Patent ID: 8892236

Claim:
A fluid jet system, comprising: a plurality of nozzles configured to emit at least one fluid jet toward a workpiece; a position actuator configured to move at least one nozzle of the plurality of nozzles relative to the workpiece; a controller including a ablation depth driver, the ablation depth driver being configured to modulate a penetration depth of the fluid jet into the workpiece; a computer operatively coupled to the controller and configured to convert an image to tool commands; and a data interface operatively coupled to the controller and configured to receive data including the tool commands from the computer; wherein the ablation depth driver is configured to modulate the fluid jet penetration depth corresponding to the tool commands; wherein the computer includes a program configured to select at least relative depths as a function of at least one of grayscale and color information in the image; wherein the ablation depth driver includes a nozzle selector circuit configured to select one or more nozzles according to an intended ablation depth; and wherein the nozzle selector circuit includes a circuit configured to select a first nozzle to penetrate a first depth into the workpiece and a second nozzle to penetrate to a second depth different than the first depth.