The Printer Driver 3-5
Use Default PPI (500)
Turning this switch OFF will permit the changing of the PPI settings. If the switch is turned ON,
500 PPI will appear in all of the colors and will be colored gray. Since 500 PPI is the setting that
is used most often, this control sets the PPI to 500 automatically and does not allow change
unless the “Use Default PPI (500)” switch is turned back OFF.
Resolution
This setting is the image resolution of the engraving in DPI or dots per inch. There are six DPI
settings to choose from: 1000, 500, 333, 250, 200 and DRAFT. The resolution can also be
referred to as the vertical lines per inch or fill spacing. This is how many raster strokes per
vertical inch of travel that the motion system steps down to produce the engraving. Higher
resolutions will produce cleaner and deeper engraving but take longer. Lower resolutions
produce a coarser and shallower image but are quicker to engrave. Experiment with the
different settings and note the results.
Clipart Mode
This switch simulates laser printer output and is very useful if using a drawing with many colors,
shades of gray, or many outlines. It is recommended to turn this switch ON when using clipart
because there may be some underlying cutting lines hiding behind some filled areas. Having
this switch ON gives a what-you-see-is-what-you-get output very similar to laser printer output.
The entire drawing will be engraved, including all outlines, and only one power level will be
used which is black. The color change ability of the driver is essentially turned off and all colors
are engraved as different shades of gray. The laser system represents different shades of gray
by producing a halftone pattern when engraving. The halftone pattern is based upon the
Resolution setting of the driver the same way grayscale bitmaps are interpreted. Refer to the
chart on page 25 for specific details. Since clipart images use a wide variety of colors, shades,
and outlines, the only effective way of engraving these images is to have this switch turned ON.
Clipart mode also provides greater compatibility with Windows software that do not work well
with vector devices such as the Vanguard Optima laser system.
Save
A unique feature of the driver is being able to store all of the driver’ settings in a file. By clicking
on “Save”, a pop-up “Save Engraving Setup” dialog box allows you to enter in a file name for all
of the drivers settings. All settings will be stored in a file that has a “.LAS” extension. DO NOT
rename the extension because the driver will not recognize the file as a settings file if it does not
have the “.LAS” extension. These files can be stored in any directory and you can have as
many settings files as your hard drive can hold.
Load
To recall settings that you have previously saved, click on the “Load” button and choose the file
with the settings that you would like load.
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