Photo Studio – Guida | Vextrify

Photo Studio

Turn any photo into a material-ready, engraving-ready template.

Photo Studio is Vextrify's image lab for laser engraving: load a photo, choose a surface, image type, and goal, and the engine automatically builds a matching tone and dot-pattern template. Every slider move shows up live in the laser-output preview. Save the finished result as a recipe or job, hand it off as a PNG, SVG, LightBurn, or EZCAD package — or send it straight back to an image object in Laser Control or the Artboard.

Open tool See the feature

Load an image

The starting point for every edit — a source photo in the Original preview pane.

Upload image: Opens the file picker to choose a photo from the device.
Drag and drop a file: On desktop, an image file can be dropped directly onto the window to load it.Desktop app only.
Original: Shows the unedited source image next to the laser output for comparison.

Recipe Builder — surface, image type, goal

The three foundational choices the engine uses to derive matching tone, sharpness, and dot-pattern starting values. Changing any of them resets the pro controls to material- and goal-specific defaults.

Surface: Selects the workpiece material: light birch, dark walnut, dark slate, clear glass, frosted glass, clear acrylic, dark/coloured acrylic, light plastic, dark plastic, anodized aluminum, stainless steel, or leather. Automatically determines whether CO2 or fiber laser behavior is used, plus brightness, contrast, and gamma starting values.
Image type: Describes the structure of the source image: Portrait, Logo/Text, Landscape, Product/Object, or Industrial Marking. Controls how much skin tones are protected, edges are sharpened, and local contrast is emphasized.
Goal: Sets the engraving character: Balanced (calm, material-safe default), Deep Black Engraving (high contrast, strong black), FineTrace Deep (dense, high-detail contour), Micro Detail (ultra-fine texture), Soft Photo (gentle gradient), or Hard Marking (technical, threshold-like sharpness).
Recipe summary: Shows the current combination of surface, image type, and goal as a compact status line.

Recipes — save, load, custom labels

A recipe stores processing decisions only (surface, image type, goal, pro controls, image preparation, production and export values) — never the image itself. Full management with import/export lives under "Manage recipes".

Recipe name: Free-text name for the current recipe, e.g. "Stainless portrait fine".
Save recipe / Update recipe: Saves the current settings under the entered name, or overwrites the loaded recipe.
Save as new recipe: Stores the current settings under a new, unique name without changing the loaded recipe.
Custom names (surface / image type / goal): Optional, freely chosen display names for this recipe — useful for an internal customer-specific material name instead of the default label.
Load recipe: Loads a saved recipe including all controls, image preparation, production, and export values.
Manage recipes: Opens the full recipe manager (list, rename, delete, import/export) at /app/profiles.

Jobs — quick-saving a work state

A job stores production state: source image, processed result, the linked recipe, and export history.

Job name: Free-text name for the saved work state, e.g. "customer photo stainless".
Save job: Stores the source image, current laser output, and the recipe used as a reloadable job.
Manage: Opens the full job/project manager at /app/projects.

Production & Export

These values are saved with the recipe and written directly into LightBurn and EZCAD packages — keeping speed, power, and dot pattern consistent between Photo Studio and the machine software.

Speed: Preview travel speed used for the export package.
Max Power: Upper power limit applied to export packages and the dot-pattern preview.
Min Power: Lower power limit for the grayscale-PWM preview and export.
Passes: Number of engraving passes written into the export package.
Line interval: Spacing between engraving lines; can be linked to DPI (see "Link DPI with line interval").
Frequency: Pulse frequency for fiber-laser export packages.
Air Assist: Turns the air-assist flag in the export package on or off.
LightBurn dot pattern: Chooses which dithering method (Stucki, Jarvis, Floyd, Atkinson, Threshold, or None) is recorded in the LightBurn export.
Default export target: Sets the preselected target format: Vextrify project, LightBurn, EZCAD, or Generic.
Include PNG / SVG / LightBurn project / parameter JSON / readme / EZCAD notes: Six toggles controlling which extra files the export package contains.

Pro controls — engraving tone engine

The main controls shaping the engraving result. Every change auto-updates the laser-output preview after a short delay — "Start processing" stays available for an immediate, full recalculation.

Automatic tone guidance: Lets the engine adapt tone values to material and goal automatically instead of forcing fixed values.
Depth point / Light point: Sets the darkest and lightest tone value still treated as pure black or white.
Black strength: Increases how aggressively dark areas are pushed toward pure black.
White calm: Smooths bright areas so they look calmer and more even.
Tone separation: Controls how distinctly neighboring gray values stand apart from each other.
Brightness: Raises or lowers the overall tonal range of the image.
Contrast: Spreads or compresses the gap between light and dark areas.
Local contrast: Emphasizes fine structural differences within image regions without changing overall contrast.
Sharpness / edges: Emphasizes edge transitions so contours engrave more clearly.
Dot density: Affects how densely engraving dots are placed within the dot pattern.
Dot size: Changes the perceived size of individual engraving dots.
Dot resolution: Increases the internal subpixel resolution of the dot pattern for finer transitions.
Material compensation: Compensates the chosen material's typical dot gain so the result isn't too strong or too weak.
Threshold: Sets the cutover point for pure black/white threshold mode.
Gamma: Shifts the tone curve non-linearly to lighten or darken midtones.
Shadow control: Selectively lightens or deepens the darkest image areas without shifting the rest of the tone range.
Highlight protection: Prevents very bright areas from losing their detail during engraving.
Expand radius / Increase effect / Calm fine noise: Three controls for fine detail enhancement: effect radius, strength of the detail boost, and calming of image noise.
DPI: Sets the output resolution in dots per inch.
Output size mm: Physical width of the engraving output in millimeters.
Link DPI with line interval: Links DPI and line spacing so changing one automatically updates the other.
Dot pattern: Chooses one of twelve modes for converting grayscale into engraving dots: None, Threshold, Ordered, Floyd-Steinberg, Jarvis, Stucki, Atkinson, Halftone, Newsprint, Sketch, Grayscale, or Blue Noise (organic dot pattern). The same choice carries over when sending the image back to Laser Control.
Invert: Swaps light and dark in the result — e.g. for negative engraving on transparent materials.

