Most people think photo engraving is just about finding the right settings. The reality is that if you're guessing, your results will always be inconsistent. You get something decent once, then the next time it looks completely different.
The problem usually isn't your machine. It's relying on random settings, or copying values that worked for someone else on a different machine and a different material. This is the exact process I use to get consistent photo engravings on any material, and it's how I've found every photo setting I've shared in my videos.
Jump to: The three stages · Before you test · Stage 1: find the range · Stage 2: refine · Stage 3: DPI · Final check
How the method works
There are three stages, and each one tests as few things as possible:
- Find the range. A first test grid of power and dot duration shows you roughly where the good results are.
- Refine. A second grid with much smaller steps around the best result from the first.
- Optimize DPI. With power and dot duration locked, you test DPI on its own.
By the end you have settings you can save, reuse and trust. In the video I'm engraving a photo on 1/8" (3 mm) black acrylic with the xTool F2 Ultra UV, but the same process works on wood, acrylic, leather or metal.
Before you test: prepare the image
Start with a good quality photo. I crop mine down to just the head and shoulders and resize it to around 25 x 25 mm using the W and H boxes in the top toolbar. That keeps every test small and fast, so you're not spending ages engraving big images while you're still working out the settings.
Next, open the material library and pick the closest match to what you're engraving on. It doesn't have to be exact, just close enough to give you a sensible starting point. For this test I chose 1/8" (3mm) Black Acrylic.
Then select the image, open Adjust in the top toolbar and click Auto Adjust. It tweaks the contrast, brightness and sharpness for you, and inverts the image if the material needs it. On black acrylic, which engraves white, it flipped my photo to a negative. You're not after perfection here, just a solid starting point.
Stage 1: find the general range
Now build your first test grid with Material test array. I used a 4 x 4 grid, but you can go bigger or smaller depending on how much data you want.
- Take the recommended settings from the xTool material library as your starting point. Mine came in at dot duration 300, power 45 and DPI 420.
- Set Power across the X columns and Dot duration down the Y rows, with a range above and below that starting point. My first grid ran from 40 to 80% power and 150 to 550 µs dot duration.
- Leave everything else alone, especially DPI. At this stage you're only testing two things.
- Engrave the grid.
Go through each result and look for the best balance of detail and contrast:
- Too light and the image looks washed out, and you lose definition in the shadows.
- Too dark and everything starts blending together, so you lose the fine detail.
- You want clear separation between the light and dark areas, with texture and depth, and nothing blown out or overly burnt.
Don't look for perfection yet. You're just finding the zone where it starts to look good. My best one was around 40% power and 284 µs.
Stage 2: refine it
Take the best settings from the first grid and build a second grid around them. This time, make much smaller jumps above and below. My second grid ran from 37 to 43% power and 250 to 325 µs, still at DPI 420. This is where the real refinement happens.
The differences are much more subtle now, so look closely. I check for:
- edge clarity and fine detail;
- clean transitions between tones, with no harsh jumps or muddy patches;
- consistency across the whole image.
If areas start to look rough or grainy, that's usually a sign you've pushed it too far. The best one is the one that looks sharp, clean and balanced all over. For me that was 39% power and 275 µs.
Stage 3: optimize the DPI
With power and dot duration dialed in, lock them, and change only the DPI. I typically test 300, 400, 500 and 600. You're looking for the balance between detail and overburn:
- Too low and the image looks soft and a bit pixelated.
- Too high and it can overwork the material, so it looks muddy, too dark, or on this material, too light.
Put them side by side and it becomes quite obvious which one is cleanest and most detailed. On this acrylic it was 400 DPI.
Final check: engrave the full image
Now you have your power, dot duration and DPI, so test them properly. Load the full photo, apply the final settings and run a complete engraving. Here's where mine ended up:
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Machine | xTool F2 Ultra UV |
| Material | 1/8" (3 mm) black acrylic |
| Dot duration | 275 µs |
| Power | 39% |
| DPI | 400 |
| Passes | 1 |
| Frequency | 40 kHz |
This is where it all comes together. What you should see is a clean, consistent result that reflects the work you put into the tests. And because the settings came from a process rather than a guess, you can trust them and reuse them. Save them in your material library so they're ready next time.
Treat my numbers as an example of where the process landed for this sheet, not as settings to copy. Your material, even another black acrylic, may need slightly different values, which is the whole point of testing.
It gets quicker every time
The real value isn't one good result. It's that you can repeat this on any material. The more you do it, the faster you get, because you start to understand how materials react and you need fewer tests.
If you'd like a head start, my free Laser Settings Library has photo settings I've tested this way, and you can see everything for this machine on the xTool F2 Ultra UV settings page.
Got a material you're struggling with? Tell me in the comments on the video.
