I see on YouTube that people are using PhotoShop or Coral Draw for photo enhancing prior to engraving. Is one better or easier to use than the other?
Thanks.
I see on YouTube that people are using PhotoShop or Coral Draw for photo enhancing prior to engraving. Is one better or easier to use than the other?
Thanks.
Photoshop and I have both. A tonne of instructional videos online for PS
So many enhancement routines, filters, etc. for PS... plus it runs on more than just MS OSs.
Corel Draw is more or less the standard for those of us who own and operate lasers to make money. Corel Draw has plug ins (laser machine supplied) that let you send directly into the machine or machine software. Photograv is also good.
Retired Master Electrician, HVAC/R Commercial. FLA Saturn 2 4x4 CNC Router Mach4 Kimber 1911 45ACP
Further: Corel isn't photo enhancement software, it's a vector editor. It's photo manipulation abilities are poor. They do bundle Corel Photo-Paint, but that because no one would ever pay money for it.
There's a reason people say "that's been Photoshopped", not "that's been Coreled"
And the statement that Corel is 'more or less the standard' is wildly optimistic and unlikely to be substantially, and rooted in the US, where it seems XP is still king and pirate copies of Coreldraw are common. It would probably be more accurate to say it's the standard with people that make signs.
If you're a designer, engineer, architect, etc. you're unlikely to be using either, unless you like decoration.
Myself I prefer a different workflow, CAD or AI to CAM, with an intermediate network-attached server routing all previously-Gcoded laser jobs, and certainly not on something as flaky as Windows.
YMMV..
Outside the US Corel is rarely, if ever, mentioned. Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop are, by far, the most popular vector and bitmap apps.
You sound like someone who has never prepared photos for laser engraving? We work primarily with BMP images either BW or Grayscale in the "real" world.
I find Mr. Zoot this statement you made un-informed and amusing .
And the statement that Corel is 'more or less the standard' is wildly optimistic and unlikely to be substantially, and rooted in the US, where it seems XP is still king and pirate copies of Coreldraw are common.
Retired Master Electrician, HVAC/R Commercial. FLA Saturn 2 4x4 CNC Router Mach4 Kimber 1911 45ACP
So you use Corel Photo-Paint?
Be as amused as you like, Corel isn't a bitmap editor. In my 'real world', I would see 100 copies of Photoshop to every copy of Corel. Go into any learning institute teaching resistant materials and I doubt a one of them is using Corel.
Your experience doesn't a fact make.
Corel's a great tool - if that's what you want. The OP asked a question, which I answered using my experience. You clearly view only your opinion as being valid.
After nearly fifty years in software and about twenty-two supporting graphic designers, printers, signmakers, on three continents, I'm confident that Adobe is far more widely used than Corel. In the US, Corel has a large installed base, and a lot of old versions. Not the situation in the rest of the world.
Specifically the question was about ease-of-use and in that Photoshop beats Corel photo paint hands down. Unless all you are doing is making a grey scale in which case, anything will do the job.
Yes, Mr. Zoot that's what we do in the "real" world of lasers, we prepare images for the machine in B-W or Gray Scale. Corel Draw works fine for it and also for the millions of users preparing output for sign making and vinyl cutting. Adobe is great for print or website use.
Here we are talking about Lasers and they do not do colors.
Retired Master Electrician, HVAC/R Commercial. FLA Saturn 2 4x4 CNC Router Mach4 Kimber 1911 45ACP
Okay so I am a beginner to laser and I am not doing it as a business. I am just a hobby person. I bought a Rabbit Laser and it is a 60 watt machine. I have tried following instructions via You Tube for PhotoShop and Corel Draw & Paint for engraving granite tile but I am missing something. I have downloaded both software trial versions until I can figure out what I am doing. I cannot get an image to engrave on granite. I am doing great in wood but granite is just now working. Can anyone provide instruction on what to do or suggest something I look at differently. I also have PhotoGrav, nothing is working.
Thanks.
Photograv should work fine for photo prep. Remember its like engraving glass what you see on you screen that is black will engrave white on either glass or granite. Photograv has an option where you can select granite as a background image so you can see what I am talking about. As I recall you need to invert the white and black image so it engraves correctly. The image does not need to be better than 300 to 600 dpi for the laser.
So find a decent simple photo, color is ok as you can convert to BW in the Photograv software, follow the step by step process through and you will end up with a inverted B to W image and save as a BMP. Import that into your LaserCad or whatever software comes with the machine. I have lost or at least can not find my settings! For engraving or raster try 50% power and speed at perhaps 300 mm Sec, just guessing. I get my granite from Home Depot and I will try to post a result of one of my projects.
Do keep a log book of different materials and the settings you have used successfully. Joy was done with a 40 watt laser.
The harbor picture is Skagway AK taking in 2013 and on Acrylic not a good example!.
Retired Master Electrician, HVAC/R Commercial. FLA Saturn 2 4x4 CNC Router Mach4 Kimber 1911 45ACP
Wow, your pictures are great! I will try your suggestion. Do you use AutoFocus when engraving on granite or should I manually focus the laser?
Thanks.
Retired Master Electrician, HVAC/R Commercial. FLA Saturn 2 4x4 CNC Router Mach4 Kimber 1911 45ACP
Okay so I am running a test now at 75 mm speed, 85% power, 0.085 gap. We shall see what happens.