Laser Cutting Services: Slow Software Performance

Have you been using your laser cutter and engraver, and noticed that things either slow down and your input seems to lag? Perhaps you have seen the connectivity related error pop up on your software. There are a few things that can cause this to happen, and luckily, they are easy to fix.  In the world of laser cutters and engravers, advanced laser machines offer their own custom designed software like RetinaEngrave v3.0 (RE3). Our RE3 software's innovations and convenient nature set it apart from the rest (e.g Lightburn, SmartCarve, Glowforge). Every P-Series and Muse Series laser system has an internal computer built into the laser system itself. RE3 is installed on this computer system, and it hosts via your network or direct connection. To connect to the software, you have to either be on the same local network, or you can connect your computer directly to it via ethernet cable.

As with any software out there, you may encounter issues with it bogging down and you may experience laggy input. Not to worry with RE3. Usually these are issues that are easy to fix and you can be back to high performance lasering in no time. These steps will be outlined in this article.

I’d like to offer a huge shout-out to Justin Lamb and the technical support team at FS Laser. Most of this content and steps were written by him.

Laser Cutting Services: Connection based performance issues

While you can connect to your Muse Series or P-Series laser system via WiFi, this may not be the best option based on how you have your workspace setup in regards to what equipment is nearby, and how close you are to your wireless router. These machines are manufactured to be heavy duty, so there is a lot of metal components included that will interfere with the Wi-Fi signal. There is also a large amount of electricity going through the machine (particularly the laser tube itself), so this can also interfere with your wireless signal strength.

If you have these issues, the best solution is to connect your laser system directly to your network via ethernet cable, or directly to your computer via ethernet cable. This will give your laser cutter and engraver a physical connection to either your network or your computer, providing your software with the fastest data speeds available. While Wi-Fi wireless connections may be more convenient, they cannot beat the available speed and reliability of a wired connection.

Laser Cutting Services:  Design Related Performance Issues

If you are loading files from another program, such as Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape and you encounter performance issues, use the “Subselect” option in the RE3 toolbar so you can see the individual nodes. You may notice hundreds of nodes throughout the entire design. When loading a design file with heavy amounts of vector nodes/data or working with multiple files at once you may see the error pop-ups below during the "Syncing" period or after it has completed.

Currently, RE3 will "Sync" all changes that are made often to the backend cache to keep your adjusts and changes updated on the fly but with handling heavy amounts of data the sync phase can get out of sync and cause slow performance and the software.

We are making some exciting improvements which will drastically reduce this syncing phase and improve how the files are handled, but for now there are some workflow changes you can make to have the software much faster on handling your design file. You can use the video below to assist you with this process.

The goal here is to take any detailed vector shape that is "Filled" in with your design software and convert it to a bitmap image so the software does not need to utilize the vector data in creating the raster layer within the software and simply supply one from the file itself.

Laser Cutting Services:  Backend Cache Files Related Performance Issues

In certain rare situations it's possible for the backend cache files to build up which would cause performance issues, even with simple files, or one or two projects loaded. The majority of the time, RE3 will handle these backend cache files and clear them out as needed, but you may need assistance from our Support team to remotely access your machine and clean the backend cache from the system.

Please create a support ticket by following this link or sending an e-mail to support@fslaser.com providing the last 4 digits of your MAC address which can be found under Edit> Settings in RE3 or QR sticker on the back of your machine and ensure the machine is connected to an internet source so it may ping to us for further troubleshooting.

• When submitting via an e-mail you may attach any pictures, videos and project files needed for support to see.

• When submitting a ticket using the button below please either respond to the automated generated email stating we have received the ticket with your pictures, videos and project files or upload these to a Google Drive or Dropbox folder and include this link within the support ticket "Your Issue" dialog upon creation.

Full Spectrum Laser is a leader in easy to use, highly versatile laser cutting and laser engraving machines. Our systems range in size from desktop units and high-volume machines through industrial-grade production equipment. Our machines are running all over the world: from grade schools to National Labs, garage startups and many Fortune 500 companies. Contact us today to learn more.