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Laser Engraving Photos

who am i

40 years in the awards and engraving business

Manufacturers Rep since 1988

Has been selling lasers since 1991

Have been using CorelDraw since 1991

Featured writer for the Engravers Journal

Constantly calling on Engravers and Trophy shops


who am i
My lines include

Full line of Trophy Supplies such as resins, glass, plaques, and


acrylics

Custom Castings

Full Line of solid wood and custom manufacturing

Full line of engraving equipment, sublimation and engraving


supplies
Who Am I

• My email is
• mike@engrave.ca

• My website is
• www.engrave.ca
our lesson purpose

My purpose today is to make you a better


photograph engraver using your laser machine

I will take you through my 4 rules for successfully


lasering photos

The second part of this seminar will look at the


steps needed for each material that we want to
engrave.
why 3 hours

Some people asked me why I need 3 hours.

I need 3 hours because there are a number of


factors and techniques you need to consider when
you are lasering photographs.
please have patience

I have spent years developing the techniques we


discuss here

A number of them I have developed myself

These techniques are new because everyone


wants to think that they can tell people to just buy
software and it works
One Stop Photo Software
A lot of people talk about buying photo processing
software for the laser as if it is the only
consideration when it comes to laser engraving
photos. Although photo manipulation is important it
is not the only one techinque that we need to know

There are a number of factors and techniques that


will determine whether you are successful or not at
processing a photo for your laser

Spending $250 does not give you a free pass to


guarantee a perfect photo
4 Factors For a Good Photo

• Rated in order
A Good Quality Photo

Proper Power and Speeds for your laser

Know your material

Software
A Good Quality Photo
Good Quality Photo

There are a number of ways to look at what


constitutes a good photo

Is the lighting good?

Is there good detail?

Is there good focus?

Most importantly does the file suffer from too much


compression (artifacting)?
Good Lighting

Bad Lighting Good Lighting


Good Lighting
To Much Red Colour Good Normal Colour
Red colour cast
Good Lighting
This Image Comes This Image Comes
Up to Dark Up Just Right
Good Detail

To Far Better Detail


is our image all there

Bad if you are Good


looking to
laser the tractor
is The Focus Good

Bad Good
is the image to compressed

Bad Good
JPEG Compression
One of the big problems that we face is that most
photos that we are given now a days by our
customers have been taken on a Digital camera.

The problem with digital camera’s is you just never


know the quality of photo you are going to get in
terms of the compression that was used when the
photo was made. The higher the compression the
worse the image will be for lasering

Highly compressed photos can greatly decrease the


chances of achieving a good photographic
representation on your laser
JPEG Compression

For this reason it is very important that we analyze


a photo when we get it so that we can check for
compression issues that would effect the quality of
our photo

If the photo you receive has a high degree of


compression this should raise a red flag in terms of
being cautious as to the results you will get from
lasering the image.
it is a good idea to zoom in
on an image
Zoom in on the image to check the quality

CorelDraw

This photo is of very good quality


it is a good idea to zoom in
on an image

Zoom in on
the image to
check the
quality This
photo is not
very good
quality
Here is how it lasers

The image has


been lasered on
black anodized
aluminum. The
detail is not there
because of all the
compression
applied
Same Image just less
compression
Here is the same image less compression
Same Image just less
compression

The image has


been lasered on
black anodized
aluminum. The
detail is a lot
better as there is
a lot less
compression
happening
Here is Another issue with
Compression
Zoom in on the image to check the quality. On the left
you see how there are chunks or blotches in the yellow
circles. You can see what happens to the image in the
Unsharp Mask. The blotches a very pronounced
Too much compression causes
blotchiness in our image

When there is a
lot of
compression
blockiness when
we go to sharpen
we end up with
large “blocks”
which is no good
for our image
Or is the image just no good to
begin with

Converted Original
Proper Power and speed
Proper Power Laser Settings

Probably one of the areas where most laser users


miss is making sure their laser settings are set
properly for the material that they are lasering on. I
call this maximizing your powers and speeds for a
material

One of the first steps we should do when we get our


laser is to create the proper power and speed settings
for each one of the materials we are going to work
with - and I mean all of them. Save them all.
Proper Power Laser Settings

Do not believe what your laser manufacturer tells


you is the proper power and speed
Here Are Some Manufacturer’s
Presets
Speed to Power

I would be at least 10
to 15 % lower

Notice this is for


marble not granite

300 DPI 400 DPI 600 DPI


Proper Power Laser Settings

As you can see the laser settings that are listed by the
manufacturer are not the ones that I would use.

