I would like to engrave non flat surfaces like skateboard decks and wooden bowls. That would require a pass to measure the Z value relative to the work origin offset.
Could the distance sensor be used directly via g code to sample the surface at the each G1 command?
Oh, that sounds like a great idea! Make the distance measure via red laser dot continuous to predict the laser Z height! I like!!! Hope someone from Snapmaker reads this 
The problem I see with this is the fact both lasers are focused at different heights. The actual blue diode is around 30mm (with a 20mm shroud so about 10mm above the workpiece) and the red laser for height is calibrated a lot higher, around mid-machine. It also works by using a laser receiver to measure the deflection of the red beam as itâs bounced back up.
Given how it works, if it was close as it needs to engrave, the red laser would be too close and have no way to properly angle into the receiver lens. Likely why they say auto height might fail if over 50mm, too close, so it doesnât angle properly.
The proper way to do this would be to have a routine that turns the red laser on and scans back and forth, maybe at 10mm intervals so it doesnât take forever and a half and build a surface map of heights. Otherwise, building a replica in fusion similar to my non-planar guide is about the best youâll get.
Someone from snapmaker can chime in, but Iâm sure this is the case.
Edit: I just with theyâd allow us to move the toolhead around during auto measurements, as 99% of the time, my object is NOT in the center, making auto measure useless. I wish it also has the option to input the thickness manually like the âautoâ mode on the 1.6. I usually know the thickness already and donât want to have to jog it down.
But if the head moves to work origin and then samples doesnât really matter laser is using, needs just to track the offsets and then use that off from the first point when engraving. The sampling rate should be done to account for the diameter of the sleeves. it needs to ensure that when going downward it is safe for the laser and the piece. Tried to see in their source code how the material thickness is measure but got lost once I reached their socket implementation. But all it needs is x and y positions which can be extracted from the path. The only trouble comes when the G code used is G3 or G4
There is a proximity sensor?