Newbie on photo engraving

[DaveyB]

Hi
I have an LS6480 and would like to get into photo engraving. I have attached my first attempt which is not good. Can anyone suggest any tutorials for me to watch. My attempt has complete lines engraved making a very poor image. I am obviously doing something completely wrong.
Dave

[DaveyB]

Tried to upload an image but seem board is full or something.
Dave

[ncamacho2000]

Not sure what programs you are using, but i would recomend photograv as its loads easier and quicker than photoshop and better than results in caorel draw.

[TimBobTastic]

there are lots of paid software titles, (I use photoshop now) but, I used to get perfectly decent photo engraving results using Gimp... there are some great tutorials on YouTube...

Only additional advice is... make sure your scan gap matches your DPI, for example a 300 DPI image should use a scan gap of 0.08466mm

Simple equation... Scan Gap = DPI / 25.4

There is a forum topic somewhere that lists scan gap for common DPI's

Image prepared with Gimp


Image prepared with Photoshop


Good Luck

[KyC]

@TimBobTastic

Hi there

Can I ask a quick question (btw excellent photos and so crisp/clear!!) - When you engrave on acrylic do you
1) Engrave with the plastic protection in place, and then remove it (both top and bottom after)?
2) Remove the plastic protection on the side you will engrave before engraving
3) Remove the plastic protection on the side you will engrave and put a layer of adhesive paper over

Thanks!

PS Love the lightbox .. I just made one with 12v strip leds - worked well, but not bright enough for tall images

[TimBobTastic]

Can I ask a quick question (btw excellent photos and so crisp/clear!!) - When you engrave on acrylic do you...

I remove protection on the engraved side only, and engrave & cut in a single process

The light box is self contained 12V, powered by batteries. I get reasonable light penetration for images up to 200mm tall, and have made edge lit photo / clock combinations as gifts and awards for industrial customers without complaint.

[KyC]

Awesome - Thanks for the advice! Im still struggling to get clear images ... but will keep perservering

[Lightnin]

looking good, but don't forget that's a negative

[TimBobTastic]

thats a great image... as Lightnin said... dont forget to invert the image colours on the Photo...black to white white to black... there is a menu item in Laser script for that...

[KyC]

OMG .. I feel like such an rrrrrs Did not see that !

Thanks guys :doh: :facepalm: Will try again this weekend!