Why is "preparing your design" taking so long, then disappears?

Community Support
1

Don’t know why “preparing your design” is taking so long and then disappearing. I’ve tried turning off and on my laptop and Glowforge

2

Usually when I see this it is a very complex design with a massive amount of nodes, or several engraves in one design.

Couple of things to try.
If several engraves involved, ignore all but one and print, then ignore that one and enable one of the other engraves. Repeat until all are done.

If a single engrave causes this I have examined the design and simplified it where can to bring down the node count.

1 Like
3

Thanks but I have successfully cut it yesterday so I don’t understand why it’s not cutting tonight :frowning:

4

May want to say time zone and time you attempted the design then.
That will allow support to find the error.

5

I had something like this a day or two ago.

I noticed that the button on the Glowforge was signaling “ready”.

So I pushed it and cutting began.

The web display eventually caught up but it the 14 minute (or so) job was already about half completed.

2 Likes
6

Thank you for writing in. There’s a problem with our software in handling very large engraves and it looks like that what’s happening here. Your message will help us improve our software for everyone.

If your design includes a large engrave, you have two choices. You can reduce the size of your print in the app by signing in, selecting your file, clicking on your image, and then dragging a corner towards the center of the image to make it smaller. Or you can divide your image into pieces and print them one at a time, as shown below.

  1. Split your image into pieces
  • Save your design as a PNG file
  • Go to imagesplitter.net and upload your file
  • Click on the “SPLIT IMAGE” tab and enter the number of rows and columns you want to split your image into
  • Choose PNG
  • Click the blue “SPLIT IMAGE” button. The software will split your image into the number of rows and columns you specify and automatically download a zipped file of the pieces.
  1. Create a single file with all the pieces
  • Locate the file on your computer (where your downloads go) and unzip it
  • Mac: Double click on the file to open it
  • Windows: Double click on the file to open it, then click “Extract All”
  • Open a new file in Inkscape (used for this example, although other software will work too)
  • Choose File > Import and select all the images from the zip file
  • Line up the images up so they are seamless. In Inkscape, when you drag the images near each other, they will snap together. (If they don’t, go to View > Show/Hide > Snap Controls Bar and adjust the settings.)
  • Select File > Save As and save the file as an Inkscape SVG file
  1. Upload and Print
  • Sign in to app.glowforge.com, click “Upload” and choose the file you saved.
  • Each piece of artwork will import as a step in the app. Click on a step and choose “Ignore.” Ignore all the steps but one, and then press “Print.”
  • When that print finishes, leave your material in place
  • Set the step you printed to “Ignore” and print another step
  • Continue ignoring and printing until you’ve finished
7

It’s been a little while since I’ve seen any replies on this thread so I’m going to close it. If you still need help with this please either start a new thread or email support@glowforge.com.