The Test Grid¶

Every material marks differently, and the fastest way to dial in settings is to see them side by side. The Test Grid marks a grid of filled squares while sweeping parameters across the grid — for example power rising left to right and speed rising bottom to top — so one coupon shows you every combination at once. Engraved labels record which value produced which square.

Add it from the Sequencer: Add Action → Calibration → Test Grid.

TODO screenshot: a Test Grid action with a swept layer and labels

The grid¶

The Grid section defines the coupon:

Setting	What it does
Rows / Columns	How many squares in each direction.
Width / Length (mm)	The size of each square.
Spacing (mm)	The gap between squares.

The grid appears on the canvas immediately, centered on the active lens's work offset, and redraws live as you change the fields.

Layers and parameter sweeps¶

The action starts with one layer; + Layer adds more. Each layer carries the usual marking parameters and fill settings — every square marks each enabled layer in turn, and the fill type, spacing, and angle stay the same across the whole grid. What changes from square to square is up to the sweep controls:

Next to Speed, Power, Frequency, Q-Pulse, and Passes sits an axis selector:

⊘ — fixed: every square uses the value in the parameter box.
X — sweep across columns: the parameter box is the value for the leftmost column, and an end-value box appears for the rightmost column. Values step evenly in between.
Y — sweep across rows, from the bottom row (parameter box) to the top row (end value).

Sweep as many parameters as you like — put one on X and another on Y to cover a two-dimensional space in a single mark. Q-Pulse and Passes sweep in whole numbers.

Variation works inside a Test Grid too: with a variation parameter enabled, its second range value gets its own axis selector, so you can sweep the variation range across the grid. Layers can also carry sublayers, whose parameters get the same sweep controls.

Sweeps start fresh each session

The grid setup, layer parameters, and label options are remembered between sessions, but the X/Y axis selections and end values are not — set your sweeps before each run.

Labels¶

A grid is only useful if you know which square is which. Click the Labels header to expand the section:

Setting	What it does
Size (mm)	Text height of the labels.
Fill	Engrave the label text filled instead of outline-only.
Decimals	Decimal places for values, 0 (no decimal point) to 3.
X Grid	The swept values below each column.
Y Grid	The swept values beside each row.
X Axis / Y Axis	The parameter names next to those value rows and columns.
Static	The fixed (un-swept) parameters above the grid as `Name: value`.
Label	Your own free text along the right edge — the material name, lens, date, anything.

With several layers or sublayers, names are prefixed so you can tell them apart — L1: for layer 1, L1|S1: for its first sublayer — and the static block splits into one column per source.

Labels show on the canvas as you toggle them and are engraved together with the grid, using the first layer's Speed, Power, Frequency, and Q-Pulse in a single pass.

Running it¶

Preview traces the grid outline and labels with the red light so you can check placement on the part first — see Marking & Tracing. Run marks every square with its swept values, then the labels. Inspect the coupon, pick the square you like, and read its settings straight off the engraved labels.

A good first sweep

For a new material, start wide: sweep Power 20→80 % on X and Speed 200→2000 mm/s on Y over a 5×5 grid. Mark it, pick the best-looking cell, then run a second, narrower grid around those values.