A Newby Question on DPI Settings

[Ric Taylor]

I'm planning on engraving a plaque that will have text, a logo and a photo. The photo will be processed with PhotoGraV and engraved at 300 dpi. The logo is quite detailed, so I want to engrave the logo and text at 600 dpi.

Can I do all of this in one pass, or do I have to engrave the photo in one pass at 300 dpi, then do another pass for the text and logo at 600 dpi?

Thanks for your help,

Ric

[Tim Bateson]

My 2.5 cents...
1. It depends - what material are you engraving onto?
2. I always do photos and text in separate passes - I use different settings for each.
3. Make your life easier - No need for PhotoGrav, just use Epilog's Dithering for comparable results.

[Larry Allred]

Your Epilog control panel has color mapping. Do each section of your art in a different color. Then in the control panel choose the settings for that color. Push "go" and sit back & relax!

[Martin Boekers]

Most everything I engrave is at 600, photo and text together.

[Richard Rumancik]

Your Epilog control panel has color mapping. Do each section of your art in a different color. Then in the control panel choose the settings for that color. Push "go" and sit back & relax!

Larry, my old Mercury can't do this - I can't set a different dpi based on color. I would have to do two separate passes with different dpi settings for each pass. I assume that the Epilog Helix basically combines the two passes in serial on it's own by doing (say) the 300 dpi pass (color #1) and then once that is complete go back and do a 600 dpi pass (color #2). Is that correct? I can't visualize how they would be able to truly integrate 300 and 600 dpi graphics.

[Michael Hunter]

Maybe the newer Epilog drivers are more fancy, but mine certainly won't change the dpi according to colours (but it will allow changes to power and speed for different colours).

[Dee Gallo]

When I want to separate procedures, I do it with a very simple technique.
1. SAVE the document the way you want it
2. Cover the logo and text with a white box/no line and engrave it at the settings you like RASTER ONLY. Do not remove the substrate from the bed.
3. Move the white box to cover the text and photo, change the settings and press go again.
4. Move the white box to cover the logo and photo, change the settings and press go again.

This way, you never have to realign anything and you are assured of specific settings for each element.

[Martin Boekers]

There maybe a way to do it by setting it up as a 2 page document, not sure I don't mess with pages to much.

[Ric Taylor]

Thanks everyone for your ideas. I'll have to take some time to consider it all and do some experimenting.

Ric