User guide

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User Guide
59
User Manual
this procedure for all your materials and save your parameters. This may sound like a big job, but the
additional productivity and engraving quality that your system is capable of producing is well worth the
small amount of time spent.
Vector Sub-Tab
Vector Optimizer
The four available selections apply to vector
output only and have no eect on raster images.
Regardless of which of the following selections
you choose, vectors are grouped by pen color
and will always output in the color order listed in
the printer driver.
Enhance and Sort
Enchance and Sort turns on both features
simultaneously.
Enhance Only
The printer driver collects all the vectors from the application software and reconstructs them (so
to speak) by removing start and stop points within the vector curves so that they run smoother with
less jitter. It has no eect on straight, horizontal or vertical lines.
Sort Only
The printer driver collects all the vectors from the application software, stores them in temporary
memory, sorts them and then outputs them in the following order:
All open path vectors are output rst (not closed path vectors like circles and squares) beginning •
with the end point of the vector path that is closest to the current position of the focus carriage.
All subsequent open vector paths are output using the same “nearest neighbor” starting point
method which eliminates the random “vector hopping” that causes longer processing times.
Closed paths will follow, beginning with the innermost closed path and ending with the •
outermost closed path. This is particularly useful in an elevated cutting application to prevent the
outer piece from falling rst. The beginning point of a closed path is automatically selected by
the printer driver by the “nearest neighbor” vector path that has the steepest angle in the Y-Axis
direction.
None
This selection turns o Vector Optimizer. Vectors will be ordered exactly as sent from the user’s graphics
program and ordered by pen color.
Vector Scaling
This feature allows you to calibrate vector cutting or vector engraving to your particular application. To
calibrate the system, as an example, draw a precise 5” x 5” (127 x 127 mm) square in your graphics software.
In the printer driver, set the laser power and speed setting to vector mark (do not cut through) this square
onto some scrap material. After marking, remove the material and with a precision measuring device,
such as a caliper, measure the square in both the horizontal (X) and vertical (Y) directions. Let’s say that the
measurement was 4.997”x (126.92 mm) and 4.996”y (126.89 mm). Use the formula (desired length/measured
length) and enter the result into the X-axis and Y-axis boxes respectively. In this example, the result would
be X-axis = 1.0006 to 1.0000 and Y-axis = 1.0008 to 1.0000. The printer driver will scale the images larger for
numbers greater than 1.0000 and will scale the image smaller for numbers less than 1.0000. After changing
the numbers, repeat the marking procedure and verify that the square is scaled correctly. We used a 5” by 5”
(127 x 127 mm) square just as an example, but you can use any size object that is smaller than the maximum
size of the engraving eld. Using the Vector scaling feature with larger images produces more accurate results.
Keep in mind that this feature DOES NOT scale raster images so if you combine raster and vector images in one
le, the raster image may not align with your vectors. You will need to manually position your raster images
in their desired positions.