ALPS Advanced Laser Processing Software

QR / Barcode

Tools ▸ QR / Barcode · any machine

What it does

It builds a tag — a scannable code, text, a date, a serial number, or several of those together — and lays it out at the physical size you are going to engrave.

⚠ It opens as the Tag Builder inside the Job Editor, not as a separate window. That is on purpose: a tag is a job, and you will want the rest of the editor around it.

The code arrives as real vectors, not a picture. That matters: a code pasted in as an image engraves as dithered dots and scans badly, while vectors have crisp edges at any size.

The three steps

The Tag Builder, docked inside the Job Editor.

① Add element — a code, text, a date or a serial, on one tag ② Symbology — QR, Data Matrix, Code 128 or Code 39 ③ Invert — turn on for dark material, or the code will not scan

The Tag Builder works in the order across the top:

  1. Tag — what is on it.
  2. Batch data — where the values come from, if each tag differs.
  3. Layout & output — how they are arranged on the material.

For a single tag you only need step 1.

Step 1 — Tag Setup

Single or Multiple, and the Tag size in inches. Set the size first: everything you add is placed inside it.

Adding what goes on the tag

Add element gives you four:

element what it is
QR / Barcode the scannable code
Text a name, a title, anything fixed or fed from data
Date the date, formatted
Serial a number that advances per tag

You can add more than one — a code and a name on the same tag is the common case.

The code itself

Symbology — QR Code, Data Matrix, Code 128 or Code 39.

pick when
QR Code phones. Anything a customer scans with a camera
Data Matrix small parts — it packs into less space, and is the industrial standard for direct part marking
Code 128 a linear barcode carrying letters and numbers
Code 39 a linear barcode where an older scanner or system requires it

Source — where the code's content comes from:

⭐ vCard is the one people do not know to ask for. An engraved metal business card that saves the contact when scanned is this dropdown and about a minute.

Size in inches, ECC level, and Invert.

The two settings that decide whether it scans

ECC level — error correction: how much damage, dirt or fill-in the code survives before it stops reading. L / M / Q / H, increasing. Higher survives more but packs a denser pattern into the same space. ⭐ M works for most jobs. Go to Q or H for something handled, oiled, or engraved on a surface that fills in.

Invert — swaps light and dark. ⚠ Turn it on when the laser reveals a lighter colour than the surface — anodised aluminium being the common case. Scanners expect dark modules on a light background; engrave a normal code onto dark anodised and you have made its photographic negative, which will not scan. This one toggle is the most common reason a code comes off the machine unreadable.

Text and serials

A Text element takes its Source from static text, the Code value (so the human-readable line always matches the code), or a Column of batch data.

⭐ "Code value" is worth knowing. It guarantees the printed number and the encoded number cannot drift apart, which is exactly the mistake nobody catches until a customer scans one.

A Serial element advances per tag — Start / step, a Format, and an Offset. It pairs with Mark Verification for a run that has to be provably complete.

⛔ Test the code before you run fifty

Scan the first one with an actual phone, off the actual material, before committing a batch.

A code that fails does so for physical reasons a preview cannot show: too small for its module size, contrast too low, a surface too shiny to read at an angle, or engraved edges that bled together. All of those look perfect on screen.