Twenty coasters, a tray of tags, slates of different shapes: placing a design on each one by hand takes longer than the engraving. The camera can do that part.
Reviewed by the Vextrify team, tested in our own laser workshops · Updated · How we test
Try Vextrify freeWorkpiece detection builds on a calibrated, aligned camera: the lens is calibrated once and the camera is aligned to the bed, so a point in the picture is a point on the bed. For the most reliable result, take a reference picture of the empty bed. A base board or jig may stay on the bed; only the workpieces have to be removed.
Lay your blanks on the bed with a little space between them and click Detect workpieces. Vextrify compares the picture with the empty bed, or uses contrast if there is no reference, and corrects each outline for the material height. Pieces that touch, or that sit partly outside the camera view, are reported so you can move them and detect again. Sensitivity, smallest and largest piece size and the detection area can be adjusted.
Select your design and choose Place design on all pieces to put it at the same spot on every piece, turned with the piece. Fit design into each piece makes it as large as each piece allows. Use as mask turns the pieces into masks: drop an image into one, then Fill all masks the same fills the rest.
Cut outline adds a cut path around every piece with an offset you choose, for example to cut parts out of a sheet after engraving. Cut a holder creates a jig: a cut-out that holds the pieces in the same position for the next batch. Both land on their own layer, so you set their power and speed separately.
The desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux connects to these controllers directly and runs the job live.
A camera above the bed that has been calibrated and aligned to the laser in Vextrify. Detection works on the aligned camera picture.
No. Each piece is detected with its own outline, so round, square and irregular blanks can lie on the bed together.
Vextrify reports touching pieces and does not place on them. Pull them apart and detect again.
With every laser Vextrify drives that has an aligned camera, in the desktop app on macOS, Windows and Linux.