Oh hey also, you might be interested in this thread I posted ages ago about really tweaking the way engraving works.
Given your skills in processing, I bet you could make some really interesting stuff doing something like this. I’ve only fooled around with processing enough to be dangerous… but if you get into really tweaking images and then output SVG or possibly output raster and combine them with the trace functions of Inkscape et al, you’ll probably invent a ton of new ideas.
Also also, WAAAY previously, there was some discussion about when GF changed the duthering engine. It sounds like you know your Floyds from your Steinbergs, so you might want to look around there if you haven’t.
https://community.glowforge.com/search?q=steinberg
and dithering in general:
https://community.glowforge.com/search?q=dithering%20order%3Alatest