LightBurn Software

(C) LightBurn Software, LLC

 Table of Contents

Table of Contents

1. Home 5

2. Disclaimer and Safety 7

3. Troubleshooting 8

3.1 What's Wrong? 8

4. Beginner Docs 9

4.1 What Is LightBurn? 9

4.2 Beginner Walkthrough 10

4.3 LightBurn UI Tour 21

4.4 Feature Comparison 25

5. Primary Docs 27

5.1 Tips and Tricks 27

5.2 Installation & Licensing 30

5.3 Adding A Laser 35

5.4 Configuring A Laser 45

5.5 User Interface & Features 52

5.6 Advanced Topics 149

5.7 Camera 168

5.8 Machine Guides 179

6. Galvo Docs 197

6.1 LightBurn & Galvos 197

6.2 Glossary (Galvo) 199

6.3 Installing Drivers (Windows only) 201

6.4 Adding & Setting Up Your Galvo 204

6.5 Configuring Galvo Settings 207

6.6 Lens Correction 213

6.7 Framing 214

6.8 Lens Focusing & Calibration Tools 216

6.9 Cylinder Correction Marking 218

6.10 Cut Settings Editor 223

6.11 LightBurn Fill & EZCAD Hatch Quick Translation 227

6.12 Rotary Setup (Galvo) 229

6.13 Changing A Lens 233

6.14 3D Sliced Engravings 235

6.15 About Galvos 238

6.16 Repeat Marking Tool 241

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 Table of Contents

7. What's New In LightBurn 1.5 243

7.1 Radius Tool Updates 243

7.2 Improvements For Galvo Lasers 243

7.3 New Alignment Features 244

7.4 Tool Enhancements & New Taper Warp Tool 245

7.5 New Device Types Added 247

7.6 New Shape Property Added For Text 247

7.7 Other UI Improvements 247

7.8 Warning For Users of 32-bit Windows Computers 248

8. Tags 249

8.1 Advanced 249

8.2 Beginner Docs 249

8.3 Calibration 249

8.4 Camera 249

8.5 DSP 250

8.6 Editing 250

8.7 First Steps 250

8.8 GCode 250

8.9 GRBL 250

8.10 Galvo 251

8.11 Gantry 251

8.12 Guides 251

8.13 Job Quality 251

8.14 Libraries 252

8.15 LightBurn 1.2 252

8.16 LightBurn Bridge 252

8.17 Machine Guides 252

8.18 Network 252

8.19 Output Issues 253

8.20 Primary Docs 253

8.21 Rotary 254

8.22 Ruida 254

8.23 Sculpfun S9 254

8.24 Settings 254

8.25 Text & Fonts 254

8.26 Thunder Laser 254

8.27 Tools 255

8.28 Trocen 255

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 Table of Contents

8.29 Troubleshooting 255

8.30 UI 256

8.31 WiFi 257

8.32 Windows 257

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 1. Home

1. Home

Welcome to the LightBurn Docs!

Please use the search bar at the top of the page or click the closest match below to find information on the tool or topic you'd like
to learn about.

You can make LightBurn feature requests on our suggestion site.

Disclaimer and Safety

Troubleshooting

• Connection Problems
• Job Quality
• LightBurn Editor FAQ
• GRBL Errors

Beginner Pathway

• Installing LightBurn
• Adding Your Laser to LightBurn
• How to Use LightBurn
• Zooming, Panning, and Selection
• Getting Started: Making a Simple Project
• Coordinates, Device Origin, and Job Origin - Placing your work

Primary Documentation

• Instructions on Commonly Used LightBurn Features

• Cool Tricks and Usability Tips
• Working With Fusion 360
• LightBurn Bridge Docs
• Using a Rotary
• Galvo Docs

If you need to read our documentation in a different language, you can use Google Translate to translate this website into your
preferred language.

For your convenience, we have shortcuts to Google translate for Spanish (Español), German (Deutsch), Italian (Italiano), Chinese (
), and French (Français).

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 1. Home

Download PDF Version

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 2. Disclaimer and Safety

2. Disclaimer and Safety

Danger

Lasers use intense beams of light to create heat and fire as a normal part of their operation, and depending on the laser, the light
might not be visible to you. When used safely, a laser cutter is an incredibly useful tool. However if the proper safety measures are
ignored, you could burn or blind yourself or someone else, or start a fire that could damage or destroy your home, or in the worst case,
kill someone. CO2 lasers use high voltages, and if wired incorrectly could kill you.

Do not leave a running laser unattended.

By using this software, the user accepts complete responsibility for each and every aspect of safety associated with the use of the
laser machine, laser system and LightBurn Software.

You agree that:

1. You will always follow the manufacturer guidelines when operating your machines.
2. You will not hold the author or contributors of LightBurn liable for any damage to equipment or persons from the use of LightBurn.
3. You understand the potential hazards in using high power lasers and high voltages.
4. You will wear proper eye protection rated for your laser when operating it.
5. You will use the LightBurn software in a legal and safe manner.
6. You relieve the author and contributors from any liability arising from the use or distribution of the LightBurn software.
7. You are entirely operating at your own risk. Lasers can be lethally dangerous.

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 3. Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting

3. Troubleshooting

If you're having trouble using LightBurn, our troubleshooting resources are a great place to start looking for help with common
problems and frequenly asked questions. You can also email support, and talk with LightBurn staff and users on our forum.

Over time, we will be adding more troubleshooting resources. We'll try to keep links consistent, but if a link to a specific
troubleshooting resource changes, you'll always be able to find it from this page. If you can't find what you're looking for, you can
contact our documentation team by clicking the envelope icon next to any header and let us know.

3.1 What's Wrong?

Choose a category below for more help.

Connection Problems

Get help connecting your laser to a computer and sending jobs to it.

Job Quality

Resources to help you figure out why your laser's output doesn't look how you expect.

LightBurn Editor FAQ

Frequently asked questions about creating and editing designs in LightBurn.

GRBL Errors

Resources to help you understand GRBL-specific errors.

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 4. Beginner Docs

4. Beginner Docs

Beginner Docs First Steps

4.1 What Is LightBurn?

LightBurn is a layout, editing, and control software for your laser cutter. LightBurn talks directly to your laser without the use of
additional software.

With LightBurn you can:

• Import artwork in a variety of common vector graphic and image formats (including AI, PDF, SVG, DXF, PLT, PNG, JPG, GIF, and
BMP)
• Arrange, edit, and even create new vector shapes within the editor, with powerful features like offsetting, boolean operations,
welding, and node editing
• Apply settings like power, speed, number of passes, cut order, brightness & contrast, dithering mode, and much more
• Send the result directly to your laser cutter

LightBurn is a native application written for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

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 4.2 Beginner Walkthrough

4.2 Beginner Walkthrough

Beginner Docs First Steps

4.2.1 Adding & Configuring for Beginners The Devices Window

LightBurn can't control every laser, but it can talk to a

number of different types of laser controllers, all of which
use different ways of communicating, and have different
abilities and settings.

This step tells LightBurn what type of laser you have.

If you've never configured a device in LightBurn, you'll be

brought here automatically when you run the software. It is
important that you pick something because the interface in
LightBurn will change depending on the capabilities of the
laser you choose. If you don't have a laser to connect to yet,
you can create a placeholder device.

If you've done this before but want to change your laser or

add a new one, click the Devices button in the Laser
Window to bring up the devices list.

This is the Devices window in LightBurn. Here you will see a

list of all the laser devices you've added to LightBurn, or an
empty list when you're first starting.

The simplest way to proceed is to click Find My Laser and let

LightBurn can also be configured to control more than one LightBurn locate and identify your laser. If that doesn't work,
laser, and there are settings stored for each device. If you your laser may connect with Ethernet, or if you have a
don't pick one, we have nowhere to put these settings, and Marlin device, you'll need to use Create Manually. If you're
a number of features within LightBurn will not work until this using a LightBurn Bridge device, you can use the LightBurn
is set up. Bridge setup.

• Find My Laser
• Create Manually
• LightBurn Bridge

You can also import and export laser configurations to move

them between computers using the Export button on this
page from the source computer and then import it to the
new install using the Import button. Exporting will create
a .lbdev (LightBurn device) file which contains all of the
device specific information LightBurn needs to import that
machine's profile into the new computer.

Tip

You can import a LightBurn Device profile by dragging and

dropping it into the LightBurn window.

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 4.2.1 Adding & Configuring for Beginners

What if I don't have a laser yet? Configuring

You don't ever need to connect a laser to LightBurn to use it, If you have a GCode controller—particularly if you also use
but LightBurn will not run without a device profile your system as a CNC or 3D printer—there may be
configured, because it needs a place to store some settings, additional configuration required.
and wants to know what options to show you in the
interface. If you use a laser that accepts files on a USB drive • Common GRBL setups
for example, LightBurn needs to know which controller it
If you have a Ruida DSP controller and are configuring from
uses so it can produce the correct output files.
scratch, read here:
To start using LightBurn without a laser, use Create Manually
• Configuring a Ruida
and configure the things you can, and guess at whatever
you don't know. When you finally do get your laser, you can If you're using a galvo laser, start here:
come back to this screen, select the 'dummy' profile you set
up, and click Remove . Then you can follow the setup steps • Configuring A Galvo
here for real this time and use your laser!

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 4.2.2 Coordinates and Job Origin

4.2.2 Coordinates and Job Origin Current Position

With Current Position selected, your job outputs relative to

the current position of the laser head when you hit the Start
There are a few ways to tell LightBurn where to ouput your button. The Job Origin control in the Laser window tells
project within the work area of your machine, each available LightBurn how to orient output relative to the laser head.
in the Start From menu in the Laser window.
In this image, we're starting from the Current Position, with
the Job Origin set to the lower left:

Absolute Coordinates

Absolute Coordinates is the simplest option. The grid you

see in the main editing window of LightBurn represents your Notice that the green Job Origin indicator has moved. This
machine's physical work area. Anything you place in the represents the position of the laser when you start the job,
LightBurn grid will be output in the corresponding location in so the laser is going to move slightly up and to the right
your machine's work area. from wherever it is, cut the two circles, and go back to
where it started.