To be fair - with all the materials that are available it is


hard to have proper powers. For example when we say
engraving plastic there are so many variations which one
would you list is hard to decide.

Also everyone is different. For example I may like a


deeper engraving than someone else. Thus my power
and speed will be different from someone else. So as you
can see it is very hard to have so called factory presets.
Proper Power Laser Settings

So for this reason it is very important that you test you


materials so that you get the best combination of power
and speed

And to be more precise we should have a proper power


and speed for the resolution you want to run whether is
be 300, 400, 500 or 600 DPI.
Sample file done on
anodized aluminum

The Manufacturers setting was 100 s 40 power. There is


suppose to be an emblem in the background.
Sample file done on
anodized aluminum

100 Speed 30 Power 600 DPI. There is to much power


being used on this material
Sample file done on
anodized aluminum

100 Speed 20 Power 600 DPI. The detail is coming up


Sample file done on
anodized aluminum

100 Speed 12 Power 600 DPI. So much better detail


Sample file done on
anodized aluminum

100 Speed 12 Power 600 DPI - Perfect Image


Sample file done on
anodized aluminum

Original Power Final Power


30 Power 12 power
Here is another example

Less Power
Missing
Line
Bolder
Font

More Power

This is a difference of 3 percent in power. Same speed


Here are 3 vector and 3 raster lines engraved
at different powers and the same speed

Notice how the vectors


line increase in width as
the power increases

Notice how the raster


line increase in width as
the power increases
Here is one more example

Here is another example of too much power - black granite


how can we explain this over
burning

So the question for us here is to understand what


is going on in terms of explaining why this over
burning is happening. What is going on is the
higher the power we use (which could also be
slower speed) the bigger the laser dot becomes.

The bigger the laser dot that is created by the laser


the more material that is removed by the laser
through this larger dot.
Dot Gain

Thus as our power increases or our speed


decreases our laser spot size increases. This is
because our power increases. If our power goes
down or our speed goes up our laser spot or dot
becomes smaller

When it comes to explaining this rule I call this dot


gain - which is the same term used in the printing
industry. The more ink you use the “bolder” the
image becomes
What is going on?

This is a very important rule that must be


considered when we are working with any material
on our laser. If our dot gain becomes to much we
can obliterate our image.

I remember the first time I tried to laser a photo


onto black granite. I used 100 power and 100 speed
on a 75 watt laser. All I got was a big white
rectangle. I had so much power there was no image
left
Dot Gain - the shape of a
lasered dot

The Yellow Circle


is the Original laser
beam spot size

The area outside of


the yellow circle is
the so - called “gain”
that happens when
the heat spreads out
Another laser spot

The Yellow Circle


is the Original laser
beam spot size

The area outside of


the yellow circle is
the so - called “gain”
that happens when
the heat spreads out
Dot Gain creates the over
burn
So the way that dot gain works is the higher the power
you produce with your laser the bigger the gain
becomes and thus the spot size becomes bigger

For example if your creates a laser spot size of .005


when it hits your material that is the size of the laser
spot. As more heat is absorbed by the material our spot
size could grow to a size of 0.025 or 5 times the original
size. If the power is too much it can “interfere” with
neighbouring spots or dots.

This is why images become “thicker” due to over burn.


Dot Gain creates the over
burn

The bigger the size of the spot the more overlap we


get between the laser dots. Combine this with higher
resolutions and we can create a lot of dots in a 1
square inch size.

This is why images become “thicker” due to over


burn. Over burn will quickly obliterate our image
Dot Gain creates the over
burn

Thus it is critical that we get our laser powers perfect

Remember power can be expressed in a combination


of laser power, motion speed and printed resolution
(such as 600 DPI)
Normal Laser Spots

Let us assume that the diagram below is a rendition


of a series of laser dots or spots laid down at a proper
power and speed. In this case we have our spots
touching
To much power

If we use to much power our spots become bigger.


