# Troubleshooting ## The job failed A failed job always returns its credit — you do not need to ask. The Generate tab says why it failed. (A job with a problem in its settings never starts: the Generate tab lists what to fix first, and nothing is spent.) The common reasons: - **The simulation found a gouge** — the toolpath would cut into the relief by more than the tolerance. That is a fault in ReliefCAM, not in your settings, and it is reported to us automatically. Tell us about it too, and we will look at your job. - **It ran past the preparation time limit** — large pieces with a fine finishing stepover take the longest. Raise the finishing operation's stepover on the Operations tab and generate again. ## The carving is the wrong size or depth - Check the finished size and depth on the Setup tab, and the units of the machine profile's output. A file written in inches run as millimetres is 25.4 times too small. - Check where you set the Z zero. ReliefCAM puts Z zero at **the top of the stock**, and every cut is below it. ## The relief is inside out White is the top of the relief. If your image is dark where it should be high, turn on **Invert** on the Image tab. ## Steps or ridges on the finish - Steps on slopes come from a flat end mill; finish with a ball nose. - Even ridges between passes are the scallop: reduce the stepover. - A grain like terracing can come from an 8-bit image with a lot of depth. A 16-bit PNG or TIFF has 256 times as many levels; smoothing on the Image tab also helps. ## My controller stops on a line Check that the profile's controller is the one you run, and that your sender is not adding its own line numbers or comments. The Start and End G-code are copied into the file exactly as written and are the most common cause. Every other line is under 80 characters and uses only the G-codes in the guide for your controller. ## Still stuck Email [hello@reliefcam.com](mailto:hello@reliefcam.com) with the job's name. We can see the job's settings, so you do not need to attach the file.