How does the Laser Picture toolpath work for photo engraving (dithered vs grayscale)?

Laser Picture rasters a selected bitmap with the laser, varying either power or dot density to reproduce the photo's tones.

Tool settings

• Select Tool pulls a stored laser preset for your material; Power sets the percentage of maximum laser power and Move Speed the engraving speed.
• No. Passes repeats the toolpath for materials that need more than one hit.
• Overscan runs the head past the image edges with the beam off so deceleration does not burn the borders darker. Test on scrap to find the right value.

Strategy

• Raster: one set of parallel stripes across the image, the standard choice.
• Hatch: two stripe sets at 90 degrees to each other. Denser tone reproduction, but roughly double the run time.
• Selected: uses vectors you have selected as the pattern instead of straight stripes, including output from the Vector Texture tool, for creative engraving effects.

Dither vs grayscale

The Dither Image checkbox is the key decision:

• Unchecked (grayscale): laser power varies continuously with image tone. Best on materials that actually shade with power, like ceramic-coated metal or some woods.
• Checked (dithered): the image becomes a pattern of black dots at varying density, newspaper-print style. Best on materials that only have two states, burnt or not burnt.

Line Spacing sets the gap between stripes, adjustable from the tool's kerf width up to 30 times kerf; tighter spacing means a denser image and longer etch. Line Angle rotates the stripes, 0 for horizontal, 90 for vertical.

Output

Safe Z and Home Position come from Material Setup. You can project the toolpath onto a 3D model where one exists, then save through a laser-capable post-processor or output direct to the machine.

Pro tips

• Prep the photo first with Edit Picture (gamma, contrast, grayscale); the toolpath can only work with the tonal range you give it.
• When in doubt on wood, dither. Continuous grayscale disappoints on materials that cannot hold mid-tones.
• Official documentation: Laser Picture