I have a 30 watt Mopa fiber lase and use your wonderful software. But I imagine I am not getting the most from it. Basically I laser engrave dog collar buckles and the format can be name only or number and name. I am hoping someone can help me engrave buckles more effectively.
So how I do it now is I will have the Jig drawn out in light burn with the squares for the buckles. Each square has within it a dogs name and number. I leave the old name to help me add the new dog name and number. The name would be a separate filed because I don’t want the name to be linked in proportion to the number I always need the name to fill the buckle or top half of the buckle and the number the bottom part. At the moment I will click on the name for example in the square back delete the name and paste the name and number from the new order. Because I do not want to copy and paste the name and number twice I will copy both name and number but in the name field I am copying to paste and then delete the number it will tend to line up and need minor adjustment Then I will paste the same name number in the bottom field at the bottom and delete the name leaving the number. In both instances it is nearly always the case that I will have to adjust the size. I know about centering etc I am just hoping there is a better way to do this.
Is there a way to have a certain box correspond with a spread sheet where I could just enter the name and number (in 2 boxes if needed) but that would automatically insert the name or number to fill the box in light burn without me needing to adjust everything manually?
Cheers for that I have seen this mentioned before but I was wondering it was advanced enough to size text etc. I will take a more detailed look thankyou.
Although if you set text origin to center/center, and hold shift (maybe Ctrl? I always forget the modifier hotkeys) while dragging the scale handles or adjusting using the text variable, it should help keep your text where you need it.
How does it select the font type to use does it just give what is used in the placeholder? Also I wonder about scaling one name might be Bob compared to Sir-King-Tommyhawk lol:)
Don’t quite get what you mean by scale handles is that just the box used to manipulate the text size? Is there anyway of making the text fill a certain area. For example have a box used for scale which and when a name is added by CSV file it would automatically fill the box to the edge?
This the problem I have at the moment I adjust the word a lot to in different directions to fill an an area because I sometimes engrave small buckles I could not have the word Bob filling just a small area of a small buckle and for example a long number being more prominent because it would look silly.
Variable Text is kinda complicated to use since it has so many…well…variables.
Basically, you create a normal text field but instead of setting the type (top menu bar) to “normal”, you set it to one of the variable formats and then, depending on what you type into the text field, it will automatically populate with different text. Read the help docs carefully. Maybe a couple times, lol, I have. I also keep a shortcut to the format one because I don’t use it daily and can’t remember the different options. I still stumble around while using the serial type.
It’s still a text field so most, if not all, the normal text options/tools still apply the same way…size, shape, rotation, bend, alignment, etc.
I’m assuming (I know) you could link a spreadsheet with cells assigned jig locations and update the spreadsheet contents to populate the jig quickly, but you’ll probably still need to tweak them all for size, font. Etc. Not a silver bullet, but maybe something to aid efficiency once you’re familiar.
I don’t think I’ve run across any of the more advanced formatting options you’ve mentioned. LB does a LOT, but “jack of all trades, master of none” does apply.
Is there anyway to have a sizing box around text when choosing CSV merge. Yes the text can be adjusted in size but lets say I adjust for the word BOB to fit the box a longer word KINGBOBOFWOLLYFORD Would then jump outside the work area and with many it could mean adjusting numerous entries kinda defeating the purpose of using variable text and a csv file?