Note Now imagine that you want to etch this two-circle pattern
onto a coaster or a phone case. Lining it up from the lower
Using absolute positioning requires a laser with homing left is not easy. If you change the Job Origin setting to
switches and a fixed origin. If you have a small diode laser center, you get this instead:
that does not have homing switches, you will need to
manually home the machine. See: Machines without homing
sensors / limit switches.

In the image below, the two circles placed in the middle of

the LightBurn grid will be cut in the middle of the machine
work area. The green square in the lower left of the image
represents the Job Origin, and the red square in the same
place shows the Machine Origin. When using Absolute
Coordinates these are always in the same place.

The job will be centered around the current position of the

laser head. If you position the laser head directly over the
center of the item you want to etch, the output will be
centered on the item.

User Origin

User Origin works almost exactly the same as Current

Position, except that the starting location is programmable.
To set a User Origin, you must first jog your laser to the
location you want your job to start from, then set the origin.

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 4.2.2 Coordinates and Job Origin

Some lasers with digital displays, such as those with Ruida

controllers, have an Origin button which you press to set
the origin. GCode-based systems use the Set Origin button
in the Move window in LightBurn to do the same thing.

After setting the origin, you are free to move your laser
around the workspace. With User Origin selected as the
Start From mode, the laser will move back to that
programmed location and start the project from there.

As with Current Position, the Job Origin setting determines

how output will be oriented relative the user-defined origin.

Finish Position

Note

The Finish Position option is only available for GCode-

based controllers. DSP controllers manage this internally.

LightBurn allows you to control where you want the head of

Users with GCode-based lasers can also adjust or disable the
the laser to return after a job is finished. By default, it will
Finish Position in the Device Settings window.
return to 0,0, but this is not always optimal for all machines.

To change your laser's Finish Position, go to the Move

window and use the arrows to position your laser head
wherever you would like it to return to after the job is
finished, then click the Set Finish Position button. Your
machine will now remember that spot for future jobs. Finish
Position can be adjusted at any time by repeating the above
steps for a new location.

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 4.2.3 Basic Usage: The Essentials

• .tif / .tiff - Tagged Image File Format

4.2.3 Basic Usage: The Essentials Note that not all features of every format will be supported.
Vector graphics formats in particular are incredibly complex,
So far we've done a brief introduction to the UI and covered and using more advanced features, like pattern fills,
zooming, panning, and selecting. masking, gradients, and so on will not necessarily translate
well when importing. LightBurn cares about shape outlines -
The next things we'll cover are:
if you want artwork to include the advanced features, the
• Creating Shapes best option is usually exporting as a high-DPI image.

• Importing Artwork You can import files into LightBurn in several different ways:
• Moving and Sizing Artwork
•
• Grouping
Clicking the Import button on the main toolbar ( )
• Cut Layer Settings
• Using the File > Import option from the main menu
• Controlling the Laser
• Pressing the Import keyboard shortcut (Ctrl + I)
• Dragging a file from the Windows Explorer or MacOS
Creating Shapes Finder into LightBurn

LightBurn's shape creation tools let you create simple • Copying and Pasting an image from a browser window into
shapes. Choose a tool from the left toolbar, like the ellipse, LightBurn
rectangle, or polygon tools. With a tool selected, left-click in
the workspace and drag the mouse to adjust the size of the Moving and Sizing Artwork
shape you're creating. While dragging, the Shift key will
force the shape to have the same width and height, so you Once you have your artwork in LightBurn, the next step is
get circles and squares instead of ellipses and rectangles. usually placing or sizing it. When one or more items are
The Ctrl key causes the shape to be centered on the starting selected, you'll see various "tool handles" appear around the
point, instead of dragging it out from corner to corner. outside of the selection, like this:
Release the mouse button to finalize the shape.

For text, select the text tool, then click in the edit window to
place the cursor. Type your text, and press the Esc key when
finished.

Importing Artwork

The shape creation tools let you make simple shapes in

LightBurn, like circles, rectangles, text, and polygons, and
also give you the ability to edit and adjust them, but In the image above, you can see 9 gray squares, and four
LightBurn isn't intended to be a complete artist package or arrows. If you hover your mouse over any of them, the
dimensioned modeling tool. For that, you would use external cursor will change to indicate the kind of operation that tool
software like CorelDraw, Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape, or performs - resizing, moving, or rotating.
AutoCAD. Photo or image manipulation software such as
Photoshop or GIMP can be used to create or manipulate Grabbing any of the four corners will let you resize the
image files. artwork from that corner, and defaults to uniform resizing
with the opposite corner as the anchor point. Holding the
When you have artwork ready in one of these programs, the Ctrl key (or Command on Mac) switches the anchor point to
next step is to import it into LightBurn to adjust the settings. the center, so the object center remains in place when
LightBurn can import the following file types: resizing. Holding the Shift key allows you to resize the width
and height independently, instead of locking them together.
Vector / mixed formats:
Grabbing any of the four side handles will let you adjust the
• .ai - Adobe Illustrator width or height of the selection, and the Ctrl (or Command)
• .svg - Scalable Vector Graphics key switches to center anchor just as it does with corner
• .dxf - AutoCAD Drawing Exchange Format sizing. When moving, the status bar shows both the absolute
position of the selection being moved, and the relative
• .pdf - Adobe Portable Document Format
distance it has moved.
• .plt / .hpgl - Plotter / Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language
The center handle is for moving the selection, though you
Image formats: can also click and drag any edge of any shape to do this as
well. When moving a selection, holding the Shift key
• .png - Portable Network Graphics
constrains the movement to be horizontal, vertical, or
• .jpg / .jpeg - Joint Photographic Experts Group format diagonal.
• .bmp - Windows Bitmap
The four rotate handles allow you to rotate the object freely
• .gif - Graphics Interchange Format
using the mouse. While rotating, the relative rotation is

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 4.2.3 Basic Usage: The Essentials

displayed in the status bar. Holding the Ctrl key (Command high-power cutting layer. The final output to the laser might
on Mac) snaps the rotation to the nearest 5 degrees, holding look like this:
Shift will snap to 15 degrees, and holding Ctrl+Shift snaps to
45 degrees.

You can also move, rotate, and resize artwork using the
Numeric Edits Toolbar.

Grouping

When you create shapes in LightBurn, they're independent

of other shapes you create. Sometimes it's handy to be able
to treat a collection of things as a single unit, to make sure
they keep their relative position and size when you're
moving them around. In LightBurn, this is called a Group. If
you select two or more shapes and click the 'Group' button

( ), or press ⌃ Ctrl + G , you'll create a new object

that contains the original shapes. To un-group the objects so
you can edit the individual parts, select a group of shapes

and click the un-group button ( ), or ⌃ Ctrl + U . The information shown in the Cuts / Layers window is just
the basics. You can see the full set of options for a layer by
You can tell if a shape is in a group or not based on how it double-clicking the entry in the layer list to bring up the Cut
looks when selected. Settings window.

Controlling the Laser

There are two windows primarily used to control the laser:

The Laser Window, shown in the lower right of the display by

default, lets you select your laser, start, stop, or pause a job,
frame the design (move the laser head around the boundary
of your design to test alignment), and more. These options
can vary based on the type of laser you're using.

Ungrouped objects are displayed with a simple dash pattern

when selected, like the single circle above on the left. A
grouped shape shows a repeating dot-dot-dash pattern when
selected, shown on the three smaller circles above on the
right.

Cut Layer Settings

Artwork imported from vector files assigns shapes to layers

in LightBurn based on the colors of the vectors in the
original file. If you create your files with this in mind, it can
save you time.

Layers in LightBurn are used to assign different settings to

the shapes in your design. For example:

The Move Window, docked behind the Cuts / Layers window

by default, gives you jog buttons and positioning control,
and the 'Speed' value there is used when framing or jogging
the laser in LightBurn.

In the above design, black could be used for a solid, dark

engraving, blue could be a very light engraving with an
outline to add definition to the text, and red would be a slow,

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 4.2.3 Basic Usage: The Essentials

switches, so using any form of absolute positioning in

LightBurn requires extra steps.
• The number pad arrow keys can be used to jog the laser
after clicking in the edit window (workspace).
• The Arrange menu and arrangement tools can be used to
move the laser relative to artwork in the workspace.

There are a couple other methods for moving the laser that
are noteworthy:

•
The Click-to-Position tool ( ) on the Creation Tools
toolbar lets you click anywhere in the workspace and
LightBurn will jog the laser to that point.
• Note that this assumes that your laser has been properly
homed - Some DIY-style machines do not have homing

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 4.2.4 Making a Simple Project

Beginner Docs First Steps

"layer" that your text is on, and it holds the settings that will
be sent to the laser for all the objects on this layer:
4.2.4 Making a Simple Project

We're going to go step-by-step through creating a small,

simple project in LightBurn, from start to finish, to show you
how to use a few of the basic editing tools, and give you a
feel for how things work.

Before you start, make sure you have a laser set up in

LightBurn (see Adding your Laser).

This project will be a simple name tag, cut out around the This tells us that the shapes on this layer will be drawn as
letters, ideally made from thin wood or acrylic, but a piece of lines, with 100 mm/sec speed, and 20% power. Depending
cardboard will do. on your settings, the '100.0' might be different - Diode lasers
are less powerful than CO2 lasers, and run slower, so they
tend to use mm/minute as units, so the same default value
would display as 6000 mm/min. If you have your units set to
Creating the text Inches, you might see 3.9 in/sec, or 236 in/min.

With LightBurn running, and an empty project, click the

Create Text button shown below. It normally lives along the Previewing
left side of the main window:
To see how the laser will run your project, click the Preview
button in the middle of the main toolbar:

The preview window will pop up, showing the completed job,
like this:

Next, click the mouse somewhere in the middle of the Edit

window (the workspace) to get a cursor, then type your
name:

Click the 'Select' tool button on the top left of the edit
window, or press ⎋ Esc twice (once to finish entering text,
and again to exit text entry and go back to selection mode).

