I work for a company that it's developing a multi function XYZ machine and I'm developing the first module now: the laser cutter. The laser works well but I'm looking for a software to convert image to gcode (with grayscale). The features that I'm looking for are:

1. Z axis support (for height configuration)
2. PWM for laser power changing according to grayscale pixel value
3. Support for several parameters like motor speed/acceleration / the relation between laser PWM and power / the materials that we want to cut.

Right now we've already saw a lot of softwares, but most of them are for milling (no letter filling, works with "magic z" and they don't look like they make any speed compensation - materials are more burned in one areas then others) or they are for specific laser cutters (no gcode file generation, they just let it use the file in their machines) or they don't have true grayscale support.

Can you point me to the right direction?

... have you already tested beam-construct ?

You can convert an image to vector+hatch and reexport as HPGL, what's common with most oldstyle milling nad converting softwares ...

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Viktor
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