Our offset will remain the same. Thus we now have
spots running into each other
little To power
If we use to little power our spots become smaller.
Our offset will remain the same. Thus we now have
large spaces between our spots. This can mean some
parts of our image may be gone due to not enough
power by the laser.
printing Resolution

Laser printing resolution is the amount of laser dots


or spots that are laid down in a 1 inch box. The
acronym DPI stands for dots per inch.

The higher the DPI theoretically the better the quality


we will get. This is not always right but for the most
part it is.

400 DPI means 400 dots horizontally and 400 dots


vertically. 600 DPI means 600 dots horizontally and
600 dots vertically.
printing Resolution

The more dots that we print the more overlap we will


have.

For this reason increasing the resolution will increase


the amount of laser burning in an inch box. This is
like dot gain but the spot sizes remain the same. What
changes is the overlap.

The higher the resolution the longer it takes to


engrave as we have more lines

Never use 1200 DPI for photos. It is not necessary


printing Resolution

Here are two representations of two different printed resolutions.


The red box is representing a 1 inch box. The spots are the same
for each. The 600 DI has more lines than the 400 DPI. Thus there
is more overlap and thus more burn by the laser in the inch box.

400 DPI

600 DPI
now that we have a better
understanding of what is
resolution and dot gain let us
look at how to create proper
power and speed settings
Two Ways to create proper
settings

There are two ways to create proper laser tests

1. One is to create a black box and adjust your power


and speed settings as you laser

2. The second is to use colour mapping to run multiple


powers or speeds at the same time
using the black box

The First Method is to Use the Black Box

All though I tease everyone when I go through this


step to try and get them to think it is some super
secret technique it is very easy and most machines
will support this technique
using the black box

The black box method is easy because all we are


doing is sending an image (black box) over to the
laser with a preset power and speed

Once the job starts we start adjusting our power or


speed from our laser machine.

As we are adjusting our power or speed we are


monitoring the burn to see if it is satisfactory
using the black box

The big question is what is a proper power and


speed?

Some of it really depends on you and what you


consider a proper power. For example if we are
engraving wood the proper power will be what
depth you want to laser at.

To me pretty is in the eye of the beholder. What you


think is right may not be right in my eyes.
Golden Rule

The Proper Power and Speed typically is the least


amount of power that we can get away with but still
get a good quality looking image.

This may seem a little foreign considering no one


really explains how the manufacturer derives the
power and speeds that they suggest.

Just remember the more power you use the less detail
you can create. Considering we want detail than
using less power is preferable over too much.
First create a black box in
Coreldraw
Our Box is 2 “
wide and 3” tall
The box an be
any height just
choose
something that
will run for a
minute or two

Our Black Box


Set up the printer driver

Printing Resolution

Only Raster

Raster Speed

No Vector Setup

Set Up For Anodized Aluminum on a 60 Watt


Notice How Low the Power is
adjust the power on your
laser machine

Speed Button allows us to select the speed and adjust it


The Power button allows us to select the Power and adjust it
The Up and Down arrows in the red box allow us to change the value
Adjust the power or speed as the
machine moves
for vectors we need to keep sending
different power and speed jobs

insert vector video


Here is our box engraved

Notice how the


rectangle skews
inwards where the low
power burn is

Our Sample
Material was
Brushed Gold
Engraving Plastic
Save the settings in the print driver
using colour mapping

The Second Method is to Use Colour Mapping

Sometimes when we need to test a material adjusting the


power as we go does not work that well. One example is
with Thermark. I can adjust the power or the speed but I
can not see my adjustment till I wash off the Thermark
on steel or tile. It is not very practical to laser, wash off,
clean, respray. This goes the same for glass that we
mask.

For this reason it is better to run a number of settings all


at once. We do this with colour mapping.
Sometimes when we need to test a material
adjusting the power as we go does not work that
well. One example is with Thermark. I can adjust
the power or the speed but I can not see my
adjustment till I wash off the Thermark on steel or
tile. It is not very practical to laser, wash off, clean,
respray. This goes the same for glass that we mask.
For this reason it is better to run a number of
settings all at once. We do this with colour
mapping.
Engrave by colour
testing File

Here are a couple


of testing files
where I use
colour mapping.
Each colour
represents a
different setting
Engrave by colour
testing File

Here are a couple


of test patterns
that I created on
ceramic tile.
Notice how the
Thermark spray
adheres at
different setting.
Help File

Go to this link to
see a more
through
discussion on
this topic. You
will be able to
down load the
test file.

http://www.engrave.ca/archives/5348
know what type of photograph
you are working on
the difference between black and white
and grayscale
Our grayscale image looks better than the error diffusion image
Black and White Image Grayscale Image

Error Diffusion Image Continuous Tone Image


know your material
Know Your Material
Fine or coarse

Ok here is the number one rule of being successful


with lasering photos. The way we process a photo is
dependent on the type of material we are lasering on.