The lighter red lines are showing the laser moving between
the shapes (traversal moves), and the black lines are where
the laser will burn. Click the 'Play' button and you can watch
a simulation of how the laser will run the job. You can also
grab the slider and drag it around to see the cut at different
points in time. Spot checking the output like this is a good
habit to get into, because you'll likely spot mistakes before
you burn the project for real, saving time and material. Click
When you finish the text, you'll see an entry appear in the the 'Ok' button to close the preview.
Cuts / Layers list on the upper right of the display. This is the

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 4.2.4 Making a Simple Project

For more information on the preview window see its page

here Preview Window Adding an outline: The Offset tool

With the text selected, click the 'Offset' button on the left
Changing text properties toolbar, shown here:

Make sure you're still in Selection mode - the 'Select' tool

should be highlighted. Click the name, or click and drag a
rectangle around it to select it. When it's selected, it will be
drawn as animated dashes instead of solid lines, and
handles will appear around the selection to let you change
the size, position, or orientation.

The Offset options window will appear, and you should see
something like this:

The options in the Text Toolbar at the top will activate, like
this:

Click the drop down for the font, and change it to anything
you like. While you are choosing, the changes will be
The offset tool creates a new shape by outlining the shapes
displayed in real time in the edit window. You can change the
in your selection at a given distance, either inward, outward,
height, make it bold or italic, and adjust spacing here too.
or both, and merging the result. If you point the mouse at
the 'Offset Distance' value, you can scroll the mouse wheel
Undo / Redo to change the number and watch the result change on the
fly. You can also click the box and just enter a number as
If you make a change you don't like, you can undo it by well.
clicking the Undo button on the toolbar (or pressing ⌃ Ctrl
+ Z , or Edit > Undo in the menu). If you decide you liked it Make the Offset Distance value large enough that there are
after all, you can also Redo ( ⌃ Ctrl + ⇧ Shift + Z / no internal gaps in the outline - Notice the gap above
⌘ Cmd + ⇧ Shift + Z ). Undo and Redo in LightBurn are between the L and the next letter is gone in the version
unlimited - the undo system doesn't reset unless you create below:
a new file or close the program.

Changing the Layer settings

Rather than outline the text, we're going to change it to be

solid filled. In the Cuts / Layers window, click where it says
'Line' and change it to 'Fill', like this:
When you're happy with the result, click 'OK'.

Changing Layers

Now, use the left mouse button to click the new outline you
just made, so it is the only thing selected, like this:

You'll notice that the display in the edit window hasn't

changed, but if you run the preview again, it looks quite
different. By default, the view in LightBurn shows outlines
only, not fills, because it's much faster, and it prevents
things from being hidden behind solid shapes that might still
be run on the laser.

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 4.2.4 Making a Simple Project

• For a diode laser, use 2 mm/sec (120 mm/min), and 100%

Then, click the Red button in the color palette at the bottom power. Depending on the strength of the diode you have,
of the display: you might need to go slower than this, or use more passes
by setting the Pass Count value higher.

Again, these are guesses, but they're a starting point.

Open the Preview window again (Alt+P, or click the Preview

button), then drag the progress slider from left to right to
watch how the job will run. You'll see the text engrave first,
followed by the outline cut. If you don't see those things,
The outline will turn red, and you should see two entries in check the settings again, and verify that you have the first
your Cuts / Layers list, like this: layer (black) set to Fill, and the second layer (red) set to
Line.

Positioning the Job on the Laser

When sending this to the laser, there are a couple of

different ways that it can be positioned, and the one you
choose may depend on the kind of hardware you have. If
you have a small diode laser that does not having homing
The first, the black layer, is the fill for your text, and the switches, you will likely want to run the job using the
second red layer is for the outline cut. 'Current Position' mode. For now, that's what we'll
recommend for everyone, since it's easy.

Speed and Power If you have an Ortur Laser Master, or other small laser that
does have homing switches enabled, you will likely find
This is where things get a little tricky in terms of you being 'Absolute Coords' to be the simpler setting to use - this
able to follow along. Speed and power settings vary quite a means that wherever you place your work in LightBurn is
bit between lasers, and LightBurn supports a lot of different exactly where it will go on the laser.
types of machines. It also depends on the kind of material
you're using - cutting through ⅛" basswood uses much less In the Laser window, which is in the lower-right of the main
power than cutting through ¼" plywood or acrylic. For right window by default, look for the 'Start From' drop down box,
now we'll assume ⅛" (3 mm) plywood and give some and choose 'Current Position' or 'Absolute Coords'. If you see
guesses for settings, but you'll probably have to change 'Controller Setting' in this window, it means you have a
them. Trocen Controller, and the start position is set from the
controller menus, not from software. Don't sweat it for now.
To start with, click the black color entry in the Cuts / Layers
window. Below the list of layers you'll see the Cut Info
window, containing something like this:

For the text, you want enough power to engrave into the
material you're using, but not too deep.

• If you have a CO2 laser, use 200 mm/sec, 15% power

(both Power Min and Power Max - more on this later) and If you used 'Current Position' mode, you'll see the 9-dot "Job
leave everything else. Origin" control under it activate, and you should see a green
square on your design in the same spot indicated by Job
• If you have a diode laser, use 50 mm/sec (or 3000 mm/
Origin control, like this:
min), and 50% power.

Understand that this is a rough starting point, and you will

probably need to change this later.

Now, click the red entry in the Cuts / Layers window. This is
going to be what cuts through the material to cut out the
In the above image, the Job Origin is set to the lower-left,
shape. Cutting requires more power and much less speed.
and that's where the green origin square is on the design.
• For a CO2 laser, set 15 mm/sec, 75% power (again for That green square represents the position of the laser before
both min and max power)

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 4.2.4 Making a Simple Project

you start the job, so the design is going to end up above and speed or increase the power (or both). If you don't move
to the right of wherever the laser is when we press Start. your part, you can run the cut again (possibly with new
settings) without having to use a new piece of material..
Put a piece of material in the bed of the laser, and use the
arrow keys on the laser controller (if you have that) to move
the head of the laser to the lower-left corner of the material. Results and Next Steps
If your laser controller doesn't have arrows, click an empty
When it's done, hopefully it looks like something like this:
spot in the edit window, then use the arrows on the Number
Pad of your keyboard to jog the laser around instead.

When you think it's lined up, press the button labeled
'Frame'. The head of the laser will move in a rectangle
around where the job will go. If you need to adjust anything,
do so, then Frame again.

If you only have the option for 'Controller Setting' in the

above window, when you position the laser in the lower
corner of the material, press the button labeled 'Origin' on That's it for this quick tutorial - It's only meant to be a
the controller panel to tell the controller this is where you'd starting point, but hopefully it was enough to give you a
like the job to start. little foundation, and a taste of how things work.

When everything is lined up, close the lid on the laser (or if Next Steps:
you don't have one, put on your safety glasses), then press
We recommend going through some of our "LightBurn
the Start button.
Basics" tutorials on YouTube, and we have a great project
If anything goes wrong, hit the Stop button to abort the job, tutorial that's a little more in depth called the "WIFI QR Code
but if not, let it finish. When it completes, have a look at how tutorial" that covers more ground, including importing.
things ended up - if the engraving of the name is too deep or
• LightBurn YouTube channel
too dark, you can increase the speed or reduce the power
(or both). If the cut didn't go all the way through, reduce the

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 4.3 LightBurn UI Tour

Beginner Docs First Steps

4.3 LightBurn UI Tour

If you've never used LightBurn before, the main window might seem a little intimidating. Try not to let it scare you - we'll break out
the important sections to start with. LightBurn also has some features to make it easier to learn:

• Tool tips: If you hover the mouse over a control, you'll see a small bit of text pop up that describes that button or feature, like
this:

Help

If you hover the mouse over something and press the F1 key (help), LightBurn will launch the help page for that feature in your
browser. Most of the panels and buttons on the main window of LightBurn will do this.

4.3.1 The Main Window Open Image

This is the default layout for the main LightBurn window: It's worth noting that along the very bottom of the main
display is a status bar that will occasionally show
information like an automatic backup in progress, position of
the cursor, laser connecting, and so on.

The main sections of the user interface are all linked as

chapters, so you can skip around as needed. It's a big
application but you don't need to know all of it to use it well!

The Main Window

Menus

Main Toolbar

Creation & Modifier Tools

Here it is again, with the sections labeled:

Color Palette

Tool Layers

Cuts & Layers

Size, Position, Numeric Edits

Font & Text

Laser Window

Workspace / Edit Window

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 4.3.2 Menus

For a full list of the windows and dockables in LightBurn, see

the section on the user interface. 4.3.3 Main Toolbar
These are the windows you will use most commonly, though The main toolbar in LightBurn gives you quick access to
there are others. If you ever close one accidentally and want commonly used functions for opening or importing files,
it back, go to the menu bar, click the Window menu, or just saving, using the clipboard (copy & paste), moving or
right-click an empty space on the toolbar, and re-enable the zooming the view. Right beside it is the Arrangement
window you want back. toolbar, containing some commonly used arrangement tools
for arranging and aligning shapes.

4.3.2 Menus

Almost all desktop software uses menus in some form. The If you aren't sure what a button is for, hover the mouse over
menu bar at the top of the main window gives you access to it and it will tell you:
almost every feature available in LightBurn.

See Main Toolbar and Arrangement Toolbar for detailed

information.

4.3.4 Creation & Modifier Tools

The shape creation tools are normally arranged vertically,

but we're showing them sideways here. By default, these are
docked along the left side of the work space for quick
access.

The first tool, 'Select' is probably the one you'll use most,
and is the default tool chosen when LightBurn starts. The
others are used to create basic shapes like circles and
rectangles, text, and lines, and there are few for modifying
shapes in more complicated ways, like merging shapes, or
creating lots of copies of shapes.

