Gravit.io and Laser Cutting

[Lucie deLaBruere]

As most of our students in Vermont have Chromebooks, I'm constantly exploring workflows that can work on Chromebook.  

As anyone successfully used Gravit.io in a laser cutting workflow all the way to the end.  

So far I was able to design on a Chromebook, export as SVG  and then import on Adobe Illustrator that is hooked up to the Epilog laser cutter.  Then I have to take additional steps to change the stroke of the line to vector or raster and use the print settings of the Epilog as usual.    Sometimes I also have to make additional edits like erase a double line where the original only had one line. 

Today I was able to Open Gravit in Chrome  on the computer that is hooked up to the laser cutter and communicate to the Laser cutter by selecting Print and then opening the print dialog settings directly on the machine.  It actually rastered one of my rectangles, but it did NOT recognize the rectangle that I created with vectorize border at .001 border. 

I've tried a few different ideas to be able to just hit PRINT from Gravit, but finding myself resorting to exporting the file.  Has anyone else successfully sent a file to their laser cutter directly from Gravit?

Lucie

[Michael Darfler]

I can't speak to using gravit.io with an epilog, but I have gone through the whole pipeline successfully with a Full Spectrum Laser. 

[Ann Boes]

Would you please share how you did that? I have the same problem with gravit not recognizing lines as vector, even though. Am using a full spectrum printer and retina engrave.. I have checked that the paths are 100% opacity and that they are rgb.

[Mark Loundy]

Following this.

[Marcia Gauvin]

I was told that another workaround is to create it in Tinkercad and then import the file into Inkscape to convert it to a vector file that can be read by adobe illustrator.  Haven't played around with it, but got this from a pretty experienced source.

On Wednesday, August 30, 2017 at 3:45:04 AM UTC-4, Lucie deLaBruere wrote:

[Josh Merrow]

Last fall we often saved from gravit as pdf using .001" stroke. Our Epilog Helix picked it up as vector. It looks like gravit has seen a few updates since then though.

[Michael Darfler]

Ann,

I realize now that I was using vectr.com, not gravit.io. That said I played around with Gravit.io and it seems like a great program. I was able to get it to work by setting the stroke to 0.1 pt and exporting as a pdf which I then opened with whatever the window's default application is and used the FS Laser Print Driver to send it to Retina Engrave. You may want to try vectr.com if you're looking for something that will work without having to go through the extra export step.

I hope that helps

-Michael

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Friends Central School

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[Lucie deLaBruere]

Marcia

I have  used the design in Tinkercard and exported to a Google Drive and then the SVG imported into the software on the Laser Cut computer (InkScape attached to Full Spectrum)   or (AI  attached to the Epilog).

Yes possible  - but the extra workplane with TinkerCad certainly makes this less desirable, especially if there are tools like Gravit.io  and Vectr that can be used (thanks Michael).    I think I'm close to getting the workflow going  and I think Michael and Mark's suggestion of exporting as PDF might work.  I assumed that I had to export as SVG.    I'm going to try export as PDF next time I'm at the Generator (our makerspace).  Marcia - if I'm there next time you are there, we can try it together. 

Lucie

On Wednesday, August 30, 2017 at 12:35:42 PM UTC-4, Marcia Gauvin wrote:

[Lucie deLaBruere]

Josh, Mike, Mark or anyone else successfully  using  Gravit or Vectr  - or perhaps software other than AI  for initital design work -- I have an additional question 

Is there a way to create your design so that you can designate one color for cut and one color raster while designing on the cloud based software so that there is less tweaking necessary AFTER get to the laser cutter computer. 

Lucie

[Michael Darfler]

Hi Lucie,

It will depend on what machine you're using, however, in general most machines operate in the Red Green Blue color space. If you make sure to set your file to use RGB (instead of CMYK which is used for print) then you can use different colors to designate different settings (cut vs. etch)

Red (R:255 G:0 B:0)

Green (R:0 G:255 B:0)

Blue (R:0 G:0 B:255)

Yellow (R:255 G:255 B:0)

Magenta (R:255 G:255 B:0)

Cyan (R:255 G:0 B:0)

Black (R:255 G:255 B:255)

Raster is typically done in black or greyscale.

For example if you were making a name tag you might draw the outline that gets cut in one color (red), the outline of a logo that gets vector etched in another (blue) and the text to be rastered in black.

Hope that helps.

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[Ryan Barnes]

I used Gravit.io as the primary design tool for the laser cutter the last 2 years or so. I had a few scaling issues, and would usually adjust the stroke thickness in Inkscape before getting to the laser, but it worked perfectly for me otherwise.

Designating a vector line done in Gravit to be rastered is something I haven't tried before. Generally I'd just use CMYK colors to define one of the colors to be vector engraved instead of cut. 

-Ryan

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[Lucie deLaBruere]

Thanks Ryan  -

I will add that to my next laser experiment day
I found a tutorial for color mapping on the Epilog

http://www.epilogfiles.com/color_mapping_instructions.pdf

btw  love the laser cut bowls and hunger project

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[Benjamin Magee]

Ryan, I have a broken laser cutter made by full spectrum. Their support is non existent. Any suggestions on how I could find an engineer to service that machine? I realize this is a different question than the thread, but after weeks of having a broken machine, Just figured I'd reach out to other makers using that technology. 

Cheers, 

Ben

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[Josh Merrow]

We export gearsets from geargenerator.com to svg, create a new doc in Gravit of 32x20" (our laser bed size), then import -> place the svg into the Gravit doc

If you set border = .072 points (which equals .001") on vectors you want to cut in Gravit, you can export as pdf and print straight to an Epilog. 

Best

Josh 

[Lucie deLaBruere]

Josh

It sounds like you have a lot of experience with Gravit and laser cutting. 