If we look further into this statement we see that we


actually come out with two types of material. We
have what I like to call fine and coarse material.
Depending on the material type will determine the
way I process my photo.
Grayscale looks better on fine
material
Our grayscale image looks better than the error diffusion image

Error Diffusion Image Grayscale Image


Good Best
Error Diffusion looks better on
coarse material
Our error diffusion image looks better than the grayscale image
Error Diffusion Image Grayscale Image
Best Good
Fine Material

Fine material is the first of our two types of materials


that we classify our material into

What is a “Fine Material”?


Characteristics of fine
material

Large Contrast (white or black)

No Grain (engraving plastic)

Able to hold a good dot

Able to hold a small dot

Typically requires lower power


Types of fine materials
Laserable Plastic

Anodized Aluminum

Laserable Aluminum

Black Blass Plated Steel

Leather

Acrylic

AlumaMark
Examples of Fine materials
Anodized Aluminum
Anodized Aluminum
leather
Engraving plastic
black brass plated steel
laser aluminum
gold aluma mark
silver aluma mark
Coarse material

Coarse Material - coarse material can be classified as any


material that has a lot of grain in it and or it can not hold
a small lasered dot. For example oak would be a very
coarse material because it has a lot of grain in it -
actually a very bad grain when it comes to lasering. For
that matter all wood is coarse. For me the coarser the
material the less detail we will leave in our image - more
on that later.
characteristics of coarse
materials

Low Contrast

Lots of Grain

Able to hold or create a large not small dot

Typically requires higher power

The photo looks better when we remove the background


- use Cutout Image
types of materials
Wood

Marble

Glass

Thermark Materials

Mirror

Corian

Fabric
Examples of coarse materials
wood
wood
corian
Glass
marble
marble
marble
thermark /cermark
Mirror
Material chart

Fine Materials Coarse Material

Anodized Aluminum Granite

AlumaMark Thermark Materials

Engraving Plastic Glass

Mirrored Acrylic All Wood Products

Acrylic Corian

Laser It Mirrors

All Laser Engraving Metals Marble


Why Do we have fine and
coarse materials

The reason we need to place our materials into these


two different categories is that we will process our
photos differently depending on whether the product
is a fine material or a coarse material

Thus the product we use will dictate how we process


a photo.
Processing a photo

We will now go through the steps on how to process


a photo.

Note that the initial steps are the same for each photo
except there is an extra step for coarse materials
processing a photo for
lasering fine material
Here is my image

All images need to converted to grayscale first


Fine material steps
anodized aluminum
With the image selected go to
BITMAPS | MODE | GRAYSCALE
What does a proper grayscale
image look like
This is what a proper grayscale image should look like. Notice
that it has a good level of variation in light to dark
Fine material steps
anodized aluminum
Image converted to gray on the left is to dark. The image on the
right is lightened up with the contrast enhancement tool
Fine material steps
anodized aluminum
To access the contrast enhancement tool go to
EFFECTS |ADJUST | CONTRAST ENHANCEMENT
Fine material steps
anodized aluminum
Our image is to dark. The Original Preview
histogram shows this
Fine material steps
anodized aluminum

The secret to adjusting a photo


is to isolate the “flash” areas of
the face by making them a
more solid white
Fine material steps
anodized aluminum
Our next step is to open the Unsharp Mask command. Go to
BITMAPS | SHARPEN | UNSHARP MASK
Fine material steps
anodized aluminum
Here is the command window for the Unsharp Mask
Fine material steps
anodized aluminum
Our Image Sharpened
Fine material steps
anodized aluminum
Why Do We Need to Sharpen Our Image?
All photos that we get whether they are scanned in our
from a digital camera have a certain amount of
“fuzziness” applied to them. This is a product of the
process of digitizing a photo. This fuzziness cause an
issue where your eye finds it very hard to distinguish
changes in colours.