See Creation Tool and Modifier Tool for detailed information.

4.3.5 Color Palette

The color palette lives along the bottom of the main window
by default, though a common alternative is docking it next
to the creation tools along the left.

Lasers don't print in color, so these colors are used to assign

different kinds of operations to the shapes in your design. A
Depending on the operating system you're using the menus common convention is to use bright red for cuts, though how
might appear a little differently, and some features may be you use the colors is up to you.
removed if your laser doesn't support them.
With nothing selected in the workspace, click a color entry
If a feature has a shortcut, it will be shown next to it in the and subsequent new shapes will be created in that color. If
menu, as shown above. Learning the shortcuts for the you have something selected, clicking a color entry will
features you use most often will make using LightBurn much apply that color to the shapes in your selection. The colors
faster, and sometimes there are even 'shorter' shortcuts - currently in use in your design will also appear as entries in
you can find these in the help menu under Help > Quick the Cuts / Layers window, where you can choose the
Help and Notes. operations that each color will represent.
See Menus for detailed information. See Layer Colors for detailed information.

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 4.3.6 Cuts / Layers

Tool Layers 4.3.7 Size and Position / Numeric Edits

There are two special layers at the end of the cut palette, The Numeric Edits toolbar lets you resize, position, and
labeled T1 and T2. These are Tool Layers and are used for rotate shapes, and change the unit of measure.
creating non-output shapes in your designs. These layers
have no cut parameters and will never be output to the
laser. For example you could use them for:

• Indicating pre-determined material size and position on The Lock button can be used to maintain the aspect ratio of
your machine your objects when changing the size, and the 9-dot control
• Guide-lines for aligning shapes lets you choose the positioning and sizing origin point. The
number entry boxes accept equations and units as well--e.g.
• Apply Path to Text (without the path being output)
entering 5 mm, 5in, 5", or 5 * 3 mm will be processed into
• Image Masking the correct result.

See Numeric Edits Toolbar for detailed information.

4.3.6 Cuts / Layers

The Cuts / Layers window shows the colors currently in use 4.3.8 Fonts and Text Controls
in your design, and lets you quickly access the settings
assigned to each color. The font and text toolbar will activate when the Create Text
tool is used or when text objects are selected.

This toolbar lets you change the font, size, spacing,

alignment, and automatic character welding settings. The
Fonts and Text toolbar also includes settings for variable
text, e.g. serial numbers, dates, and data tables read from
CSV files.

See Fonts and Text for detailed information.

4.3.9 Laser Window

The Laser Window is used to select the active machine, test

the framing (the artwork's outer bounds), run and stop the
machine, and choose the file processing, order, and artwork
positioning within the workspace.

The first column shows the name you've assigned to this

layer, followed by the color, then the Mode (Line, Fill, both,
or Image). Then the speed and power are displayed,
followed by the options to enable or disable sending this
layer to the laser, or displaying it in the workspace.

Underneath the layer list you can see and change the basic
settings for the currently selected layer. Double-clicking an
entry in the layer list, it will bring up a larger Cut Settings Note that this window may look different for you depending
Editor with a more complete set of options. on the type of laser chosen and the options it supports, and
some options will be hidden if you are in 'Beginner Mode'.
See Cuts / Layers Window for detailed information.
See Laser Window for detailed information.

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 4.3.10 Workspace / Edit Window

the workspace represents the available work area on your

machine. The artwork arranged and displayed within the
4.3.10 Workspace / Edit Window workspace will be processed and sent to your machine for
production.
The workspace, or edit window, is the drawing area where
your design is laid out. The size of the border and grid within Next Step: Zooming, Panning, and Selection

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 4.4 Feature Comparison

4.4 Feature Comparison

Feature LightBurn RDWorks LaserCAD AutoLaser LaserWeb

Windows 7, 8, 10 * * * * *

Mac OSX * *

Linux * *

64-bit native application *

Drag & Drop *

Copy & Paste with system *

clipboard

Undo / Redo Unlimited 20 steps Unlimited 30 steps no

User support forum *

CorelDraw macro * * * *

Rectangular array tool * * * *

Circular array tool *

Illustrator import (AI) * * * *

PDF import * *

SVG Import * * *

DXF import * * * * *

Support for DXF instances *

Specify cut start point & * * * *

direction

Mixed manual / automatic *

cut order

Automatic Inside / outside * * * *

cut order

Ruida controller support * *

Trocen controller support * *

TopWisdom controller * *
support

GCode controller support * *

Integrated webcam *
support for job placement

Print & Cut registration * * (requires RDV

mark support controller)

Image operations

Image dither modes 7 2 0 2 0

Halftone image generation * * *

Transparent bitmap *
support

Brightness / Contrast * * * *
image controls

Image edge enhancement *

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 4.4 Feature Comparison

Feature LightBurn RDWorks LaserCAD AutoLaser LaserWeb

Vectorize image (trace) * * *

Crop / Mask images *

Vector Operations

Create and edit vector * * * *

graphics in-app

Vector shape node-level * * * *

editing

Automatic text welding *

Boolean operations (union, *

subtract, weld)

Shape offsetting * * (poor) * (poor) * (poor)

Welded offsets *

Multiple offset corner *

types (round / sharp /
beveled)

Use objects as guides *

Create rectangles with *

rounded corners

Fillet shape corners *

Multiple object selection *

modes (crossing,
enclosing)

Fully simulated preview * *

Text / Font Operations

TrueType font support * * * *

SHX font support * * * *

Apply text to curved path *

Bend text *

Engraving operations

Ramp generation (for * * * *

stamp making)

Material Settings Library * *

Rotary engraving support * * * * *

Tool path preview * * * * *

Move laser to graphic *

position

Move graphic to laser *

position

Jog laser by clicking in *

page

Jog laser with numeric * *

keypad

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 5. Primary Docs

5. Primary Docs

5.1 Tips and Tricks

LightBurn has a decent number of user interface tricks that aren't always obvious, so we're listing many of them here. We also
have a LightBurn HotKey reference guide here.

• L , R , T , B — Align the selected objects by Left,

Right, Top, or Bottom edges

5.1.1 Tool Tips
• C — Align the selected objects along their vertical

Nearly everything in LightBurn has pop-up text that will tell centerlines
you what the control is for and sometimes gives additional • E — Align the selected objects along their horizontal
help, like this: centerlines
• P — Move the selection to the center of the page
• Arrow keys — Move the selection ( ⇧ Shift and ⌃ Ctrl
5.1.2 Topic-Aware Help adjust the size of the move)
• , (comma) and . (decimal), usually under < and
If you point the mouse cursor at a button or window and
1 , are rotated 90° counterclockwise and clockwise
press F1 (help), LightBurn will launch your browser and
open the documentation on the relevant help page for that • Holding Shift while pressing , (comma) and . (period/
control. This works for nearly all controls on the main decimal) will rotate 45°
window. • Tab ⇥ — Select the next shape in the shape list
• Number pad arrows — Jog the laser
5.1.3 Reset the Window Layout

Sometimes a window gets moved off the screen or

5.1.6 Framing Mode Nudging
positioned in a way that makes it hard to find or move. You
While framing, the arrow keys can be used to nudge the
can reset the window layout in LightBurn in two different
position of your graphics by 1 mm. Holding ⇧ Shift will
ways:
increase the movement distance to 5 mm, and holding
⌃ Ctrl will decrease it to 0.2 mm.
• In the Window menu, choose "Reset to default layout".
This will undock all windows, and re-dock them in the
default order.
5.1.7 Equation Support in Number Boxes
• If that doesn't do it, restart LightBurn while holding
⇧ Shift - this skips restoring the saved window layout, The position, width, and height boxes in LightBurn will
and always works. accept not just numbers, but also measurements and
equations. All of these are valid:

5.1.4 Reset to Default Settings • 50 mm, 5 cm

• 10 in, 10"
To completely reset LightBurn's settings:
• 2 ft, 2'
1. Open LightBurn • 10.25 / 2
2. Go to File → Open Prefs Folder • (10+2) * 4 + 1 in
3. Close LightBurn
You can also use the constants e and pi, and functions like
4. Delete the contents of the prefs folder, which should contain a
sin, cos, tan, sqrt, abs, atan, log, pow, and more.
pair of files called prefs.ini and prefs.old
5. Re-open LightBurn. All settings should be reset to default, and
all devices will be removed. 5.1.8 Copy & Paste from Other Applications

LightBurn can paste data in known formats from other

5.1.5 Edit Window Shortcuts applications.

The edit window has a number of single-key shortcuts that • An image copied from a browser can be pasted into
are only active when you have clicked in the edit window. LightBurn
They are: • Text copied from anywhere can be pasted into LightBurn

• H — flip selection horizontally • Shapes copied from Inkscape can be pasted into LightBurn

• V — flip selection vertically

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 5.1.9 Drag & Drop from the File Browser

5.1.9 Drag & Drop from the File Browser

Files in any format supported by LightBurn can be dragged

into LightBurn from your file browser (Windows file explorer,
or Finder on macOS).

5.1.10 Automatic File Backups

LightBurn by default will save backups of whatever file you

are working on. If you have previously saved the file as a
LightBurn project, the backup will be stored in the same
folder, with the same name, but with "_backup" appended to
it.

If you haven't saved the file with a name yet, LightBurn will
store the backups for it in you Documents folder with the
name "AutoSave_xxxx" where the x's are a random string of
characters. If LightBurn crashes, you can usually open the
most recent of these files to recover your work.
5.1.14 Alignment Guides

LightBurn 1.5 and higher

5.1.11 Auto-Start a Job on Send

Hold the ⇧ Shift key when you click the Send button in Click here for a video overview
LightBurn, and LightBurn will automatically run the file on
the laser when the transfer is completed. This is useful if you While dragging to draw, move, or scale objects, holding
are sending very complex or large files, and want to be ⎇ Alt will produce alignment guides for edges and
certain that the transfer completes before the job starts midpoints of existing objects.
running, but saves you from having to press Start on the
controller.

