Can't calibrate Gweike Cloud Pro Camera

[DanD427 (Daniel Diecker)]

Hello,

I’ve had a Gweike Cloud Pro 50w for about a month now. It works great with LightBurn for me, but I’ve never been able to get a camera calibration score below 9999 with April Tags

My setup:
Acer Nitro AN17 w/Windows 11 latest version
Both USB cables connected directly to the laptop
LightBurn Pro 2.0.02

Things I’ve tried with the April Tags calibration image:
Mounted to cardboard and printed at full scale, placed in machine bed
Mounted to basswood and printed at full scale, placed in machine bed
Printed at full scale, placed in machine bed directly on honeycomb
All of the above, also at 50% scale
All of the above, at both 50% and 100% scale, except with the lid open and holding the image at various positions and angles from the camera
All of the above, using only device lights, device lights + room lights, device lights + room lights + additional work lights.

I’m hit the capture button well over 1000 times at this point, and haven’t managed to get anything below 9999.

Am I missing a critical step? Is there a trick that I’m not seeing?

YouTube has let me down so far - I’ve been checking videos both from earlier versions of LightBurn and also scouring results for videos posted in the last 12 months but none of the tips in them have worked for me.

This has been a major bummer - I’ve been using a diode laser for a few years without a camera and was looking forward to getting something with a camera that can align on fixed-size objects.

Any and all input or thoughts are welcomed!

[Aaron.F (Aaron)]

@DanD427

Am I missing a critical step?

Not at all. You’re doing everything correctly.

@DanD427

Is there a trick that I’m not seeing?

Yes! You can see it if you look closely. The camera from this machine shows a mirrored image. Therefore, the tags are not being detected.

We found out about this the other day and are looking for the reason first, to come up with a proper solution. (mirroring the image in LightBurn would be the most obvious thing to do, but it’s not quite that simple.)

For now, there’s this silly, but functioning workaround:
Print a pre-flipped AprilTags card. I’ll send you one!

May I ask which OS you are using?
Can you send us a screenshot of the camera image in the Windows Photos app or MacOS PhotoBooth?

Edit:
I forgot the important part:

@Aaron.F

follow the instructions for camera calibration with Tracking to see if it solves it for you too: Calibrate Camera Lens (Labs) - LightBurn Documentation

This feature is still in testing (Labs feature) but is currently the most precise way to calibrate your camera. It’s only accessible with a right click on the “Camera” window:

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After this, perform another Camera Alignment as usual: Calibrate Camera Alignment - LightBurn Documentation

[DanD427 (Daniel Diecker)]

Hi Aaron,

The mirror of April tags worked! I was able to get the camera calibrated but now I’m striking out on the alignment wizard.

I’m using the latest release of Windows 11.

Here’s a screenshot of the ‘Test’ text I printed after completing the calibration:

Here’s a photo of how it actually printed:

And here’s another screenshot showing the position of the text after the burn along with the Camera Control window in the right-hand pane:

[Aaron.F (Aaron)]

Did you do this part?

@Aaron.F

After this, perform another Camera Alignment as usual: Calibrate Camera Alignment - LightBurn Documentation

[DanD427 (Daniel Diecker)]

I did this step twice. It’s getting my closer - but not quite on the mark yet.

Here’s a screenshot of the letter ‘T’ I did a test burn after completing the first alignment:

And here’s one after the second alignment:

The first burn had mainly a vertical offset. The second burn of the letter ‘S’ was mainly horizontal.

[Aaron.F (Aaron)]

@DanD427

he first burn had mainly a vertical offset. The second burn of the letter ‘S’ was mainly horizontal.

What do you mean by “first burn” and “second burn”?

If these were done with the same Camera Alignment, my only explanation is that the camera has moved in between. - I see, it’s mounted well on the glass. Does the lid close well each time?

Please do this test:

• Close the lid
• Capture Overlay
• Open the Lid and close it again
• Capture another overlay image
  When doing this, the overlays should remain in the exact same place.

You said, you did the Alignment twice. Did you engrave new targets with every attempt?
After you engraved the pattern, it can absolutely not be moved until after you selected the targets.

You can place flat pieces of paper at the locations to save your material.

Please perform another Camera Alignment, paying close attention when selecting the target markers. (Zoom in to place them accurately).

[DanD427 (Daniel Diecker)]

Thanks, Aaron! Apologies for the delay - been traveling. Will give this a shot and see how the results come out.

By ‘first burn’ and ‘second burn’ I meant that after performing all the calibration steps for the first time, the letter I engraved was vertically offset from where the preview image indicated it would appear on the material.

For the second engraving, I re-ran all the calibration steps for the camera and after engraving another letter into the material, this time it was horizontally offset from where the preview indicated it would appear on the material. (Even doing the exact same calibration steps!)

I’ll grab some detail screenshots when I run through the steps I’m taking, along with some pictures of the results.