How to laser engrave a photo on glass. Pin sharp details!

[@CooperDuper3000]

Found your channel three month ago and instantly subscribed. Very informative and entertaining to watch. Just great!

[@happygilder]

Thanks very much!

[@omare777]

Another awesome video that makes all of us want to buy machinery and all the stuff to have a workshop like yours!

[@happygilder]

Cheers mate!! :D

[@maaritsund3141]

Jumalan rauhaa! Laulujen tekstejä vois kuvata striimiinkin, kaikilla ei ole Viisikielistä. Siunausta kaikille, kiitos päivistä! Terveisiä Liisille, opettajalleni Raamattuopistolta vuosien takaa

[@guillermomartinez4686]

Great work buddy. Thanks

[@happygilder]

Thanks!!

[@reuben1021]

Thank this was very helpful

[@happygilder]

Glad it helped!

[@TYoung023]

I thought I was looking at Robert De Niro for about 2 minutes until I recognized the tattoos! 😆. Even with different software the lesson is very translatable. Great work as always!

[@happygilder]

Hahaha yeah it’s a bit of a grimace 😄 thanks mate glad you enjoyed it!

[@tonywharton5220]

That is absolutely brilliant. I was always told to mask the glass as the laser has trouble focusing on glass. I use the wide blue painters tape. It's very economical.

[@happygilder]

Thanks very much! I never knew why, but it certainly makes a big difference when it comes to the sharpness. Must be the focusing! I learnt something today :)

[@tonywharton5220]

@@happygilder The sharpness is unbelievable. I definitely couldn't do what you just did. I only have a small laser compared to yours. I've not tired it on glass but it does a lovely job on acrylic.

[@happygilder]

@@tonywharton5220 Thanks Tony! If it's the Photoshop processes that you feel you couldn't do, once you've done it once you can record it as an action. Anytime after that all of the processes could be done with the click of a button. I'll do a video soon on Photoshop actions. They're so easy and save loads of time :)

[@tonywharton5220]

@@happygilder Thanks. That would be brilliant. I really don't know my way around Photoshop. My hobbies are more 3d printing and synthesisers/music

[@hervebuteau169]

Great tutorial, and the end result is really suprising !

[@happygilder]

Thanks mate!! 🤜🤛

[@Kevin-tc3ob]

Hello I have watched your video on this but I only have gimp, affinity photo and affinity designer. Would you be able to do a tutorial for any of those?

[@happygilder]

Sorry I’ve retired from KZbin now. If you use Photopea (free online Photoshop copy) you’ll be able to follow the tutorial

[@Kevin-tc3ob]

@@happygilder oh I’m sorry to hear you have retired from YT, but thank you for your reply and suggesting Photopea. Best of luck for your future.

[@stixstudios3380]

Excellent!! Thank you for the detailed video. Gotta try this soon.

[@happygilder]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it :)

[@doc_ineeda_win5834]

got a k40 how i get the line intravel setting and dpi setings sorry if noob question?

[@happygilder]

Hi, I think I understand your question. If you’re using lightburn the setting should change from ‘Line’ to ‘Photo’ when you import a jpeg image. Then you can double click he Cuts/layers section in the top right of the screen to edit the dpi and other settings. Apologies if I’ve misunderstood your question

[@c.french450]

Lots of info! Very cool.

[@happygilder]

Thanks!!

[@snax_4820]

It`s a great Photoshop tutorial too!

[@happygilder]

Thank you!

[@markvreeken]

I think you will find that your rotary is going backwards. Thats why it etches back to front. Or you can just turn it 180 degrees on the bed.

[@happygilder]

I don’t think that is the problem. It’s mirrored rather than the wrong way round.

[@markvreeken]

@@happygilder Sorry I thought I had replied to your comment the other day. According to the light burn forum there is an issue with the software mirroring the job. It was a bug in a particular version. Can't remember the specific number though

[@jsmith7310]

I am curious if the Letter Head Fonts are usable in lightburn. I am learning how to make these glass panels with just my laser and no sand blaster so I am having to develop my own order of operations and subsequent workflow. Your videos are the whole reason I started working with glass. I had just seen a video about David Smith and I was scrolling through the comments when I saw one of your videos linked in the sidebar. I have been hooked ever since.

[@happygilder]

Hi, any font that's installed on your machine will work in Lightburn, however you won't be able to access extended font glyphs.

[@happygilder]

Really glad you're enjoying the vids!!!

[@electron4me]

Your work and tutorials are excellent.👌 Can you talk a little about the machinery you use, laser, sand blaster etc. The costs, what grade of machinery you can get away with to do what you do? It’s always interesting to hear especially when the equipment isn’t way out of an hobbyists pocket.

[@happygilder]

Thanks Mark! I do plan on making a video that covers all of the tools and machinery. Hopefully do it in the next few weeks :)

[@MrJimpurvis]

Wow that’s very nice!!!!

[@happygilder]

Thanks Jim!