5.1.12 Pause and Stop from the Keyboard

While your laser is running, you can use your keyboard's

Pause key to pause the laser and ⌃ Ctrl + Break to stop

it. Break is typically on the same key as Pause , but more

compact keyboards may not have this key.

5.1.13 Setting up a New Computer

Setting up a new computer can be a pain—especially if

you've put a lot of time and effort into adding machines and Using Alignment Guides by holding down ⎇ Alt while
configuring your LightBurn installation exactly how you like
drawing
it. To avoid repeating all that work, you can export your
preferences on your old computer using File → Export
Prefs, and then import them on your new computer using 5.1.15 Draggable Guidelines
File → Import Prefs. Starting in version 1.3, there is also
an Import Prefs button in the Devices window if no lasers LightBurn 1.5 and higher
have been added—this lets you import preference files when
you first open a fresh installation of LightBurn. Click here for a video overview

Horizontal and vertical guidelines can now be created by

dragging from the ruler area of the LightBurn workspace.
Guidelines can be treated like any other line. Guidelines can
be locked to avoid accidentally moving them.

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 5.1.15 Draggable Guidelines

You can also make guidelines of any shape by drawing objects

and adding them to one of the Tool Layers

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 5.2 Installation & Licensing

5.2 Installation & Licensing

Beginner Docs

5.2.1 Downloading & Installing LightBurn

Downloading LightBurn

The first step is to go to lightburnsoftware.com

At the top, click "Download and Trial" (or click here)

You'll see links for the current release of LightBurn.

Download the version that matches your computer.

• Windows 64-bit - nearly all modern computers are 64-bit

• Windows 32-bit - some older systems might need this
• Mac OSX
• Linux 64-bit

When you've completed the download, you should see the

file in your "Downloads" folder or the manually selected
folder. On Windows and Mac you can just double-click the Click Next, then click 'Install'. The installation will proceed.
downloaded file. When it completes, you'll see this:

MINIMUM COMPUTER SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

LightBurn will run on Windows 7.0 or later (32 or 64-bit),

macOS 10.11 or later, and certain 64-bit Linux versions.
Linux users should see Linux Installation for more details.

LightBurn does not require a powerful computer for most

work, though if your designs contain a lot of images, more
memory is helpful. As with most things, a faster computer
will make it easier to work with large images or complex
vector graphics.

Choose your operating system:

• Windows
• macOS
• Linux

Windows Installation If you have never installed LightBurn before, you might need
to check the 'Install FTDI driver' button - this is mostly used
Launch the installer by double-clicking it. Windows may ask by DSP controllers, like Ruida and TopWisdom, and it only
if you trust us first. needs to be done once. If you update the software later, you
do not need to repeat this step.

That's it! Locate the LightBurn icon to launch the program

MacOS Installation

Installing LightBurn on Mac is accomplished the same way

as most macOS software. After downloading the DMG file,
open the file (typically by double-clicking) and drag
LightBurn into your Applications folder. As long as you have
version 1.2.00 or later, LightBurn should be ready to use. If

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 5.2.1 Downloading & Installing LightBurn

you're using an older version, please see the information

below for an additional step you'll need to take.
Linux Installation

LINUX COMPATIBILITY

LightBurn is tested on Ubuntu Linux, and current releases

are officially supported on Ubuntu 20.04 and 22.04.

Ubuntu

• Ubuntu 18.04 users unable to upgrade to a more recent

version should download LightBurn 1.2.01, the last release
compatible with their operating system.
• Ubuntu 20.04 users can use any of the installation
methods described below.
• Ubuntu 22.04 users will need to use LightBurn's new
AppImage installer.

USING APPIMAGE

LightBurn is now available as an AppImage for easier setup

and increased compatibility. To use the LightBurn AppImage:
Versions before 1.2.00 were not notarized to be recognized
by your computer as coming from a trusted developer. If you 1. Download the AppImage file
installed an older version, you'll need to follow the steps
2. Add the user to the dialout and tty groups
below to allow your computer to run the software:
3. Make sure libfuse is installed
4. Make the file executable
5. Double-click the AppImage file to run it.

Add User to Dialout and TTY

Info

In the command below, $USER doesn't need to be replaced

with your username. It's a standard system variable, and if
entered exactly as shown below will automaticlaly refer to
the logged-in user's username.

macOS Notarization Bypass Guide (fixing the

'unable to check it for malicious software' Open a terminal and run the following command. When
warning) complete, be sure to log out and log back in to refresh
permissions:
To Install the LightBurn application:
sudo adduser $USER dialout && sudo adduser $USER tty
1. Double-click the LightBurn.dmg file to mount the disk image
2. Drag the LightBurn application into your applications folder Install libfuse
3. Eject the LightBurn disk image, or drag it to the trash bin
Ubuntu 22.04 does not have the FUSE library, which
When launching LightBurn for the first time: prevents AppImage from working as expected. To install the
library, use the following command in the terminal:
1. Open a Finder window
2. Browse to the 'Applications' folder sudo apt install libfuse2

3. Hold the Control key and click the LightBurn icon, or right-
Graphical method to make the AppImage file executable:
click or two-finger tap the icon
4. Choose 'Open' from the menu 1. Right-click on the .appimage file
5. When macOS asks if it should open the program, say yes, 2. Select Properties
and it will be listed as an exception in your launcher. From
3. Go to the Permissions Tab
then on you can just launch the application normally.
4. Check the Allow executing file as program box
VIDEO WALKTHROUGH
Command line method:

Replace <AppImage File> with the actual .appimage file and

run the following:

chmod u+x <AppImage File>

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 5.2.1 Downloading & Installing LightBurn

AppImage Troubleshooting 1. Open a terminal and run the following command:

• Make sure you've logged out and back in after adding the 2. sudo adduser $USER dialout && sudo adduser $USER tty
current user to the dialout and tty groups. 3. IMPORTANT! Log out and log back in (this refreshes the
• If you're having trouble with the AppImage, you may find permissions we just added)
this guide from itsfoss.com useful: itsfoss.com/cant-run- 4. Download the Linux 64-bit version, either the .run file or
appimage-ubuntu/. the .7z file and follow the appropriate steps below:
• Our support team is also available to help. When reaching .run installer
out to support, please include in your message that you're
using AppImage on Linux, and which Linux version you're 1. Open your terminal and cd to the directory you downloaded
using. the file to.

USING .RUN OR .7Z INSTALLER 2. Run bash ./LightBurn-Linux64-v*.run

3. It will now automatically install and create a program listing in
your desktop environment.
Info
.7z installer

In step 1 below, $USER doesn't need to be replaced with

1. Extract the folder wherever you want LightBurn to exist
your username. It's a standard system variable, and if
entered exactly as shown below will automatically refer to 2. Right click AppRun → Properties → Permissions → 'Allow
the logged-in user's username. executing file as program'
3. Double click AppRun inside your LightBurn folder

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 5.2.2 Trial or License Activation

Primary Docs

information on License Management, including offline

activation and deactivating a computer, please see License
5.2.2 Trial or License Activation Management.

If you've never activated LightBurn on a particular computer

before, you'll immediately see the License and Trial page. Trial Extensions
From this page, you can:
Starting in LightBurn 1.5, trial extensions happen
• Enter and activate a license key you've already purchased
automatically when you click Extend Trial. In earlier
• Start a free 30 day trial versions of LightBurn, the button will open an email to
• Purchase a license key from our website support to request an extension.

• Extend your free trial

• Deactivate a license to free up an installation for a
Activating a Trial
different computer
Click the Activate Trial button to activate a free 30 day trial
of LightBurn.

Activating a License Key

If you already have a license key, enter it into the License

Key box and click Activate License. Be sure to enter your
license key exactly as provided, including the dashes. We
recommend copying the license key directly from your
original order email and pasting it into the License Key box.

If you will be using LightBurn on a computer without an

internet connection, please follow the Offline Activation
instructions.

Next Steps

Once you have activated your license or the trial, click OK to

close the window.

The next thing you'll see is the General Usage Notes page
- this is a brief help page to get you started. Click OK to
close this window. You can get back to it any time in the Help
menu under Help → Quick Help and Notes.

You're almost done!

You can get back to this screen in LightBurn at any time by Next Step: Adding your Laser to LightBurn
going to Help → License Management. For more

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 5.2.3 License Management

Primary Docs

5.2.3 License Management

The license system used by LightBurn has a web portal that

you can use to view the computers on their license, and do
some basic tasks like remove a computer that has failed and
process an offline activation.

If you purchased your key from LightBurn directly, you will

have access to this portal. If you purchased from a 3rd party
vendor, we would need to assign your license key to your Clicking one of the computers will show additional details,
email address for you to use this. Contact us via email and displays this icon in the upper-right:
([email protected]) with your full name and
license key to have us do this.

To access the license portal, go to http://

lightburn.cryptlex.app

The first time you use the portal you will need to request a
password reset. Click 'Forgot Password', enter the email
address where you received your license key, and click
'Recover Password'. You will receive an email from Cryptlex
with a password reset link. Follow the link, choose your new Click that, and you have the option to delete an activation,
password, then log in. removing the license from that computer, and freeing up the
license seat for use on another machine.
If you do not see it, please check your Promotions or Spam
OFFLINE ACTIVATION
folders as the password reset email sometimes ends up
there. If you still cannot find it, then your email provider If you have would like to license a computer without a
might be blocking the email from ever reaching you to begin network connection, enter the license key, then click
with - some email providers do this. We know Gmail works “Request Offline Activation”. It will ask you to save a file that
well, and if you provide a Gmail account, we can put your contains the machine fingerprint as an offline request. Copy
key under that instead so that you can access the portal. In that to a USB flash drive and bring it to a machine with a
this case, contact us via email with your full name and network connection.
license key.
To do offline activation from the portal, open the .ofr file in a
REMOVING AN OLD COMPUTER FROM YOUR KEY:
text editor (Sublime Text or Notepad++ work nicely) and
On the main screen you will see any licenses associated with copy the entire string. With your license being viewed, click
your email address, like this: 'Activations', then 'Offline Activation', and paste the copied
OFR content into the request box in the Cryptlex portal. This
will produce the .dat response file which is what you will put
back into the offline LightBurn system.

