Engraving stays the same color

[Holly11 (Holly)]

Hello everyone! I am Holly and New to Iightburn as well as the XTool D1 Pro. I am using a 20W laser. I have been trying to engrave a photograph using the adjust image tool etc. Each time I adjust it and go to engrave there is NO color fade or change at all. Its all the same shade throughout. No fading, no scaling of color, nothing.

Can someone lead me in the right direction please? I have tried to find tips etc. through youtube and different forums for the Xtool D1 Pro using a 20w and havent found any that had answers. THose I did try were not of any help. I have tried changing my speed, power, shape power, etc.

Thank you all!!

[berainlb (PY)]

You’re changing speed, power, and making image adjustments but getting identical results in burns?

That’s very unusual.

Can you take some full screenshots of LightBurn showing the image adjustments and cut settings?

[Holly11 (Holly)]

Thanks Berain

This is a file my son created and is wanting to be engraved. These are the settings I used below. I have tried other settings, but again, there is no shading or grey scale difference.

[berainlb (PY)]

Can you double-click on the cut layer and also show those settings?

A photo of what you’re getting as output would also be helpful. What material are you burning to? Material can affect the amount of power variability you can really expect to see.

One thing I’m noticing is that 6000 mm/minute is quite fast for an engraving. I suspect this will be faster than ideal.

Have you run a material test? LightBurn has a built-in one but you may want to generate one from here:
Lightburn Advanced PowerScale Generator - O2 Creative

Note for the settings that your laser will only use Min power for grayscale Image Mode. Otherwise, choose that min power is not available. It’s also possible that xTool doesn’t support grayscale but not sure.

[Holly11 (Holly)]

Thanks! Ill try the Material test. I did create and use a grid test for the basswood I am using. The settings I received did not work so great for the grey scaling of engraving.

Here is the cut layer box.

I think my next try will be Imag-R as I know others have had some success with it. Maybe that will do the trick. I was just hoping to not have to use it.

Again, thank you!

[berainlb (PY)]

I see what’s going on. You have Pass-Through setup. This basically means “I’ve already pre-adjusted this image. Do no more and pass to laser to burn”. So that’s why your settings are not having any effect (other than speed/power).

Using Imag-R you would indeed want to use Pass-through. But you wouldn’t want to use Pass-through if you’re trying to adjust in LightBurn.

[Holly11 (Holly)]

Thanks!! I will uncheck that and try it again. Wish me luck! I will reply tomorrow with an update.