About Reticle Red — Laser Design Software Built by an Operator in Wisconsin

My name is Scott. By day, I’m a manufacturing manager up here in Wisconsin. By night, after my three kids are finally asleep, I’m usually out in my shop messing with my lasers and 3D printers.

Over the last year, I realized the part of laser engraving I absolutely hated was the design prep. I was spending way too much time fighting with bad image traces, cleaning up stray nodes in LightBurn, and trying to get decent vectors instead of actually running my machines. It was a massive bottleneck.

I couldn't find a tool that just did it right for our specific needs, so I spent the last few months building one myself. It’s a tool designed to help turn images into engraving artwork, generate patterns, and reduce repetitive design prep. Exported artwork still needs inspection and a test on matching scrap before engraving a finished part.

I’m not some big software corporation—I’m just one guy who wanted a better tool for his own shop, and in early 2026 I decided to put it online. It's called Reticle Red.

If you’re tired of the design friction and want to try it out, I’d be honored to have some real makers test it and give me some honest feedback.