If you're not comfortable doing this yourself, you can email

the .ofr file and your license key to us, and we will process
and return the .dat response file that you use to complete
the activation.
Clicking on "#/# Activations" next to a license will show
which computers are assigned to your license key, when If you’re trying to run the trial, there isn’t currently a way to
they were activated and last used, etc, like this: register the trial without an internet connection. It only
needs to be connected long enough to verify that the
machine hasn’t run the trial before, and doesn’t require the
connection after that.

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 5.3 Adding A Laser

5.3 Adding A Laser

Beginner Docs First Steps

style, where the beam is "moved" about the cutting area

with a gantry system. Many of these lasers use a glass tube
5.3.1 Laser Types filled with gas to produce the beam, hence the name.

There are many types of laser cutters and engravers that

are compatible with LightBurn, let's talk about a few of Machine Guides
them.

3018/"CNC" Guide
Diode Lasers
Ruida Ethernet Guide
These devices typically share a lot of design with 3D
printers, and are equipped with a small, fairly low-power
Trocen Ethernet Guide
diode laser module. These devices can usually cut thin
pieces of wood or plastics, but are far more often used to
engrave wood or plastic surfaces with a design.
Galvo Lasers

Machine Guides These devices have a fixed galvo head responsible for
actuating mirrors to move the beam, and usually have an
Sculpfun S9 Limit Switch Guide external box responsible for generating a beam. This beam
is produced by a CO2 or Fiber source to engrave, color, or
Sculpfun S9 Flashing GRBL Guide occasionally cut pieces of metal or glass.

Machine Guides
CO2 Lasers
JCZ/Galvo Guide
These devices use a CO2 beam to cut through thicker pieces
of wood, plastics, or other organic materials. While there are
"galvo" style CO2 laser cutters, most of these are gantry

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 5.3.2 Find My Laser

First Steps Primary Docs

5.3.2 Find My Laser GCode devices

Start by clicking the Devices button in the Laser window to If you have a GCode controller, you may be asked whether
open the Devices window. your machine is an X-Carve or Shapeoko because there are
some specific settings that need to be configured for those
machines. Click the appropriate button. If not, click Other .
You will be asked where the origin of your machine is and if
you want to home on startup. Nearly all GCode systems use
the front left corner as the origin.

Enable homing on startup if your machine has homing or

limit switches, otherwise leave it off. If you see Error: 9 in
the console later, it means you've enabled this feature, but
your machine isn't configured for homing. Homing and origin
settings are among the settings you can change in Device
Settings.

Some GCode devices will require additional configuration of

In the Devices window, click the 'Find My Laser' button, and
either LightBurn or the controller.
you'll see this screen:
Next: Connecting to the Laser

DSP devices

If you have a DSP controller, you'll select the machine's

origin and whether to home on startup on the next screen.
This is the corner the machine moves to when homing after
power up. Most DSP controllers use the rear left corner as
the origin, so select that if you're not sure. If you get it
wrong, your laser's movement may be flipped, but you'll be
able to change this setting in Device Settings later.

Click 'OK' on the Devices window to exit after your laser has
been added.
Make sure your laser is powered on, connected to your
computer with a USB cable, and has completed any startup Next: Software walk-through for beginners
sequence it needs to, like homing. Click next when the laser
is ready.
Galvo devices
LightBurn will list the devices it was able to recognize after a
short scan: When adding a galvo device, LightBurn will attempt to
import the markcfg7 configuration file from your EZCAD2
setup or installation drive. You will need to select the file and
then enter your workspace size. See the Galvo Setup page
for more information, including what to do if you don't have
a configuration file, as well as our video on setting up a
galvo laser.

Next: Software walk-through for beginners

What if my laser isn't found?

If LightBurn can't find your laser, it could be for a number of

reasons:

In this example, I have two lasers connected to my • Missing drivers: Install your laser-specific drivers and
computer — a Ruida DSP controller on COM3 and a GRBL software. Even if you don't plan to use it, they can include
controller on COM30. Select your laser and click Add Device . the necessary drivers that are not included with
LightBurn.
If your laser wasn't found automatically, or if you don't have
a laser available to connect, you'll need to manually create a • In the case of galvo devices, they have a LightBurn
laser. Otherwise, continue on for additional information on specific driver that needs to be used. See here for more
setting up your GCode, DSP, or Galvo device. information.

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 5.3.2 Find My Laser

• Can't connect: Only one application can talk to your • Marlin controller - If you are using a Marlin controller,
laser at a time. If you run other software, like RDWorks, they have a variety of baud rates and configuration
Easel, Carbide Create, AutoLaser, LaserCAD, etc., make options. They take significantly longer to reset than most
sure that software is not running when you run LightBurn. other controllers making auto-search impractical. Click
• Networked device: LightBurn can't automatically Create Manually and follow the listed steps.
configure a network-connected laser. For this, you'll have
to click Create Manually and follow the outlined steps.

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 5.3.3 Manually adding a Laser

Beginner Docs Guides Troubleshooting

5.3.3 Manually adding a Laser

If you need to add a laser that isn't connected to your

computer or is connected over a network, you can add it
manually.

I don't have a laser yet!

If you don't have a laser, the No Machine device type

added in LightBurn 1.5 can be used to create a simple
placeholder device of any size you want.

Start by clicking the Devices button in the Laser window to

open the Devices window.

Choose the entry that matches the type of controller or

firmware in your laser and click Next. If you don't have a
device to connect yet, you can choose the No Machine type
to move ahead with using the software.

The Custom GCode device type added in LightBurn 1.5

allows you to create custom templates for generating
GCode. This won't be necessary for most users, but if you
have a custom machine or purchased a machine from a
vendor using non-standard GCode, go to Custom GCode to
learn more.

Click the Create Manually button on the Devices window.

Connection Type

The next step is choosing how you connect to your laser. The
choices you see will depend on the type of connection
methods supported by your controller and LightBurn. Serial/
USB is the most common. Some controllers allow connection
by Ethernet (note that this includes both Wi-Fi and wired).

Device Type

LightBurn will open the New Device Wizard, and the first
thing you'll see is a list of the controllers supported by your
version of LightBurn:

Choose how you wish to connect, and click Next.

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 5.3.3 Manually adding a Laser

If you have a GCode based controller, like GRBL,

Name And Work Area Size Smoothieware, or Marlin, commonly used with diode lasers
or smaller hobby systems, in almost all cases the origin will
You can name the laser, which is very useful if you have
be in the front-left. With GCode based systems, you are
more than one or just leave it as is.
given the option to send the homing command when
LightBurn first connects. If your laser does not have homing
switches, leave this off.

If you have a DSP controller, like Ruida, Trocen, or

TopWisdom, common in larger CO2 lasers with metal
cabinets and LCD panels, the origin corner will be the corner
that the laser head seeks out when you power it up. With
DSP controllers, the controller will automatically home itself
when powered up, so you will not see the option for homing
on startup.

Review Settings

The final page will show you a summary of your choices. You
can go back and fix anything if necessary, or click Finish to
create the new device entry.

You must set the size of the work area for your laser so that
LightBurn can make try to prevent things from going out of
bounds. If you don't know the exact size, you can easily
change this later in the Device Settings page.

Laser Origin And Homing

The origin setting is where the 'zero' point of your X & Y axis
meet. If you get this wrong, you can change it later in
Device Settings. This setting also controls the orientation of
the output — if it's wrong, the output from your laser may be
mirrored or upside down.

Next Step: Connecting to the Laser

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 5.3.4 LightBurn Bridge

LightBurn Bridge Primary Docs

5.3.4 LightBurn Bridge LightBurn Bridge Setup

The LightBurn Bridge is pre-configured to connect to a laser

Warning configured with an IP address of 10.0.3.3. In the Ruida
control panel, set the IP of your laser to this value, then
The LightBurn Bridge is only for use with lasers using Ruida connect a network cable from the controller to the Raspberry
controllers. Pi, and plug in the Pi with its power adapter. If you need to
change the IP address, please check out the Configuration
Options, and please note the caveats to doing this, listed
The LightBurn Bridge was created by LightBurn to get there.
around some of the limitations of Ruida controllers. Ruida
uses the UDP network protocol, which does not guarantee
data transmission, and is therefore not reliable enough to
use over WIFI. Many computers no longer have a network
port, and running a network cable is often impractical or
cumbersome. In addition, Apple's device driver for the USB
connection to the Ruida has issues that often cause data
loss.

The LightBurn Bridge overcomes all of this. It's a Raspberry

Pi running software created by LightBurn to act as a relay
between your PC and laser. You connect to it using TCP, so
the commands are reliably sent even over WIFI. The Bridge
forwards the commands to the controller using a short
network cable, and relays responses back to your computer.

The LightBurn Bridge is simple to configure, requires no

drivers, and typically sends data 50% to 100% faster than a
USB connection. It looks like this:

In LightBurn, in the Devices screen, click 'LightBurn Bridge'

to set it up:

If you purchased a kit with everything included, continue

below. But if you want to setup your own with a Raspberry Pi
you already have, follow the SD card flashing instructions
first.

Danger

The bridge is intended to be an appliance. We have tested

the software extensively, but we do not support
modifications to the hardware or firmware - if you alter the
system to add functionality beyond what is covered here, or
in the Advanced Guide, you’re on your own.

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 5.3.4 LightBurn Bridge

CONNECTING THE LIGHTBURN BRIDGE TO YOUR NETWORK

LightBurn will open the LightBurn Bridge discovery wizard to

guide you through the setup.

Note: The access point name you find will typically have a
On your computer or a mobile device, use the WiFi settings four-character random string at the end of the name, such
to find the LightBurn Bridge device, and connect to it: as LightBurn Bridge E4B7 . This is to prevent conflicts if you
have multiple LightBurn Bridge devices in the same location.

