why is there no information on laser machines for marking metal?

[Goldjockey]

learning procreate, have experience with affinity designer and just downloaded inkscape2.2

Procreate is great, and does an excellent job of exporting multi layered drawings as .PNG files which can be traced into vector format (which is the what laser output software uses to create and define tool paths for cutting). I personally use Coreldraw for working with vector art because after 30+ years, I’m most familiar and comfortable with it. My system is a Laserstar 50W MOPA fiber laser which uses proprietary Laserstar software to trace layered Procreate drawings into layered vector output files in .DXF format. One thing to look out for when buying a laser for engraving is output beam width which ranges from .1mm to .01mm, which is a huge range of output quality from low to high. Generally, the larger the smallest beam width your laser is capable of cutting, the less detailed the output you’ll be able to achieve with a given system. Most of the laser output I see on items like laser engraved handgun slides and frames, are from less expensive systems with relatively coarse minimum beam widths.