I'm afraid that i keep playing this hit and miss game when trying to use Gravit for laser cutting. 

I would love some help  understanding the difference between a few different features that would help me create the best possible workflow for my students to use it to design for laser. 

In your message above you suggest setting the border of an SVG object to .072 points.   

Would you suggest starring by clicking on the object and hitting vectorize border  and then adding a border of .072

I'm a little confused between the impact of adding border and setting it to .072

or/and

Converting to path option 

or/and 

Vectorize border option

My trial and error approach to figuring this out left me with little success in my goal in creating and documenting a workflow for our students  to use their Chromebooks to design and then have the files dropped into a Google Folder where they would require minimal tweeking when they log into the computer attached to the laser cutter.    Currently everybody at our makerspace uses Adobe Illustrator to design, so they kind of look at me like I have 2 heads when I'm going through these trial and error sessions on the laser cutter - asking WHY am I bothering trying to figure this out and then volunteering to show me how to do it in AI.   I've stopped trying to explain to folks that my job as an educator is to try to use the tools students have access to - and that our students (back at school) don't have access to AI.  It usually results in a quick smile before they walk away. 

Would love some help.

Lucie

[Ann Boes]

I'm in the same boat Lucie. 

[Mark Loundy]

Lucie,

I am just learning Gravit myself, but I can talk about some of the fundamentals behind the graphics and software involved in laser cutting that might help you puzzle-out the answers you're looking for.

The vector format enables designers/artists to create complex designs without worrying about final output size. If you've ever enlarged a bitmap image (such as a JPEG) enough, you start seeing the pixels and the image gets jagged. You can also see this in diagonal lines in bitmapped graphics. "Vectorizing" takes a bitmap (raster) path and converts it to a vector path, which can be resized without creating jagged artificating.

Apps like Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape create vector graphics. Vector graphics exist independently of output size and resolution. Their lines are basically "instructions" for the final output. Vector files only enter the world of height and width when they are converted to a defined output format such as a PDF.

All printers, including laser cutters, are raster devices. They only understand the limited world of a defined set of X and Y axis dots. So when a laser cutter cuts, it is actually "printing" thousands of dots on a raster that has been generated from a vector file. That's why we can't print directly from an AI file.

Mark Loundy

Instructional Technology Specialist
Google Certified Educator, Level 2
De Vargas Elementary School
Cupertino (Calif.) Union School District

[Lucie deLaBruere]

Hi Mark

 your explanation was a good refresher on vector graphics. I'm still feeling that the options for Gravit.io are not intuitive even with this in mind.  Keep me in mind as you start to play with it and have any pointers on workflow. 

It's always a challenge to create workflows when we provide students with different tools than professionals use.

it means compromise

I'm a big believer in using the right tool for the job and it would be awesome if our students always had access to whichever tool is the RIGHT tool for the job anytime anywhere. But since that's not a reality.. I try to increase access by 

using Open Source software if I can. 

Inkscape is a  good option for some of our students who have PC's or Macs at school and home. 

Unfortunately some of the schools I work with are all Chromebook schools.

Some of the schools are iPad only schools. 

So I'm trying to come up with different workflows for those particular schools. 

It seemed like Gravit.io might be the solution for Chromebook schools.   

I was hoping that if I can figure out how to have  everything designed correctly in Gravit.io  with the right strokes and fills,  I should be able to export either the PDF or SVG  and save it in a Google Folder and load that PDF on the computer hooked up to the laser cutter. 

But it seems like getting the settings for each line stroke correct during the design process on Gravit is not as intuitive as I had hoped and something I have yet to master.  I'll keep trying! 

Unfortunately I'm not near a laser cutter for a few.. as we are traveling from the East Coast to the West Coast  We due in Colorado for Thanksgiving and then in California by early December and Arizona in January -  so if anyone  along our path who has figured out Gravit.io wants to give me a tutoring session, I'd be a willing student and also willing to pay for the tutoring lesson. 

Lucie

[Diane Brancazio]

I am a big fan of Gravit Designer, use it for laser cutting regularly, and use it in teacher training.

What I like is the use of primitive shapes, and the “logic” functions.  Also, it is easy to import images.

I set the cut line width to .1pt, and etch to 1 pt, and export to pdf to cut/etch

Here is a link to a guide we created: GravitDesigner Laser Cut guide

Diane

 

Diane Brancazio

Lead Maker Educator

The Edgerton Center

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

77 Massachusetts Avenue, Room 4-406

Cambridge, MA 02139

617-253-2865

dia...@mit.edu

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[Angi Chau]

At my school, we haven't been using Gravit.io yet although I was introduced to it over the summer and thought it looked really promising. We ask students to install Inkscape because it is open source and free for them, versus AI. But we have also run into similar issues like some of the ones you've mentioned.

Specifically, up until this year, the workflow was we would ask students to design in Inkscape, making sure to set line widths for vector cuts to 0.001", export as PDF, etc etc. I'm not including the details because it was annoying and something would go wrong every year with at least 5% of the jobs, so it's not worth sharing with you all.

At the end of last year, we were introduced to the Visicut software to send jobs to our Epilog laser (thanks to this group!) and after testing it out, that's what we are using this year. The beauty of this is that Visicut doesn't care what line widths are set to ... it will read everything in the file and give you the option to specify what to do with each thing it detected. You can also move, resize, rotate your designs in Visicut. That makes me think it might be helpful in combination with Visicut... design away in Gravit.io, don't care too much about absolute size and line widths, export as SVG. Then on the laser cutter computer, import the SVG into Visicut (or possibly have to go through Inkscape and then send to Visicut using an Extension), and send to laser cutter...?

Obviously, I haven't tested the above workflow out myself but it might be worth looking into...?

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