Professional Engraving Systems

Sorting Color Vectors With Your Xenetech XL - Series Laser - by Ben Rosenstein

Within the Xenetech Print Driver, you can sort all of the vector lines by color. The laser will engrave all vector lines of color and then return to the home position to wait for you to press the start button. This extends the opportunity to set different speed and power for various colors. Here is a sample job of different color vector lines.

Normal output would send the vectors over in the order that they are sent from the source program, which is usually in the order drawn in this program. In order to adjust this draw order, a user would typically either manually draw the objects in a different order, or use a series of arrange functions, such as "Put In Back" or "Bring To Front."

Here is the procedure for setting up the print driver with advanced vector options:

1. Open the printer dialog and select the COLOR tab.

2. Select or De-select the desired colors by right-clicking on it. You will see that I have selected the Black, Red, & Blue colors. You can set your desired cut settings per color.

Note that the colors here correspond to a supplied Color Palette and refer to specified RGB values for color matching. You should use these colors in your drawing when you want to engrave by color.

3. Before sending the job to the laser, select the Laser Output Control tab.

4. Select the checkbox for USE COLOR SETTINGS in order to enable the individual color settings from the color tab.

5. Select the checkbox for SORT COLOR VECTORS if you would like to output the vectors in color order.

6. Select the checkbox to optionally force the laser to PAUSE BETWEEN COLORS if desired.

Happy Engraving!