ALPS — Operator's Manual
Advanced Laser Processing Software · Synergy Products Inc.
The software manual for your Epilog laser. For the machine itself — installation, exhaust, optics, laser safety — see the Epilog owner's manual that came with it. Neither replaces the other.
FIND YOUR WAY IN
Pick the row that describes you right now. ⭐ You are not meant to read this front to back.
| if you are… | go to |
|---|---|
| new to ALPS | Get started — first run to first part |
| doing a job now | Doing the work — artwork, settings, sending |
| wondering how something works | The ideas — the four concepts everything else rests on |
| looking up one tool | Tools — one page each, A to Z by what it does |
| stuck, or reading a message | When it goes wrong |
| after a number or a name | Reference |
About this manual — how to read it, what the ⭐ ⚠ ⛔ icons mean, and the skill levels.
⚠ This page is grouped by what you are DOING, not by chapter number. The section numbers inside each page (6.4, 7.1 and so on) are still there and still referenced — they are how pages point at each other, not a reading order.
GET STARTED
First run to first part. In order — this is the one group meant to be read as a sequence.
| ⭐ Quick start card | The whole job in six steps, the five checks before you press go, and the symptom table. Print this and put it beside the machine. |
| 1 · Safety | Machine class, pass-through, what ALPS refuses to do, and the habits. |
| 2 · Getting started | First run, adding your laser, checking the connection, the bed size. |
| Your first job | Artwork in, part out. |
| 3 · The ALPS window | A tour, once, so the rest of the manual can name things. |
Everything on the quick start card is covered properly elsewhere. It exists because most shops will print exactly one page of any manual, and that is the page to print.
THE IDEAS
Not procedures — the handful of concepts that make everything else predictable. ⭐ Fifteen minutes here saves more time than any other page in the manual.
| 4 · How ALPS thinks | Colour decides what happens · processes run top to bottom · documents vs jobs vs the bed · where the job lands on the bed · where settings come from. |
| B · Glossary | What a word means. (For where a thing is, use the Index — different job.) |
DOING THE WORK
The main path, roughly in the order a job happens.
| 5 · Artwork | Importing, drawing, text, arranging, tracing, and why colour is the last step. |
| Image Prep ● | Photographs into engravable dots. |
| 6 · Setting up a job | Processes, settings, order, kerf, leads, tabs and bridges, the material library, fiber galvo settings. |
| 7 · Sending to the laser | The checks before you press go, watching it run first, job states, and what to do when sending fails. |
| Printing to ALPS from other software | CorelDRAW, Illustrator, anything that prints. |
| Layout ■ | Gang several different jobs onto one sheet, and the utilisation number that tells you whether to cut. |
| 10 · Production work | Repeat runs, batches, variable data, and keeping a job you can re-run in a year. |
| 13 · Projects | Worked examples end to end, with the settings that produced them. |
TOOLS
One page each. You do not need any of these to cut a part — reach for one when it solves the problem in front of you.
Getting your settings right
| Material Test | A speed × power grid — the fastest route to numbers that work on your machine. |
| DPI Test Sheet | The sharpest resolution for a material. |
| Dithering Comparison | Eight algorithms, one sheet. |
| Rotary | The in-editor rotary dock — set up a tumbler/mug (diameter, taper, profile) and watch it wrapped on the 3D cup as you edit. |
| Rotary Test Pattern | Prove the rotary is scaled right before you cut a tumbler. |
| Rotary Simulator | See the open job wrapped on the cylinder — seams, over-wrap, and the wire-level numbers — before you cut anything. |
Putting artwork where the material is
| 8 · The camera | Seeing the bed, and what the overlay can and cannot promise. |
| Bed Camera Calibration | Make the overlay tell the truth. |
| Bed Self-Calibration | Where the laser really marks. |
| Shape Match | Find a box of blanks wherever they landed. |
| Registration Wizard | Flips, second passes, locating a jig. |
| Fixture Maker | Photograph parts, get a jig. |
| Job Mark | Engrave a QR on a blank and the blank knows its own job. |
Making artwork from the real world
| Parts Library | Trees, ridges, banners, arches — and tab-and-slot joints sized to your material. |
| Part Digitizer | A photo becomes an outline. ⚠ a proposal until reviewed |
| Outline Review | What turns that proposal into a measurement. |
Jobs with a shape of their own
| Print & Cut wizard ■ | Printed artwork, cut to its edge. |
| Design Builder ● | Pick what you want to make, answer a few questions, get ~90% of a design. |
| Badge Maker ● | A guided name-badge plate, bound to a spreadsheet. |
| QR / Barcode | Scannable codes as real vectors. |
| Mark Verification | Prove every code reads back. |
| 3D Engraving | Carve a relief into metal. (fiber galvo) |
| Pass-Through Wizard | Cut longer than the bed. |
WHEN IT GOES WRONG
| 12 · Troubleshooting | By symptom — what you can see, not what caused it. |
| 14 · Messages A–Z | ⭐ Every message ALPS can show you, and what to do about it. If you are reading something on screen, look it up here. |
REFERENCE
| 11 · Settings | Every preference, and what it changes. |
| F · Material settings, in one place | Epilog's published starting numbers, by material and wattage. |
| D · What each skill level unlocks | Why a tool might not be on your screen. |
| E · Where ALPS keeps your files | Backups, and what to copy to a new PC. |
| Index | Where a thing is, A–Z. |
HOW THIS PAGE IS ORGANISED, AND WHY
Grouped by what the reader is doing — learning, working, looking something up, or stuck — following LightBurn's documentation, which splits Get Started, Explainers, Tools & Features and Troubleshooting for exactly that reason (Jon's call, 2026-08-11). Someone stuck wants the reference; someone learning wants the sequence; someone confused wants the idea. A single numbered list serves whichever one it was written for.
⚠ The page filenames and their internal section numbers are unchanged, deliberately. Pages cite
each other by number ("see 6.4"), the in-app help maps to filenames (src/lib/helpTopics.ts), and
tests check both. Regrouping the front door delivers the benefit; renaming 40 files would break
every cross-reference to no reader's advantage.
⭐ The symptom that prompted this: the old contents ran 1 · 2 · 3 … 9 · 13 · 10 · 11 · 12 · 14, because a linear scheme has nowhere to put a page that arrives late. Grouping has.