Image preparation — Vision Engine

Fine-tunes the engraving signature before the image is converted into a dot pattern, without exposing internal processing stages.

Vision Engine: Auto, Active, or Off — controls whether subject-aware image analysis for portraits triggers automatically, is forced on, or is disabled. Protects eyes, lips, hair, and contours, and calms skin and background locally.
Image calm: Reduces visible compression and sensor artifacts in the source image.
Detail protection: Preserves fine structures from smoothing, such as hair strands or fabric patterns.
Surface balance: Smooths large, even areas like backgrounds without blurring edges.
Structure control: Controls how strongly fine image structures are emphasized before the dot pattern is applied.
Fine drawing: Adds or reduces extra fine texture depending on the desired material look.
Precision radius / Edge precision / Fine filter: Three controls for edge sharpening: effect radius, strength, and a threshold below which weak edges are ignored.
Tone guidance: Controls how strongly the automatic tone curve affects midtones.
Depth guidance / Light guidance: Two additional controls that selectively adjust the darkest or lightest image areas before the dot pattern is applied.

Laser output preview

The central preview pane — shows exactly what the laser will engrave, not just an on-screen approximation.

Start processing: Recalculates the laser output immediately and in full, independent of the automatic live preview.
Compare: Shows a slider that blends between the original and the laser output.
Enlarge: Switches to zoom mode: a large full-view preview with mouse-wheel zoom and click-drag panning.
1:1: In zoom mode: shows the preview at true pixel resolution (no browser scaling, so the dot pattern isn't blurred).
Reset: Resets zoom level and pan position in zoom mode.
Back / Esc: Exits zoom mode.

Export

Multiple export paths for different target systems — all built from the same processed laser output.

Export PNG: Downloads the processed image as a PNG file.
SVG Vector: Exports the current result as a threshold vector SVG, e.g. for vector-cutting workflows.
Vextrify Project: Downloads a complete production package in Vextrify format (PNG, parameters, readme).
LightBurn ZIP: Downloads a package with PNG, SVG, LBRN2 project file, parameter JSON, readme, and bridge manifest for LightBurn.
EZCAD package: Downloads raster/vector data plus operator notes (speed, power, frequency, passes) for EZCAD-driven fiber lasers.
Open Batch: Jumps to batch processing at /app/batch to apply the same recipe to multiple images.

Returning to Laser Control / Artboard

When Photo Studio is opened from Laser Control or the Artboard (edit image), this bar appears at the top. Editing stays non-destructive — the source image, recipe, and result remain linked for later re-editing.

← Back: Returns to the original image object without applying any changes.
Apply & back: Sends the finished, processed image and the chosen dot pattern back to the original object, preserving placement, scale, rotation, layer, color, and min/max power. Only enabled once the image has been processed.

Common mistakes & fixes

The engraving preview looks flat or low-contrast.

Fix: Increase contrast and black strength in the pro controls, or choose a goal preset like "Deep Black Engraving". Check that the selected surface actually matches the workpiece — a light-wood preset on a dark material produces different tone values than intended.

Fine details such as eyes, hair, or lettering disappear in the dot pattern.

Fix: Increase detail protection and edge precision in image preparation, or set Vision Engine to "Active" if Auto didn't trigger it. For very fine structures, increase dot resolution.

The dot pattern looks coarse or noisy on screen.

Fix: The dot pattern is optimized for the laser, not for screen display. Check it at 1:1 zoom at true pixel resolution, and when in doubt, engrave a small test tile on the actual material.

A loaded recipe produces a different result than last time.

Fix: Recipes store processing decisions, not the image itself. Check whether the current source image has different exposure, resolution, or image-type structure than the photo originally used.

Bright areas look blown out or lose detail in the export.

Fix: Lower the light point and increase highlight protection. Materials with a light base (e.g. light birch) often need a lower light point so enough contrast remains for the engraving.

"Apply & back" stays disabled.

Fix: The button only activates once the image has been processed at least once. Click "Start processing" and wait until the laser output is marked "ready".

Not obvious

A recipe stores settings only, never the image — the same recipe can be applied to any number of new photos and gives consistent results on similar source material.
The automatic live preview reacts to slider moves with a short delay; "Start processing" forces an immediate, full recalculation at any time.
In compare mode, use the slider to see exactly how far the laser output has drifted from the original photo — useful for catching overly aggressive edits early.
"Custom names" in the recipe section are purely cosmetic: they change how surface, image type, and goal are displayed for this recipe without affecting the underlying processing.
Images opened for editing from Laser Control or the Artboard stay non-destructively linked — reopening the same object reloads the source image and recipe.
Linking DPI to line interval saves manual adjustment: changing resolution automatically updates line spacing and vice versa.