New Tool: Laser Image Prep — Material Presets, 8 Dither Modes, Halftone, Live Preview
Laser Image Prep Tool — Now Live The new Laser Image Prep tool converts any photo or image into a laser-ready file directly in your browser. No uploads to any server, no account required, no software to install. -- What It Does Upload a photo, dial in settings, download a processed PNG ready to drop straight into LightBurn, LaserGRBL, or xTool Creative Space. Processing is done entirely in your browser using the Canvas API — your images never leave your device. -- Material Presets Six one-click presets tune all settings automatically for common materials: Wood — boosted contrast, gamma lift, Floyd-Steinberg dither. Compensates for grain and variable burn response. Slate — high contrast, Jarvis dithering. Maximizes the bright white marks slate produces. Anodized Aluminum — threshold mode. Anodized surfaces respond cleanly to hard edges; dithering often isn't needed. Leather — grayscale (variable power), soft gamma. Leather handles tonal gradients well; preserve them. Acrylic — aggressive contrast, dark gamma. Helps legibility on transparent and translucent sheets. Photo (detail) — Stucki dithering, light settings. Best for portraits and detailed photos where tonal range matters. -- Processing Modes Eight modes cover everything from bold graphics to photorealistic portraits: -- Adjustments Every control updates the preview live: Brightness and Contrast — the most impactful adjustments for laser prep. Most photos need a contrast boost before engraving. Gamma — adjusts midtone response. Lower gamma darkens midtones (good for acrylic), higher lifts them (good for wood). Sharpen — unsharp mask from 0–5. Pulls out edge detail before dithering; helps portraits. Noise Reduction (blur) — remove JPEG noise and grain before processing. Essential for compressed phone photos. Threshold — sets the black/white cutoff for dither and threshold modes. Halftone Cell Size — controls dot size in halftone mode. Larger = coarser but more visible at low DPI. Output Width — set to match your actual engraving size at target DPI. Target DPI — enter your machine's line interval. The tool shows the physical output size in millimeters. -- Output Info After processing, the tool shows: Pixel dimensions and physical size at your target DPI Percentage of the image area that will be burned (burned area %) Mode and threshold used Download as PNG and import directly into your laser software. LightBurn: File → Import. LaserGRBL: drag and drop. xTool Creative Space: Insert Image. -- Open Laser Image Prep →