User guide

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User Guide
72
User Manual
General Software Set-up
There are many software programs that you can purchase o-the-shelf that will work with the laser system. Some of
them can access more features of the laser system than others may. Whichever program you choose, it must be set up
to work with the laser system, otherwise unexpected results may occur. Use the following GENERAL guidelines when
conguring your software program.
Page Setup
To properly generate and position artwork, most graphics software will permit the customization of the page size
and orientation. Set the page orientation in the graphics software to Landscape and the page size to match the
maximum engraving area of your laser system. The driver’s orientation and page size MUST then be set to match
these specications EXACTLY, otherwise the artwork may not print correctly. When setting page orientation and
driver orientation to Landscape mode, the laser system will operate in the horizontal direction, left to right. If page
orientation and driver orientation is set to Portrait mode, the laser system will operate in the vertical direction,
front to back. The laser system is designed to operate best in the Landscape mode and this orientation is highly
recommended. The page size may also be reduced to match the size of the engraving material, but remember to
adjust the page size in the driver to correspond to the graphics software’s page size. Note that in production
situations it is often more ecient to leave the page size at its maximum page size and engrave or cut more
than one object at a time. This is accomplished by duplicating the image on screen as many times as possible to ll
up the entire page.
Ruler Setup
Usually the graphics software will provide on-screen rulers, which can be congured to match the rulers in the
laser system. Using rulers in the software and matching them with the ones provided in the laser system
optimizes the alignment of the graphic on the screen with the material in the laser system. For now, assume that
the laser system’s origin is xed in the upper left corner of the engraving area and cannot be altered. Later on you
will learn how to relocate the origin. Change the ruler position on screen to match the laser system with the origin
(0,0) in the upper left corner. It is also possible to use a page size smaller than the maximum engraving area. For
example, if you desire an 8-inch (203.2 mm) x 10-inch (254 mm) page size, set this page size in the graphics
software as well as in the printer driver. The laser system will automatically move the engraving area to the origin,
so place the object all the way up into the left-hand corner against the rulers in the laser system.
Power Control through Color Selection
The laser system allows the use of eight dierent colors to access eight dierent power settings when cutting and
engraving. When using this power change feature, the driver colors used MUST exactly match the colors listed in
the driver. The colors are black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan and orange. Some programs will provide
pre-dened basic colors and other programs may require the creation of each of the colors by dening them in
RGB. If you are using CorelDRAW, we have made our own custom palette and placed the le on the Software
Installation CD-ROM. Please refer to the software setup instructions for your specic version of CorelDRAW. If you
are using other graphics software and need to mix your own colors, use the chart below to create them.
RED (R) GREEN (G) BLUE (B)
COLORS
BLACK 0 0 0
RED 255 0 0
GREEN 0 255 0
YELLOW 255 255 0
BLUE 0 0 255
MAGENTA 255 0 255
CYAN 0 255 255
ORANGE 255 102 0