When you've selected the LightBurn Bridge access point,

click Next.

Note: You may also configure the WiFi manually, as shown

on the Advanced Usage page.

CONFIGURING THE BRIDGE IN LIGHTBURN

Now you need to tell the LightBurn Bridge which WiFi

network to connect to, and give it the network password. In
most cases, the configuration page on the Bridge will open
automatically. If it does not, browse to http://192.168.42.1 as
shown in the wizard page below. If you want to use your PC
to configure the Bridge, click the button shown to open your
browser to the correct page:

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 5.3.4 LightBurn Bridge

SETTING THE WIFI NAME AND PASSWORD If LightBurn is able to connect to the Bridge device, and the
Bridge was able to talk to your laser, you should see
In the browser window, you'll see a page like this:
something like this:

If everything looks good, click 'Add Device' and you'll be

taken to the setup screen for the device, asking you to enter
the name, check the size, and so on. Click here to skip to the
next section.

If the either the Bridge or the laser are not found, you may
need to change the IP address on your laser to 10.0.3.3 (the
default for the LightBurn Bridge), or optionally, you can
configure the bridge to use a different address for your laser.

NAME AND WORK AREA SIZE

You can name the laser, which is very useful if you have
more than one, or just leave it as is.
Select your WiFi network from the list of options, enter your
password, then click the 'Connect' button at the bottom.
You'll see a message appear near the top, telling you that
the bridge is connecting to your WiFi network. You can now
close the browser window and go back to the LightBurn
wizard.

If you were using your PC to configure the LightBurn Bridge,

re-connect the PC to your WiFi network if you need to.

FINDING THE LIGHTBURN BRIDGE FROM YOUR PC

LightBurn will now scan your network, looking for connected

devices, to find the new LightBurn Bridge. You'll see a
progress bar appear as it does this:

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 5.3.4 LightBurn Bridge

With a DSP controller, like Ruida, Trocen, or TopWisdom, the

origin corner will be the corner that the laser head seeks out
when you power it up.

ALL DONE!

That's it - The final page will show you a summary of your

choices. You can go back and fix anything if necessary, or
click Finish to create the new device entry.

You must set the size of the work area for your laser so that
LightBurn can try to prevent things from going out of
bounds. If you don't know the exact size, you can easily
change this later in the Device Settings page.

LASER ORIGIN

The origin setting is where the 'zero' point of your X & Y axis
meet. If you get this wrong, you can change it later in the
Device Settings page. This setting also controls the
NEXT STEPS
orientation of the output - if it's wrong, the output from your
laser may be mirrored or upside down. If your use of LightBurn Bridge is more complex than
indicated here, you may need to take a look at our Advanced
Guide for LightBurn Bridge.

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 5.3.5 Connecting to the Laser

As long as your laser is connected to the same

5.3.5 Connecting to the Laser communication port, LightBurn will reconnect when you re-
start. If you reboot your computer, or plug the controller into
Once you have added your laser to LightBurn, it should a different USB port, you might need to re-select it.
appear in the list of devices to the right of the 'Devices'
button in the Laser Window. If you only have a single laser, it If you see the '(Choose)' as shown above, you need to select
will be automatically chosen for you. the port. If no ports are listed in the drop-down, it means
that no devices were found, which could mean that it is not
If you have more than one laser set up, you might need to plugged in correctly, isn't powered, or you're missing a
select the one to connect to by clicking here: driver.

If your laser disconnects for some reason, or enters an alarm

state and needs to be reset, you can quickly re-connect by
right-clicking the 'Devices' button in the Laser Window.

Troubleshooting

Some Linux users have reported issues connecting to lasers

that had previously worked after upgrading to Ubuntu 22.04
due to a conflict with the Braille display driver BRLTTY .
Depending on the type of controller you have, you might
have to manually choose the port that the laser is connected To check if BRLTTY is running, open a terminal window and
to, by clicking where you see '(Choose)' in the Laser Window: run ps -fe | grep brltty . You can remove the process from
the system using sudo apt-get purge --auto-remove brltty

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 5.4 Configuring A Laser

5.4 Configuring A Laser

GRBL Primary Docs

power output for the duration of a cut. Since the machine

needs to slow down to take sharp corners, this means
5.4.1 Common GRBL/GCode Setups corners get over-burnt, while long straight lines end up
lighter. This also has the benefit that when the laser comes
Most GCode-based lasers are pre-configured to work with
to a complete stop, the beam turns off (zero speed equals
LightBurn, but if you have a less common machine like a
zero power), meaning that pausing a job automatically turns
Shapeoko, EleksMaker, X-Carve, or Acro system, you might
off the laser. This is not always true with other versions of
need to make some simple changes to get the most from
GRBL.
LightBurn.
If you aren't already running GRBL 1.1f (or later) on your
controller, we highly recommend it for laser use. If this isn't
Quick Reference
an option, that's ok, but your results won't be as good, and
• You might need to adjust your spindle max RPM value pausing the laser runs the risk of leaving the beam on and
( $30 ) to match the LightBurn default (1000) or vice versa. ruining the job.
The value in LightBurn is called "S-Value Max" in Device
Settings.
Getting Machine Settings
• You might need to enable "Laser Mode" if you have GRBL
1.1f or later ( $32=1 ) Many GRBL based machines allow the settings of the
• If you have an older version of GRBL (prior to 1.1f) machine to be easily exported or viewed. For advanced
upgrading the firmware is highly recommended, as Laser configuration like adding limit switches, updating firmware,
Mode also prevents the machine from pausing with every or setting up a new controller, you'll need to interact with
power change. The pause, which happens on older these values. You can do this in LightBurn by using the
versions, or when not using Laser Mode, will cause Console window or the Machine Settings window to copy,
excessive burn spots when engraving images. update, or reset your machine settings.

• If your machine uses negative workspace coordinates The Machine Settings window provides you with a formatted
you'll need to apply a workspace offset ( G10 L2 P1 xx yy ). table with the parameters labeled. You can also export these
• Set your machine status reporting to be relative to the settings to a file for later restoration, like we did in our GRBL
workspace origin, not the machine origin ( $10=0 ). flashing guide.

• Make sure the controller is reporting positions in mm, as

expected by LightBurn ( $13=0 )
• If your machine does not have homing switches (also
called limit switches) you will need to home it manually if
you want to use Absolute Coords or User Origin modes

GRBL Flavors

GRBL firmware was originally designed for CNC machines

and 3D printers, with laser support added more recently. It is
highly configurable, and this is both a blessing and a curse.
The "standard" way a CNC machine is configured is
somewhat different from the way laser machines often are.
Luckily this is easy to change, and easy to switch from one
to the other.

More recent versions of GRBL (1.1f and up) support two

laser-oriented features. The first is Laser Mode, enabled by
setting $32=1 in the firmware settings. Laser mode
eliminates the pauses that happen when changing power
output, because GRBL knows it's controlling a laser which
reacts instantly, instead of waiting for a spindle to change
RPM.

The second is a feature called variable power mode, or the

M4 command. In this mode, GRBL adjusts the laser power as
the machine speeds up and slows down, making for very
consistent cutting and marking. Older versions of GRBL do
not have this feature, and simply run the laser at a constant

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 5.4.1 Common GRBL/GCode Setups

device in LightBurn if the following settings commands are

In the Console, enter $$ to have the controller return the entered in the console:
machine's configuration. This will show the settings in plain
text, requiring more familiarity with what each command $30=1000
means but allowing you to view the configuration directly, $32=1

without any chance of mislabeling based on custom vendor

configurations. These two lines:

• Set the spindle max value ($30) to match LightBurn and

GRBL's default setting (1000)
• Enable laser mode ($32=1)

Other Machines

If you aren't sure how to configure your machine, the

following steps will help you figure it out.

Figure out which firmware you're running

In LightBurn, when you first connect to the machine the

console will typically show a 'hello' message from the
controller. For Smoothieware boards it is just "Smoothie". For
GRBL, it will be "GRBL 1.1f [$ for help]" or similar - this tells
you it's GRBL, and which version. Machines using GRBL 1.1f
or later will support the M4 variable power command, and
just use the "GRBL" driver in LightBurn. GRBL 1.1e or older
(GRBL 1.0, GRBL 0.9, etc) must use the GRBL-M3 device in
LightBurn.

Find the machine origin and coordinate direction

1.
Home the machine by pressing the Home button ( ) in the
Move window.
Shapeoko
2. In the console window, type G0 X0 Y0 and press Enter ⏎ . This
Shapeoko machines typically use GRBL 1.1f, as do newer X- will command your machine to head toward its origin position -
Carve and some other systems, but as they are designed as the location represented by (0, 0) in the machine's coordinate
CNC machines, they are typically configured for negative system. This is not always the same as the home position. The
workspace coordinates. LightBurn doesn't directly support origin is usually either the front left corner or the rear right
negative workspace coordinates, but you can use a corner of the machine, but can be a different corner or the
Shapeoko in LightBurn with a workspace offset. Please see center of the work area. If your machine moved to the center,
the directions in Negative Coordinate Machines for directions skip to Center Origin Machines for more information.
to set a workspace offset, clear the offset to use the 3. After the machine has stopped moving from the previous
machine in CNC mode, and create macros to switch modes command, type G0 X10 Y10 and press Enter ⏎ . If your
quickly.
machine moves 10 mm into the work area on both axes, your
You can set these commands up as macro buttons in the machine uses positive workspace coordinates. You can set the
LightBurn console window. Enter the first command into a origin in LightBurn to match the machine origin you found in
macro and call it "Use Laser", and enter the second step 2. If your machine bumped the rails, it uses negative
command into a different macro and call it "Use CNC". When coordinates. Please see Negative Coordinate Machines for
you want to use your laser, click the "Use Laser" macro more information.
button, and when you're done and want to switch back to
CNC, click the "Use CNC" button. Negative Coordinate Machines