[@nikond90ful1]

Thanks for the video. I also found your YT channel after seeing Mark's YT video. I subbed straight after seeing Mark's vid. Love the content. Just a note of feed back. Your sound jumps up and down from clip to clip a fare bit. Keep safe and stay well.

[@happygilder]

Thanks Colin, I’m glad you’re enjoying the vids! I’m still trying to master audio balance in my videos. It’s got better but I’ve still got a way to go :)

[@Watchyn_Yarwood]

@@happygilder Don't worry about some minor audio detail. Your talent and skill demonstration is what we come for!

[@happygilder]

@@Watchyn_Yarwood Thanks very much :)

[@derekjenkinson8014]

Control & D will duplicate what’s selected, saves a couple of key presses.

[@happygilder]

Hi Derek, control & D is deselect in photoshop. In 3D software it’s definitely control D to duplicate though. If only they all spoke the same language 😄

[@allysongalpin7076]

I am using the same Photoshop you are. I followed your tutorial step by step but I cannot get the “stamp” you talked about. I clicked the buttons as you mentioned & a new layer with the image did not appear. What am I doing wrong? Is there a series of places on the screen I can click through instead of using shortcut buttons to achieve this???

[@happygilder]

Hi Allyson. I have only ever used the keyboard shortcut to 'Stamp Visible', and I can't find a button todo it in any of the menus. In case I said it wrong in the video the keyboard shortcut is: Press and hold the Ctrl + Shift + Alt keys, and then tap the letter “e” (Mac = Command + Shift + Option, then tap “e”). There is a long winded manual way to do it if that's not working. After doing the surface blur, click in the layers menu and flatten the image. Then go to 'duplicate layer' but change the 'Destination - Document' dropdown to 'New'. The undo the 'flatten' command on the original document and 'shift - drag' the new duplicated document onto the original. Then set the blend mode of the new layer to 'Overlay'.

[@1968Zedar]

Hi Paul. Only just found your channel and I am so pleased. I've struggled to get my pictures on glass and your tutorial helped loads. My only problem is that I use a diode laser so things tend to be slightly different. I was wondering what type of application tape you use as there are so many different types. Keep up the excellent work and take care.

[@happygilder]

Thanks Paul, glad you found it useful! This is the stuff I buy: amzn.to/3C4BTK8

[@1968Zedar]

@@happygilder Thanks your a star 🌟

[@gregv2821]

Thumbs up for your video. Well done. However, it seems like a lot of unnecessary steps in setting up the image in b&w. Why not adjust using curves for that first part? Also, it would have been nice if you'd explained why you were doing what you were doing rather than saying, "That looks good to me." It also would have been nice to see the piece of glass NOT framed at the end so we can see what it looks like over a real backdrop that has lights and darks and not a framed one with solid white behind it.

[@scotthendricks79]

That's pretty cool Paul. How much did that bad boy run you? I screwed the pooch on my newest project. Gotta strip it all and start over. Chemical silvering is a true art.

[@happygilder]

Cheers Scott! Including the cooling system it was around 4.5K. My father in law bought it so I don’t know the exact cost. I’ve never successfully silvered anything. I haven’t given up though :D

[@Zootalaws]

Great tutorial on photoshop prep, but I have some issues with your lightburn explanations: On scan/raster mode, the low speed doesn't matter, because it won't ever turn a corner with the power active, which is what the low value is for. Just like a car cornering, the controller slows the rate of speed heading into a direction change. If the power stayed the same, you risk burning your material. When etching - in scan mode - the laser overshoots the image location before slowing, so no need to reduce the power. With regards to overrun, I recently did a large transom window and when I went from 350mm to 250mm, the job was quicker, because the machine didn't have to overshoot as much and I saved a few metres. It's worth using the preview to dial in the most efficient settings. When cutting, having such a large disparity in low/hi ends up with stuck bits. Try and stay around ~10% of your speed on a 60-100W commercial machine. So it would be 80/72 or 50/45 for example. The reason your mate mentioned 10% is that in many Chinese controllers, 10% is the power cut-off - lower than that and it won't fire. You can change it in the controller and US-made machines don't have such a limit - you can fire at 1%. Giving power and speed settings without reference to the power of the machine makes it difficult for users to replicate, but they will still pick up the techniques just fine. Other things with glass are that thin glass breaks. Always, unless you go to the lengths of actively cooling it or baby it along doing offset alternate rows and such. So don't. The stuff on frames and inserts in cabinets are usually thin. Air needs to be set as high as it will go. 3mm should be the minimum, but you can get away with 2 if youre willing to take a long time. Old glass is best - old houses, greenhouses, etc. Never breaks, etches beautifully, has colour and patina. Old mirrors, too. Great tutorial, mate. Like your style.

[@happygilder]

Wow man thanks for all of the detailed info! I'll pin this comment so it's at the top. I still only know the basics of the laser so all info like this is really helpful. Glad you found the file prep part useful :)

[@Zootalaws]

@@happygilder it was really good - I don’t often do photos, so it was really helpful in getting contrast right.