User guide

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User Guide
51
User Manual
Clip Art
Raster Sub-Tab
Print Special Eects
In this dropdown list, you can choose from four
dierent printing modes, Normal (default), Clip art,
3D and Rubber Stamp.
This control simulates laser printer output and
is very useful if using a drawing with many
colors, shades of gray or many outlines. It is
recommended to turn this control ON when
using DRAWN clip art because there may be
some underlying cutting lines hiding behind lled areas. Having this control ON gives a what-you-see-
is-what-you-get output very similar to laser printer output. The entire drawing will be raster engraved,
including all outlines, and only the Black color setting is used. The driver automatically turns OFF its
color-mapping feature and all colors are engraved as dierent shades of gray, represented by a halftone
pattern. The type of halftone pattern is based upon the “Quality” setting of the driver the same way
grayscale bitmaps are interpreted. Since clip art images use a wide variety of colors, shades and outlines,
the only eective way to engrave these images is to have this control turned ON. Clip art mode also
provides greater compatibility with Windows software that does not work well with vector devices such
as the laser system. Do not activate this control when printing photographs or bitmapped images; use it
only with DRAWN clip art.
3D
Choose Your Material
Establishing Nominal Power
There are two ways to use the 3D feature. The rst method is used to produce an engraving that has a
contoured depth, giving it a three dimensional feel. It is used in combination with grayscale bitmaps
by automatically assigning laser power levels to the shades of gray of the bitmap without converting
the image to a halftone. These power settings are based on the setting you entered for the color black
in the printer driver. The darkest shades of gray (black) will be assigned the value of the setting for the
black color. The lightest shade of gray (white) will automatically be assigned a 0% power. All other
shades of gray that fall between black and white will automatically be assigned an appropriate power
level that matches the darkness of the color. The engraving will appear “3D” because the depth of the
engraving will vary according to the image. Sometimes it takes several passes to create enough relief in the
engraving to get the desired results.
Special 3D software is required to produce the type of grayscale images that are compatible with
this mode. You cannot simply use ANY grayscale bitmap to produce a “3D” eect. Please contact our
Applications Department for the latest 3D software recommendations.
The second way to use the 3D feature is to engrave any photograph lightly onto the surface of hard
materials, such as black marble, anodized aluminum, painted brass, micro-surface engravers plastic, etc.,
to produce exceptional photographic quality. Using the appropriate materials and settings, the end
result is an engraving that looks more like a photograph than a halftoned or diusion dithered image
does. To use the 3D feature in this method you must rst follow the steps below.
The best material to use is one that has the highest contrast, such as black anodized aluminum, black
marble or black cored engravers plastic with a white micro surfaced coating. While other materials
may work okay, they may not produce the highest quality.
Choose your % Speed and your Image Density settings. Set the PPI to 1000, but don’t set the %
Power setting just yet. The objective is to use the LOWEST % Power setting that produces the
most contrast such as the whitest (as in black anodized aluminum) or the darkest (as in black cored
engravers plastic with a white micro surfaced coating) results.