Hi Makers, new to the SM, I am running a SM1 with the stock laser…
I am trying to process a photo to laser etch - doesn’t seem to matter what I do to it, the contract in greyscale is awful! Anyone know of a walk through getting a normal picture (jpg) and what I need to do to get a good greyscale image? I have tried vectoring via a website, exporting from Photoshop as a .svg file - all seem to do nothing in Luban?
I don’t know much about that, but I do know for gray images you can’t use an SVG. Jpg or PNG seems appropriate though.
For getting good images you’ll need to run some tests on the material to get a feel for what speed and power to use. There’s also some references online on where to start. https://support.snapmaker.com/hc/en-us/articles/360019025954-The-Definitive-Guide-to-Laser-Engraving-and-Cutting-with-the-Snapmaker
Thanks @brent113
May be part of my problem, been converting to greyscale before importing, does Luban do the conversion?
I think it can work with color images, but doing the conversion beforehand shouldn’t be worse. I don’t have a lot of experience with Luban, but I know @sdj544 does a lot of grayscale work in it, maybe he has tips.
I prefer to convert to grayscale before importing to Luban.
While it does convert in Luban I feel I have more control in other programs.
In particular GIMP (which is freeware) has a really good option to convert “color to grayscale” which has some great settings to alter contrast and exposure.
Here are some samples of different settings (just a quick down and dirty example):
Original:
-S
I’m having this same issue. Can’t seem to get the same quality as the notre dom in the snapmaker youtube preview and its kind of sad. I’ve tried converting in luban and in Krita, will keep working on it, let me know if you have any success.
That looks really clear, when I get the image into Luban to create the gcode, the preview looks awful! Really grainy and bitmapped sort of thing?
Am I over thinking the preview or is it a fair representation of what will actual engrave?
Thanks for the support!
Stu
Thanks Brent,
I did a few tests with a logo and it printed quote well - I am just struggling to get an image into the software that doesn’t look grainy…
Will keep plugging away!
If it’s specifically grain that you’re trying to get rid of maybe noise reduction of some kind would help.
So, ran it through the colour to B&W in GIMP - imported and it looks better - but still not brilliant… I’m going to run this as is and see how it comes out.
GIMP image (ignore clipping path, not worked out how to delete the background yet!):
Luban Preview:
Hello All,
If your image is not properly arranged for B/W before you drag it into Luban, you wont have much luck adjusting it with FILL and DENSITY options in any mode.
The two programs I use (FREEWARE) are Irfan view and Imagur. Irfan view is easily installed and contains a vast amount of options for edit/adjust pictures (as good as Photoshop) and Imagur is an online service where you upload the image, use Imagur settings to get it right and then download back to your storage place.
Irfan view is THE BEST I have found for all photo editing,bar none!~
Imagur is the default from embroidery people and it is very popular with the LASER guys no matter what unit they are running,
No matter what, you have to take the time to learn and exlpore your software (even Luban) to get a feel for things. Most of the guys in my group keep detailed notes on matierals used, thickness, feed, speed, power, # of passes, etc for each different material they use. When we get together we trade these bits and eventually we end up with something like the definitive guide for SNAPMAKER. (only local)
This might be a new thread where we can update others with our projects and then put the details in, so we can share online through this forum. 
I find that I rarely adjust any settings in Luban when in grayscale. (occasionally the B&W in the other modes). It’s got to be right coming in to Luban.
Then I try the various algorithms and see which one feels like it’s giving me the best representation for what I’m lasering. The preview is terrible and doesn’t always reflect what’s going to happen. But you can get a feel for where it’s going to print and the kind of detail you’re going to get in light vs. dark areas.
I tend to use Atkinson or FloydSteinburg. Never Sierra.
Here’s some samples of what the difference is using the same logo:
Of course once you go to preview nothing makes any sense:
You just kind of have to trust that it’s going to do what you want. But it’s also a matter of running tests. Every material and every piece of wood (even if it’s the same type) reacts differently. I’ll take a 10mm section of an image and run it with 10 different settings on a scrap piece that is same as what I want final to be.
Images do tend to need to be fairly high contrast.
-S
I ran it and very little actually came out! I’m tinkering with dwell time and work speed, black is not definitely black, will see what happens when it gets to the detail around the eyes…
Thanks again for the advice, really did help to throw things around and get some guidance 
Looks like it was getting there, laptop crashed, second time while running laser print…
Tried running from USB stick, no control over laser power or work speed, am i doing something wrong?
I never run things from pc for just that reason.
I transfer with luban over wifi usually. Sometimes use flash drive
You should adjust settings ahead of time in luban. You can then tweak them more either before starting job or after. Swipe left should get you to screen with adjustments.
-S
I’m on SM1 so no WiFi, laptop properly threw a curve, said it had lost operating system! 
Rebooted and seemed ok but no way out restarting…
Will have another look tomorrow,
Stu
Think my laptop went to sleep, have set it to stay awake indefinitely!
Looking ok so far, next question!
Work speed and jog speed, presuming work is how fast it moves when doing line mode and jog is how fast between dots/ lines?
Got dwell at 50ms feels a lot?
Depends on your power setting. I’ve never gone higher than 10ms on dwell.
Haven’t played with it that much though.
Yes. Work is lasering. Jog is moving/travel.
-S
Not enough contrast in that image. Doesn’t matter what settings you use in Luban in such cases, You need images that look more like line art, or what you’d engrave using B&W mode – which is pretty good.
