1. Connect xTool F2 Ultra to XCS

(1) Use the USB cable to connect xTool F2 Ultra to your computer.

(2) Open XCS on your computer. On the top-right corner of XCS, click the + New project button.

(3) On the right side of the project editing page, click Connect device. 

Note: If you have connected an xTool device in XCS before, click theicon > Connect device.

(4) On the pop-up window, click the name of your device to connect to it.

2. Select the processing mode and material name

In the top-right corner, click User-defined material, select the name of your material, and click Confirm.

3. Place the material and perform laser focusing

(1) Lift the protective enclosure, and place the material on the baseplate, allowing the blue light spot to fall on the surface of the material.

Note: 
- To cut a material, you are advised to place the slatted panel under the material, so as to reduce the burned area on the back of the material and protect the baseplate.

- If the material is too light, you are advised to use tools such as tape to fix the material. Otherwise, the airflow of the exhaust fan may cause the material to move during processing.

(2) Hold down on the Up/Down button for laser module to lift or lower the laser module. When the red and blue light spots overlap, the focus is successfully set.

After you finish focusing, you can see the measured material thickness on the right side of XCS.

Note: xTool F2 Ultra supports auto-focus and manual-focus. Here we use manual-focus. If you want to use auto-focus, click theicon.

4. Shoot background and design processing objects

(1) On the right of XCS, click the Refresh background iconunder Snapshot preview.

(2) Use the left-side tools to create objects on the canvas. 

(3) Select the objects to further edit them using the features on the upper bar.

5. Set the processing parameters

Select objects on the canvas and configure settings on the right panel.

Processing type

Image - Engrave/C-engrave: Laser beams hit on the surface of the material to change the color of the surface. By creating different shades of color on the material surface, xTool F2 Ultra prints an image on the material.

Vector - Score: Laser beams walk along the path of the vector graphic, drawing the vector on the material with lines.

Vector - Engrave: Laser beams walk through the entire area enclosed by the vector path, engraving the vector on the material with monochromatic fillings.

Vector - Cut: Laser beams cut the material along the path of the vector graphic.

Setting

If you have saved settings for the same type of material before, you can use your saved settings.

If you want to manually set the parameters, select User-defined. Then, set the parameters below. After setting the parameters, you can click Save setting to save it for further use.

6. Set the processing path

On the bottom right side, set the processing path by clicking theicon near Process.

(1) Turn on or off the Evade smoke mode.

When this feature is enabled, the device follows a path less affected by the smoke to process the material.

(2) Set the Processing path.

• Auto planning: XCS automatically plans the processing path based on intelligent algorithms.
• User defining: Manually set the processing paths for some objects.

7. Preview the processing area

You can preview the processing area on the material by framing. Framing means laser dots walk along the border of the processing objects on the material. Take the following steps to start framing:

• Light power: Sets the laser power for framing.
• Mode: 
  In the Rect mode, laser dots walk along the rectangle border of the processing objects.
  In the Outline mode, laser dots walk along the outline of the processing objects.
  In the Polygon mode, laser dots walk along the polygonal path defined by the object's vertices.

(2) Click Framing in the software. The laser dots will move along the boundary of the processing objects on the material, allowing you to preview the processing area.

To stop framing, click the Stop Framing button at the bottom-right corner of XCS.

8. Start processing

(1) In the bottom-right corner of the software, click Process.

(2) Preview the processing pattern and path.

On the bottom-left corner, click thebutton, and XCS will show you the processing path.

(3) Close the protective enclosure. In the upper right corner of XCS, click Start. When the software shows “Ready”, press the XTOOL Start/Stop button on the touchscreen controller to start processing.