Hello, I just upgraded from x4 to x5 and have had a couple issues with how the new install of x5 is working with my Laser Engraver (Epilog Legend 36EXT 120w)
1) When I used to run jobs at 300dpi the quality was fine (with some pixilation near the edges of the engraving) now when I engrave at 300 dpi I notice that the image is dithered and looks "polka dotted", Is there a way to fix this?
2) When I send over an image with a C:0 M:0 Y:0 K:0 white background, whereas it used to see this as "No not laser this" space, now it will laser the actual background as a percentage of black (which is not much, but it still does engrave and ruins the product as the box ends up being visible) I know that I can change the 0 0 0 0 white to a transparent and that will fix the issue, it's just that my jobs are all saved with the 0 0 0 0 background and if I forget to change to transparent, I end up ruining items. Is there a way I can define to Corel not to print white?
Any help with this would be GREATLY appreciated.
Thanks, Ryan
I run an Epilog Legend 32 70w (an ancient dinosaur) and have found to have good results with the higher 600 dpi setting:
as to the 'white dusting burn', what I have to do (and I'm not sure if your control panel looks the same is to disable the generic properties option:
or if you can find the color manager for your laser, preselect the 'burn factors' you want -- in this case make white burn at 0 power:
Thanks for the reply! I will definitely try the color management for the white at 0 power... that makes sense.
I run most of my jobs, depending on the substrate, at 600 dpi, But some jobs need to be done at a lesser resolution. I got into actually lasering apparel, like fleeces and synthetic materials, I need to run those at 150 dpi or so, or else it will burn through the material, (some I generally run at 50spd 2pwr @150dpi). And since installing X5 I've been unable to print at a lower DPI without this "polka dot" effect which doesn't look professional at all.
I'll also run coated metal items at the 300 dpi for a time saver. With the old version of corel installed a 8x10 black coated brass would take 5-6 minutes per (depending on engraving) at 600 dpi. I found that switching over to 300 dpi (which by most industry standards is still considered "high resolution") I was able to engrave the same piece in half the time with little to no quality difference. Again, this depends on what substrate you're using.
Anyone else out there have any ideas how to get this dithering not to happen?
I found this via another forum and thought I'd update this thread for anyone else having this issue. Corel needs to be in RGB mode rather than CMYK See below for instructions for fix
Happy to see you found your workthrough. Hope it solves your dithering issue.
After making this change... This fixed both of the issues I was having. Both Dithering and white box.