Batch Setup
One recipe. Many images. One export — or straight to the laser.
Batch Setup applies a single material recipe to an entire set of images instead of editing each one individually in Photo Studio. You load multiple image files, set surface, image type, goal, and engrave controls once, and Batch processes the whole list in sequence — with a live progress and per-image error status. At the end you download everything as one ZIP, or send the finished, engrave-ready images straight to a connected laser.
- Saved recipe
- Loads a recipe previously saved in Photo Studio or Batch (material, image type, goal, tone, image prep, production values, and export settings) and overwrites the current settings. "No recipe · use settings below" uses the manually set controls instead.
- Surface
- Selects the target material (e.g. light birch, dark walnut, dark slate, clear/satin glass, clear/dark acrylic, light/dark plastic, anodized aluminum, stainless steel, leather). Resets engrave controls, image prep, and production values to that material's defaults.
- Image type
- Selects the motif category (portrait, logo/text, landscape, product/object, industrial marking) and adjusts detail protection, edge handling, and local contrast accordingly. Also resets the controls.
- Goal
- Selects the tonal strategy (e.g. balanced, deep black engraving, FineTrace Deep, micro detail, soft photo, hard marking, vector graphic) — sets contrast, brightness, black/white point, and tonal separation. Also resets the controls.
- Export target
- Sets the target format for the later ZIP package: Vextrify project, LightBurn package, EZCAD package, or generic package. Determines which extra files are later available in the package-contents section.
Expandable section, open by default — applies equally to every image in the batch.
- Brightness, Contrast, Local contrast, Sharpness/Edges, Dot density, Dot size, Dot resolution, Threshold, Shadow control, Highlight protection, Gamma, DPI, Line interval, Output size mm
- The full set of tonal and output controls from the recipe — identical to Photo Studio, but applied here to the whole image series. Any change resets the loaded recipe to "No recipe."
- Couple DPI with line interval
- Links resolution (DPI) and line interval so changing one automatically adjusts the other to match.
- Dither pattern
- Selects the dithering algorithm (none, threshold, Floyd-Steinberg, Atkinson, Stucki) used to convert tones into engravable dots.
- Invert
- Flips light/dark in the processed image — useful for light engraving on dark material.
Expandable section, collapsed — fine pre-processing before dithering.
- Image calm, Detail protection
- The image-prep controls from the recipe that are exposed in Batch: image calm smooths noise before the dot conversion, detail protection preserves fine structures and edges instead of dithering them away.
Expandable section, collapsed — machine values carried along with every processed image as its layer settings.
- Speed
- Feed rate for the later engrave, in mm/s.
- Max Power
- Maximum laser power as a percentage.
- Min Power
- Minimum laser power as a percentage — relevant for grayscale engraving with variable power.
- Passes
- Number of repetitions per image during engraving.
- Line interval
- Spacing between engrave lines in millimeters; stays in sync with the DPI setting in the engrave controls section when DPI coupling is on.
- Frequency
- Pulse frequency in kHz — relevant for fiber lasers and marking applications.
- Air Assist
- Turns air assist on or off for the later engrave.
Expandable section, collapsed — controls which files are produced per image inside the ZIP package.
- PNG
- Includes the processed raster image (engrave-ready, with dithering applied) as a PNG file per image in the package.
- SVG
- Includes a threshold vector file per image as SVG in the package.
- LightBurn project
- Adds a LightBurn project file per image — only takes effect when LightBurn package is selected as the export target.
- Parameter JSON
- Adds the recipe and production values used as a JSON file per image, for traceability or re-import.
- Readme
- Adds a readme file with notes about the package contents.
- EZCAD Notes
- Adds operator notes for EZCAD per image — only takes effect when EZCAD package is selected as the export target.
- Select images
- Opens the file picker for multiple image files at once; non-image files are filtered out automatically. If more than the maximum allowed number is selected, the list is trimmed to the limit.
- Download ZIP
- Processes every loaded image in sequence with the current recipe and downloads the result as a single ZIP package. Disabled while no images are loaded or a batch is already running.
- Send to / laser selector
- Processes the images (if not already done) and hands them off as new objects to the selected laser tab in the laser view; the dropdown next to it only lists lasers that currently have an open tab in Laser Control. Disabled without loaded images or while a batch is running.
- Stop after current image
- Only appears while a batch is running. Cleanly cancels processing after the image currently in progress instead of continuing through the rest of the list.
- Status line
- Continuously shows the current state: number of prepared images, running progress (image X of Y), stop notice, package-full notice, or an error message if the laser handoff failed.
- Queue counter
- Shows the number of images in the current queue along with the active settings (DPI, dither pattern, export target, whether a recipe is loaded) as a compact summary.
- Image row with status
- Lists every loaded image with its source and output file names plus status: waiting, running, done, or error. On failure, the specific error reason is stored per image.
- A recipe saved in Photo Studio can be loaded directly in Batch — so a setting you already verified on a single image carries over to an entire series without loss.
- Any manual control adjustment silently resets the loaded recipe to "No recipe" — if you want to keep a recipe as a starting point, save your own named copy first.
- The laser selector under Send to only lists lasers that currently have an open tab in Laser Control — if your laser is missing from the list, connect it or open its tab there first.
- If a batch stops because the package is full, that's not really an error — just download the ZIP so far and process the rest in a second run.
- It's worth checking the package-contents section before a big batch run: if you only need the finished PNGs, deselect SVG, JSON, and readme for a smaller, faster ZIP.
- Stop after current image doesn't cancel instantly — it finishes the image currently in progress first; the status line shows that as its own interim state.