Universal Laser Systems ULTRA X6000, User Manual

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Control File Creation
CONTROL FILES
To begin modifying materials with an ULTRA X6000 laser system, a control file must first be created
in the LSM. A control file contains the collection of raster image and vector path data in addition to
the laser material processing parameters needed for a particular laser material processing
application.
IMPORTING DESIGN FILES
Control files are created by importing design files into the LSM using the import or printer
processes discussed above. During the import process, the import engine maps each vector and
raster data element from its original color to one of sixteen colors supported by the LSM based on a
color matching algorithm. The black value has a special use -- to condition multicolor or greyscale
data for raster processing. This is achieved by dithering the laser power to recreate the features of
the original design file. The preview window displays the color or greyscale bitmap data in its
original form and dithering occurs in the background.
Process Creation
Once a control file is created in the LSM by importing a design file, a process must be defined for
each task (i.e. laser cutting, laser marking, laser engraving, laser surface modification, etc.).
DEFAULT PROCESSES
When a new design file is imported into the LSM, a material thickness and type must be selected
from the ULS Intelligent Material Database. Each material in the database contains up to three
predefined default processes; a raster process, a vector cutting process, and a vector marking
process (non-supported processes will not appear for certain materials). These default processes
can be used as-is or modified as needed. The default processes are called database processes
and use the Intelligent Materials Database to calculate optimal settings for each process type for
the current system configuration.
Process Assignment
After processes have been established for each laser material processing task, each element of the
imported raster and vector data must be assigned to a process. Raster and vector data is assigned
to a process based on the color of the raster or vector element. Although the LSM supports up to
16 different colors for process assignment, only the colors present in the control file will be
displayed. Additionally, if color does not contain compatible data, it will not be displayed for
assignment within a process. For example, if a color does not contain vector data, it will not be
available for assignment to a vector process.