Print to Driver: not working as expected

[flobnoit]

Designer: 1.10.4.1198

Windows 10, Hardware Accel: On, Renderer: Nvidia GTX960, no additional hardware

Specialty printer/driver: Epilog laser (driver version most current available, published 2014)

 

Hi all, previously (1.9.1) I was able to print to my laser to use it for cutting materials (the vector-cut command being sent for all curves with a line weight under .1 for the given print DPI). Currently the laser is no longer consistently reading the files that I last printed without issue using 1.9.2 when printed; sometimes it isn't reading the vector curve at all. Others it isn't reading the color appropriately (the driver uses this to encode multiple power/speed settings within a single printed file).

 

I have resisted updating because last time (1.8x -> 1.9.0) printing broke. You were able to fix it to expected behaviour for me with the 1.9.1 release, but everything after (1.10.1, rolled back to 1.9.1; trying 1.10.4, going to have to roll back) is not behaving as expected for me. Additionally, the "Defined by driver" option is no longer taking the page dimensions from the print driver; if I use "Custom", then the print window and driver communicate. Not a problem, just an observation of a change in behavior

I understand this is a niche use case/not a priority.  If you're able to make anything of my vague descriptions, brilliant. I will just keep using the older version on this computer in the meanwhile to achieve the printing behavior I need. 

 

Thanks,

[Dan C]

Hi @flobnoit,

Sorry to hear you're having trouble!

I can confirm that we have managed to get an Epilog laser driver installed before on a VM a few years ago - so we'd like to try and attempt to reproduce it on a VM again using the later versions of Affinity.

Can you please provide for me:

• The exact Epilog Laser Device model you are using
• The current driver version (if possible, an .exe copy of this driver would be perfect)
• A copy of your Affinity file

(If you'd like a private upload link for the above, please let me know and I would be happy to provide this for you )

In an aim to be as open as possible, I'd like to let you know that testing this issue will require our team to be within the Affinity offices - and we're currently working at home due to the UK Gov 'Plan B' guidelines.

Therefore I will be condensing the information and files provided here into a bug report with our developers, to be tested as soon as our team are able to. This will likely mean a delay between receiving the files/information and being able to provide suggestions or an understanding of what may be causing this in the latest versions of Affinity.

Many thanks in advance!

[flobnoit]

Hi Dan,

Thanks very much - sorry for the delay. I am not around here frequently. Per your request:

• Epilog Helix (2016 model year; 50W CO2 laser)
• Print driver 9.03 (although Windows reports it as 9.02 Beta; I've re-installed twice, same every time) available here
  • Driver Release date: 7 Jan 2015
• Have attached an example file (after removing the client's phone number; this was indicative of other issues I was having)
  • For interest: the red borders are kiss-cuts, the blue borders cut through the vinyl and the carrier. In the above edition of the Epilog print driver, this feature is activated by selecting the Color Mapping tab, and checking the Color Mapping checkbox.
  • In my configuration Red and blue have different powers and speed to accomplish their different tasks
  • Default behavior for the driver if Color Mapping is active, but an object doesn't match any defined color: interpret the color of the object as black and apply the settings under the General tab.
• I have additionally attached my Epilog driver's settings for the file if that is of interest. It can be loaded from the driver's Advanced tab, by selecting the folder where it's located under Browse, then selecting it in the combo box and pressing Load. 

 

Again to confirm: I was able to successfully cut the attached file after reverting to 1.9.1 from 1.10.4.

Not a problem! Hopefully you all stay safe and healthy. We've no such protective orders here in my part of the American south- all very "wild-west" sort of "every person for themself"-ish. If y'all can sort a long-term fix it'd be very exciting for me! 

I happily advocate buying your software to anyone who asks my opinion. I find it absolutely more intuitive than any of the other vector art software I occasionally have to interact with.

I'll try to watch for any additional questions or comments more closely, so I may reply more timely.

Many thanks,

Premium Plus film.DAT

Happy Paws Vinyl public.afdesign

[Dan C]

No problem at all, many many thanks for the wealth of information provided!

I've logged this directly with our QA/dev team for further investigation - as you've confirmed this is a 'regression' in versions newer than 1.9.1, therefore the team will need to perform testing in multiple versions of Affinity and this may take some time.

I'll be sure to update you here with any findings or further details required, but we're certainly glad to hear you're enjoying using Affinity as much as we enjoy making it! Many thanks for your kind feedback here