OK, I tried using v1.62 and am seeing the same things. I get more tool lifting on a path when I set shorter sub-step lengths. I tried increasing number of pixels (1k to 2k square). I tried a simpler shape, like a circle and I still see some tool lifting, which I do not recall seeing before. Also, sometimes the tool does not lift when it goes from one path to the next - it looks like a few places where the tool moves across the part at depth to a new path.
This is odd because when tracing and in F-Engrave, the tool path looks perfect, but there are additional paths on inspecting the code.