designs I have done are still on my hard drive, and all changes made after uploading are easily redone, or I redownload them.
All special settings can be saved permanently as custom settings.
#1 caveat- they did say “and reimport them.” So while the settings are saved into the exported file, they don’t go back in the same way they came out. You have to assign them all again.
Maybe I’m missing something, but it’s not the print driver that glowforge is asking you to pay for.
Unlike every other laser engraver/cutter out there, they are asking you to pay a subscription for the right to use their software to be able to access project files that you create.
Sure, there are proprietary systems out there. Like x tools. They have an amazing software that actually recognizes the shapes of your duplicate objects you place on the print bed and aligns the artwork to them regardless of angle. Just imagine throwing a bunch of coasters in any orientation on your honeycomb bed and automatically your artwork would be aligned and registered automatically-- and it’s all free. Not to mention their flagship CO2 unit is priced thousands and thousands of dollars less than my Glowforge pro.
I have no problem if I am just able to save project files locally and re-import them when I need them. That would be fine. Certainly if a project uses some of the premium features, then they can be disabled or frozen from the project file.
I have five Bambu 3D printers. I am able to save every configuration including filament type, filament color, and all print settings for every design I create. It’s a breeze to use and much more user friendly. I can save in the cloud or I can save locally, my choice. No cost. If you’re having trouble, I suggest you consider taking a look at Bambu printers.
No, not customer friendly. Cannot recommend this unit to anyone. Especially when there are much better systems out there for a fraction of the cost nowadays.
The software that comes with the machine is miles ahead of what it was when I first purchased my machine, and the price now is the same as when I was the last of the founders. None of those upgrades are a part of the premium package. All of those that came after had the Glowforge of that point of time as what they had to achieve as a minimum, and like x-tool, have some pretty fancy tricks they can promote to compete, but I think x-tool was the last to jump in.
I am still studying 3D printers trying to find one as easy as Glowforge for a non-engineer artist to use in multiple mixed colors. I might even pay a premium for a built in 3d software that would auto-slice and fade between colors easier than Blender.
Take it for someone who’s been around 3D printing for two decades, Bambu Labs is the way to go here. If you just want to get started, grab the mini and the AMS Lite. I have one and it’s my favorite printer even though I have the X1C as well. Super easy to use, well supported, and you can think of it as you do your inkjet printer. It’s that simple.
I disagree. I don’t use “their software” to access project files. I use Inkscape. Free. I store them on my laptop (and backups). Free. Done. I only bother to upload one when I need to print it. And if it happens I need to print more, I usually don’t have to upload again, but if I do, I don’t see that as a problem.
I have never paid GF for “software”, it has no value for me.
It sounds like you agree. You decided NOT to pay a subscription fee so you can’t access project files you create past 30 days. That is certainly fine-- and what I am now doing as well!:
One thing to understand. The camera in the lid is a fisheye that uses some weird math to report as flat. What this creates (as defined by the universe) is extreme sensitivity to the height of what it is looking at. Set Focus uses a red laser to make a spot and a camera to detect the angle to triangulate the height of the material to a very high precision. This number is closer than your micrometer as it includes the warp in the wood or variation in the slate. This is not saved as it differs in every case. It is only that number that makes the fisheye math fit the actual situation, and then only where you pick. With a good configuration, the result can be very accurate, and this has nothing to do with premium. It is just standard.
It sets the laser height but not the focus height. If the manual height is 3/8" and the focus height is 1/8" it will arrange the fisheye math to 1/8" but the laser focus will be very blurred as it would focus at 3/8". If there is no manual height then everything will be what Set Focus finds.
