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Better Color seperation | Workflow | How to create high detail color engraving | No more Color Limit!
Instruction
Information
WIP: Given my results arent as vibrant as expected, im currently working on creating test arrays to get accurate color for the tiny detailed areas to be engraced correctly. Im also working on a Color Palette to index the image with, so GIMP only seperates into colors your laser can actually engrave.
Be assured im working on pushing the limits of color engraving.
The color seperation tool in XCS is a great feature for simple images, but when you have images with high fidelity, I find it to be too smudgy and inacurate. In this workflow I will guide you step by step, on how to seperate an image manually, to retain image quality, and have a wider range of colors to use in your engravings. The pictures are from two engravings at full and half scale.
What you need:
Software:
-Gimp 3.0 https://www.gimp.org/news/2025/03/16/gimp-3-0-released/
Plugins for gimp:
-Batcher https://kamilburda.github.io/batcher/
-G'MIC https://gmic.eu/
You will also need to have a color test chart to reference settings from for your specific material and machine, since the result will heavily depend on being to achieve a specific color reliably.
https://www.atomm.com/templates?sortType=downloads&category1=Tool&category2=Test+Grid
If you havent already, choose a test grid based on your machine and run it.
You might wanna make sure ( I havent) your test grid has about the same sized areas as your picture,
since that can influence the colors you get.
You are able to pin point settings for the colors you want? GREAT! Lets get started!
Instruction
Step1: Download Gimp 3.0 if you havent already
We will work with Gimp 3.0 to manually seperate the colors. Its free and available to download on their official website: https://www.gimp.org/news/2025/03/16/gimp-3-0-released/
Download the exe, run it, and follow the prompts on screen.
Step2: Download Batcher
To streamline the process of exporting the seperated color layers we will use the Plugin Batcher https://kamilburda.github.io/batcher/
The website has instructions on how to install it to GIMP 3.0
You could make do without this plugin, and export each layer seperately
If you dont know which version to download, you'll probably be fine downloading the windows version.
Step3: Download G'MIC
This plug in is doing the actual work of seperating the colors into layers,
while you could technically select and seperate the colors by hand with the magic wand,
I highly reccomend using this plugin. It comes with its own installer, you may need to click “download anyway” if Windows gives you a warning when trying to run the installer exe.
If you dont know which version to download, you'll probably be fine downloading the windows version.
Step4: Open Your Picture in GIMP
Open GIMP, and drag your picture into the workspace.
Step5: Index the Image
To reduce the colors in the Image we will use the stock Indexing feature of GIMP.
Navigate to Image>Mode> and click on “Indexed”.
A seperate window will pop up, under “Generate optimum Palette” set the number of different colors you want the image to retain. Play around with different numbers, to see how few you can get away with without loosing too much detail.
Make sure Color Dithering is set to “none” as this will turn your picture into many differently colored dots, which may look better on your PC, but will not work with color engraving.
Aim for larger areas of colors. In some cases it might be better to first posterize the image which I will show in the next step.
Step6: (optional) Posterize
If your image has too many small splotches of color, instead of larger areas, try posterizing your image before or after indexing. If you are happy with the result, skip this step.
Step7: Switch back to RGB Mode
Go back to Image>Mode> and click on “RGB”. G'MIC will not be available if the image is still in the Indexed Mode. The reduction in colors will remain, dont worry.
Step8: Run the G'MIC plug in
Navigate to Filters>G'MIC-Qt and click it. A text box will open with many different tools.
Open the “Layers” tab, and click on “Colors to Layers”. Set the Color tolerance to 0, the Max Number of Output layers to at least as many colors as you Indexed your Image into, and set the minimal Area % to 0.
In the preview on the right you should see as many Layers as you have indexed your image into.
If you chose 10 in Step 5, you should have 10 Layers.
Click the button on the lower right to generate the layers.
Step9: Export the Layers
You should now have each color as a seprate layer. We will now export each layer as a seprate image using the Plugin Batcher, to manipulate each color and its settings individually.
Navigate to File>Export Layers and choose a folder to export the images into.
I skipped renaming the layers according to their color since the names will not show up in XCS later.
Step10: Load all the layers into XCS
Open your layers into XCS. THey will stack weirdly and not line up, but we will fix that now.
Step11: Align the Layers
Open your Layer Tab in XCS, and set each Layers coordinates to X=0 Y=0 so that they line up. They should align and form your segmented Picture.
EDIT: you can also just hit cntrl+A and use the “align top” and “align left” feature.
Which is super convinient if you have something like 30 layers.
Step12: Scale and move your image
Select all of your layer by pressing cntrl+A or drawing the selection box over all the layers, and scale your image to fit your workpiece. Make sure to always have all your layer selected when scaling or moving the image to not misalign any layers.
You can group them by pressing cntrl+A; right mouse click; group to be able to move the stack more easily.
Step13: Set the Settings for each layer
Select all of your Layers, and switch them to be C-Engrave, then set the settings for each layer according to your color reference chart.
Step14: Process and Engrave
YOU DID IT! You should now have a seperated Color Engraving file that has more detail than XTools stock Color Seperation feature.
Nothing left to do but to process the File, and hit Start.
Color engraving takes a long while, depending on your setting, run times of 5hrs+ are to be expected. You can try turning down the Lines per CM, but you will need to have the corresponding Reference chart for that.