To get rid of this fuzziness use a technique called


Unsharp Mask. This technique “sharpens” up the image
by tricking your eye to see a more pronounced
separation between colours
Fine material steps
anodized aluminum
We need to Invert the image as we are placing the image on a
black surface material. Go to EFFECTS|TRANSFORM|INVERT
Fine material steps
anodized aluminum
Here is our image inverted and ready to send to the laser
Fine material steps
anodized aluminum
Here is my finished image lasered on anodized aluminum
Fine material steps
anodized aluminum
Here is a close up of the grayscale photo. Notice the detail in the bracelet
Fine material steps
anodized aluminum
Here is a close up of the black and white photo. Notice the loss of detail
Fine material steps
anodized aluminum

Here is another finished


image lasered on anodized
aluminum
let us now look at the steps to
use to get the image ready to
engrave on a coarse material
-wood
COARSE MATERIAL
STEPSWOOD PRODUCTS
With the image selected go to
BITMAPS | MODE | GRAYSCALE
COARSE MATERIAL
STEPSWOOD PRODUCTS
Image converted to gray. It is too dark so it needs to be
lightened up with the contrast enhancement tool
COARSE MATERIAL
STEPSWOOD PRODUCTS
To access the contrast enhancement tool go to
EFFECTS |ADJUST | CONTRAST ENHANCEMENT
COARSE MATERIAL
STEPSWOOD PRODUCTS
Our image is to dark. The
histogram shows this
COARSE MATERIAL
STEPSWOOD PRODUCTS
Our Image Has Been Adjusted With The Contrast Enhancement
coarse material steps
Wood products
Our next step is to open the Unsharp Mask command. Go to
BITMAPS | SHARPEN | UNSHARP MASK
coarse material steps
Wood products
Our next step is to open the Unsharp Mask command. Go to
BITMAPS | SHARPEN | UNSHARP MASK
coarse material steps
Wood products
Our Image Sharpened
coarse material steps
Wood products
Our next step is too convert our image to black. To do this go
to BITMAPS|MODE|BLACK AND WHITE
coarse material steps
Wood products
When we are in the command window your conversion method is Jarvis.
You can adjust the Intensity slider if you want to change the effect
coarse material steps
Wood products
Our Image Converted to Black and White
coarse material steps
Wood products
Our Image Finished
COARSE MATERIAL
STEPSWOOD PRODUCTS
COARSE MATERIAL
STEPSWOOD PRODUCTS
in my experience fine materials make
better photos than coarse materials.
they hold more detail and thus can
create a better looking photo. thus if
you have the choice to choose your
material choose a fine material
although converting to greyscale in
coreldraw is easy to do there is
better control if we use photopaint.
this is especially true if the image
has what is known as a colour cast.
this is where one colour of the image
- say red - has become dominant do
to proper exposure or lighting
in Corel photopaint we can easily
correct this using the convert to
greyscale command. this is easy to
do and be very quick to fix colour
issues in a photo
New Technique greyscale conversion
via photopaint
Here is my test image. Notice the bias in the red colour in the photo. This
will cause issues when I convert to grey if done in CorelDraw
Send the photo to photopaint from
coreldraw
You can open up the image in PhotoPaint or CorelDraw. Here I have
opened the file in CorelDraw and I can open it in PhotoPaint by right
clicking on the image and select “Edit Bitmap”. I will be able to save the
changes back to the file in CorelDraw
Here is our image in photopaint

Here is our image in PhotoPaint


Access the convert to grayscale
command

To access the Grayscale command we need to go to


IMAGE|CONVERT TO GRAYSCALE
Access the convert to grayscale
command
When we open up the command you have te two window view. There
are also sliders that relate to colour. Each slider allows to add (black) or
subtract (white)
adjust the red in the photo

When we open up the command you have te two window view. There
are also sliders that relate to colour. Each slider allows to add (black) or
subtract (white). I have moved the red slider right.

Before After
Adjust the yellow in the photo

Here is our image adjusted for red (Before). The After photo shows my
yellow adjustment. These two adjustments give me a very good tonality
to the photo as it has reduced the red and yellow

Before After
Adjust the green in the photo

Nothing happens to the image when I adjust the Green.


