Quick Read codes are scannable by your mobile devices camera. Older operating systems may not immediately recognize these codes and may require a QR code reader app. Background imagery has no effect on the scan ability of the code as long as the code is clean within the "eyes".
Some tips for scanning:
- Make sure your camera is in "photo mode". Portrait mode will not recognize the code.
- Dirty codes won't scan well. Clean your code with a steam cleaner, under soapy water, or wipe clean with a soft cloth.
- In our testing we found iPhone cameras to struggle the most to recognize an etched QR code. Updating your camera to the latest firmware may help with this recognition. We believe this may have something to do with portrait weighted camera software. QR code reading apps had no trouble on the same devices.
- iPads and other tablets all performed very well.
- Android cameras performed consistently across the board. In the rare occasions the camera had trouble, we found moving in very close, then pulling away slowly caught the scan.
The challenge was to render a QR code in small sizes on bright backgrounds. The variables for success are generating a code in a matrix that didn't become crowded in small sizes, maintaining high resolution, setting the laser correctly to precisely etch on various materials.
Some things that did not work:
- JPEG QR codes ultimately translated into outlines and were not consistent in small sizes.
- QR codes with very high correction levels became too crowded at smaller sizes.
- QR codes with low correction levels produced marks too large and became effectively blurred after etching.
- Stronger power settings for etching created too much burn and effectively blurred the matrix.
Things that worked!
- Vectors! Processed through vector software we were able to maintain precision at the tiniest of sizes.
- QR codes generated at level Q or level M worked well, with level Q performing slightly better.
- Laser set to slightly ablate the surface and then to whiten the final burn.