Upload an image to XCS; needs to be a high-quality image, invert, select comic 2, and turn up the sharpness to the desired amount. Need to bring out some details. adjust brightness from the right dot to make it lighter and adjust the greyscale from the left knob to darken details. set both to desired thresholds, the foreground should be darker and back ground should be lighter. once you have the image looking the way you want it, you need to sacrifice a copper plate that you already painted black and run a grid test on it to find the right speed and power for YOUR machine. Once you have that, then place the plate in the machine and center your image on the copper plate and put in the settings from your grid test that you found to be optimal for YOUR machine. IMPORTANT: use the exact same paint, coats and thickness of coats on each plate so you get the desired results from your grid test. I typically do 200 LPI and use the power and speed I found was best on grid tests. hit send it and go to town, no air assist. Wash with warm water and light dish soap, do not scrub. when dry use a 2 part crystal clear UV resistant bar top epoxy and let it dry and DONE.