Adjust the cyan in the photo

Nothing happens to the image when I adjust the Cyan. For that matter
nothing happens we we adjust the Blues or the Magentas
What About Cropping
HERE IS A PHOTO THAT NEEDS TO
CROPPED
OUR PHOTO HAS BEEN CROPPED
Resampling a photo
Resampling a photo

One of the important steps that people fail to utilize


is to adjust their photo so that it it has a proper
resolution. The proper screen resolution for a laser
machine is typically any where from about 100 PPI
150 PPI. The proper resolution though is based on the
fact that the photograph must be size as. Thus if you
are lasering a photo that’s 5 inches the screen
resolution should be 100 PPI to 150 PPI. For this
reason it is important that we note the size and
resolution of our image before we laser our photo.
Resampling a photo

The status bar indicates that the resolution of this


image is 180 dpi by 180 dpi
Resampling a photo

The property bar indicates that the photo is 3.43 inches


wide by 2.405 inches tall
Resampling a photo
If I make my image 8 inches wide then you notice that my screen
resolution has dropped to 77 dpi by 77 dpi. Thus I will need to
increase my resolution of my image. I will use the resample
command.
Resampling a photo

To open the resample command go to BITMAPS|RESAMPLE


Resampling a photo

Here is the resample command opened up. Notice that I have


unchecked the anti-alias button. Our image size is 783 kB
Resampling a photo

I have increased the resolution from 77 dpi 150 dpi. Notice the file
size increased four times - 2.90 MB
Resampling a photo
Rules

When you resize an image you change its resolution


if you increase the size of resolution goes down if you
decrease the size and resolution goes up

When you want to change the size of the image and


keep its resolution the same use the resample
command. If the resolution is not right use the
resample command to fix it

Make sure you know the size of the photo that you
want to laser. This is very important
What About Resolution?
resolution some important points for
photos

Grayscale Image Printing

If you are lasering a photograph as a grayscale image


your best printing resolution is 500 or 600 DPI. As we
decease the resolution your image will take on the
look of the a screen. The lower the resolution the
more the screen effect will appear
600 DPI Grayscale Image

No Graininess or “Screen” effect


300 DPI Grayscale Image

Starting to see a “Screen” effect


200 DPI Grayscale Image

Now we see a strong “Screen” effect


300 DPI Grayscale Image

Now we see a strong “Screen” effect


400 DPI Grayscale Image
600 DPI Grayscale Image
all 3 resolutions
resolution some important points for
photos

Black and White Image Printing

If you are lasering a photograph as a black and white


image (error diffusion) you can run any resolution
from 300 up and the look will be the same.

Even lower resolutions of 150 and 200 are good


resolution some important points for
photos

This photo shows minimal quality issues


between the lower resolutions. The quality is
there we are just losing some of the amount of
dots that we can laser with a lower resolution
resolution some important points for
photos
This photo shows minimal quality issues
between the lower resolutions. The quality is
there we are just losing some of the amount of
dots that we can laser with a lower resolution
resolution some important points for
photos

When it comes to grayscale images it is better to run


at 500 or 600 DPI

When it comes to black and white images a


resolution of 300 or 400 should be fine - unless you
are looking for more power because of the increase in
dots

If you run at different resolutions you will need to


adjust your powers or speed to compensate for more
or fewer dots
cutout lab
Cutout lab

On Coarse Materials It is Best to Remove the


Background
Cutout lab

The Background Interferes With the Image


Cutout lab

Our Background is Removed


Cutout lab

Our Image Looks Good


Dodge and burn tool
dodge and burn

We have lost the black shirt and hat


dodge and burn

The Dodge Tool Brings Them Back


photos on wood
resolution some important points for
photos
resolution some important points for
photos
resolution some important points for
photos
photos on glass
Samples of glass
Samples of glass
Samples of glass - grayscale
Samples of glass
Samples of glass - grayscale
Samples of glass
samples of glass
using a premask is the only way to do
photo on glass
Our Glass is small fractures
Our Glass is small fractures
mask your material
using a premask is the only way to do
photo on glass
Thermark
thermark on tiles
thermark on tiles
granite
Granite
Granite
Granite - painted and not
Granite - painted

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