After setting this, you will also need to make sure your LightBurn expects positive workspace coordinates. If your
machine is reporting coordinates relative to this workspace machine is configured to use negative workspace
origin, instead of the absolute machine zero. Do this by coordinates, you can set a workspace offset to enable
entering $10=0 in the console. compatibility with LightBurn. If you are switching between
LightBurn and CNC software that expects a negative
X-Carve coordinate system, you can clear the workspace offset. You
can also set macros to toggle between the two modes.
X-Carve machines sold prior to January 2018 generally run
SET A WORKSPACE OFFSET
an older flavor of GRBL (1.0c) which does not support the
variable power ( M4 ) command, meaning you'll need to use In the console, enter G10 L2 P1 X-WIDTH Y-HEIGHT and hit
the GRBL-M3 device in LightBurn. Machines sold after that Enter ⏎ . Replace WIDTH and HEIGHT with the actual X and Y
date use GRBL 1.1f, and will work with the standard GRBL

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 5.4.1 Common GRBL/GCode Setups

travel distances of your machine. Set your machine to use

workspace coordinates with the $10=0 command. You'll need to know the total distance your machine can
travel in both axis. For a Shapeoko XXL, for example, it's 812
Example: G10 L2 P1 X-310 Y-180 Enter ⏎ mm in X and Y. For a 1000 mm 2nd Generation X-Carve, it's
750 mm in X and Y - note the difference between overall size
CLEAR A WORKSPACE OFFSET
and travel distance. By applying a workspace offset that is
In the console, enter G10 L2 P1 X0 Y0 . This is generally only the size of your machine area, you can shift the offset to the
required if switching between using your machine as a laser opposite corner, like this:
(with an offset) and as a CNC machine in software that
expects negative coordinates.

DETAILED EXPLANATION.

Entering G10 L2 P1 X-812 Y-812 means set an offset ( G10 L2 )

in the first coordinate system ( P1 ) with a distance of -812
mm in each direction ( X-812 Y-812 ).
This image shows the origin at the front left, with positive X
If you enable a workspace offset, you will also need to make
values moving to the right, and positive Y values heading to
GRBL report its location relative to this shifted origin, instead
the rear of the machine.
of in "machine space", by setting $10=0. Some systems, like
A negative workspace system looks like this: Easel or Carbide Motion, may need a different value, so it's a
good idea to make a note of the existing setting.

SET MACROS

For a one click way to set or clear workspace coordinates,

you can store these commands in the macro buttons in the
console window.

1. Right click one of the buttons at the bottom of the console

window
2. Enter the command you want to save in the text box that pops
up
3. Set the button label to something easily recognizable, such as
"Use Laser" or "Use CNC"
4. Press OK to save the settings

Once the macro is saved, you can use the command by

pressing the appropriate button.

CENTER ORIGIN MACHINES

Some systems have their origin in the center of the

In this image, the origin is at the rear right of the machine. workspace. To confirm that this is the case, after homing
The X and Y directions are the same as before, but now you your machine enter G0 X0 Y0 in the console and press
Enter ⏎ . This command says "rapid move to coordinate
would need to use negative numbers to move into the work
area. 0,0". If your machine travels to the center of the workspace,
it's configured for a center origin.

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 5.4.1 Common GRBL/GCode Setups

• With the machine powered, jog the laser head to the

A center origin machine requires a workspace offset similar origin position. In the console window, type: G92 X0 Y0
to what's described in Negative Coordinate Machines, but and press Enter ⏎ . The G92 command tells GRBL to set
the offset should be half the travel distance. For instance, a the current location as the specified coordinate, so you're
machine with a travel distance of 500 mm x 500 mm and a telling the machine "this is zero". You will also need to set
center origin would require G10 L2 P1 X-250 Y-250 . $10=0 for this to work correctly.

If you use the second option frequently, you may want to

Machines without homing sensors / limit switches
save the command as a macro.
If your machine does not have homing switches (also called XTOOL WI-FI UPLOAD
limit switches) you will need to home it manually if you want
to use Absolute Coords or User Origin modes. There are two We do not currently (as of LightBurn 1.5) support uploading
ways to do this: GCode to the xTool family of lasers via Wi-Fi. The upload
mechanism is significantly different from the currently
• With the machine off, manually move the laser head to supported methods, and that development hasn't yet been
the origin position (usually front-left), then power up the completed. Thank you for understanding.
machine. Until you tell it otherwise, the power-on location
of the controller is treated as the zero position.

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 5.4.2 Configuring a Ruida

Primary Docs Ruida

It's also a good idea to back up the initial settings before you
5.4.2 Configuring a Ruida change them, so you can go back to what you had if you
make a mistake and can't remember what you did.
When purchasing a laser with a DSP controller installed, the
factory making the machine configures the laser controller The 'Read' button tells LightBurn to read the settings from
for you to tell the controller how fast and in what directions the controller (this happens automatically when you open
to move, where the homing switches are, and so on. the Machine Settings window). The 'Save' button will write
all settings to a file. 'Load' will read settings from a file back
If you are installing a new controller into a machine, you will into memory. 'Write' commits the settings in LightBurn back
need to perform the configuration that is normally done for to your controller.
you by the factory.
In the bottom of the Machine Settings window is a heading
A somewhat common mistake for new users is doing a called Vendor Settings. Click it to 'unroll it' and you'll see
'factory reset' of their controller - this resets it to the stock something like this:
configuration supplied by Ruida, not the configuration
applied by the company that set up your laser, so it's not
recommended to do this. Chances are you already have,
which is why you're here.

Ruida Machine Settings in LightBurn

With the laser connected to your computer, go to the bottom

of the Edit menu and click Machine Settings. LightBurn will
open the Machine Settings window and read the
configuration from your controller. You should see this
screen:

The first section is general configuration, and then there are

settings that are specific to each axis, followed by a Laser
The top section of the list is referred to as user settings - section, for configuration specific to the laser type.
these are settings that are intended to be tunable by the
user if necessary. The lower section, under 'Vendor Settings'
Homing, Directions, and Travel
are things usually configured for you by the factory and
should only be changed if you have a good reason for doing A DSP laser will have homing switches - one on each axis.
so. They might be physical lever-type micro switches, optical
beam-break switches, or inductive proximity sensors. Locate
the switch at the end of the X axis, and the one for the Y

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 5.4.2 Configuring a Ruida

axis. Note that the Ruida homes using the X- and Y- limit
switches. Then draw a small rectangle at the origin. Start with 10 x 10
or 20 x 20 mm, like this:
When you power up the laser, the first thing it will do is
move toward the corner it thinks those switches are at to
home itself. If it's moving in in the wrong direction, you'll
have to hit the ESC button on the controller itself to stop it.

Bring up Machine Settings in LightBurn, and go to the

Vendor settings section at the bottom, and open the X axis
and Y axis Settings. Near the top of each will be three check
boxes: Note that your origin corner might be in a different spot than
mine - you should set it in the device settings to match the
• Invert Keypad Direction origin corner of the machine.
• Limiter Polarity Now, use the 'Frame" button (shown above, near the 'Start
• Direction Polarity From' setting) and see how big it frames. If it's barely
moving, your step size is too big (the controller thinks it is
The first (keypad direction) controls which way the arrow moving more than it is). If it moves way too far, the step size
buttons move the laser. The second (limiter polarity) tells is too small (the controller thinks it has to take lots more
the controller whether the limit switch triggers high steps than necessary).
(normally open) or low (normally closed) when contacted,
This part is just doing rough adjustment - it's not accurate at
and the 3rd (direction polarity) controls which way the motor
all, but you need to get into the right ballpark before doing
moves in general.
the next part.
There are only 4 possible combinations of "limiter polarity"
In the Machine Settings again, in the settings for the X and Y
and "direction polarity" for each axis. I can't tell you which is
axis, are values called 'Step Length' Adjust those according
the correct combination, but change those settings for the X
to what I said above - If the controller doesn't move enough
axis until it moves properly when you power the machine,
by half, cut the step length in half. If it moves twice as far as
then do the Y axis. Once these are set, the next steps are
it should, double the step length. Frame again, and iterate
easier.
until the size of what you've drawn and the size the laser
When the limiter and direction settings are correct, check frames is reasonably close.
that the keypad arrows on the machine are moving the laser Final Calibration
in the correct direction. If not, toggle the 'Invert Keypad
Direction' button for whichever axis is wrong. Now, draw a box similar to the original, but make it 100 x
100, or 200 x 200 (mm), set the Min and Max power low to
You will also need to set the 'Max Travel' value for the X and start, but high enough to make a mark, and run the job it on
Y axis - these numbers dictate the length of each axis, and a piece of scrap material. Measure the result as accurately
together define the size of the work area of the machine. as you can.

This time, actually do the real math with the step size:
Step Length Calibration
• New Step Size = (Current Step Size * Measured Length) /
The next part is figuring out how far the laser moves when
Requested Length
you tell it to, and how far off it is. The controller needs to
know how far a single step moves when it sends a step pulse If the controller complains about 'water protect', you can
to the motors so it can translate real measurements into the disable the water protect setting in the machine settings.
proper number of steps. Ditto for the door protect (it's the lid open switch). If you
have a flow meter, you should have it hooked up so you
Rough Calibration
know you have water running through the tube, and have
In LightBurn, set the 'Start From' setting in the Laser window the water protect enabled.
to Absolute Coords, like this:
As you are dialing in the above settings, if the steppers skip
or make buzzing sounds, you might need to reduce the Idle
Acceleration or Idle Speed settings near the top. Those
things will require tuning with some trial and error.

FIXING SKEWED ENGRAVING

An occasional problem with new setups, and sometimes

even existing machines, is lines cutting correctly, but
engravings coming out slanted or skewed, like this:

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What is this setting and why does it matter?

A step pulse is a transition from low to high, or high to low.

The controller will hold the line low, and pulse it high, or hold
the line high, and pulse it low. The transition itself is what
matters, and motor drivers will either look for a transition
from low to high (rising edge) or high to low (falling edge) to
accept as a ‘Step’.

If the laser controller believes that the motor driver is

looking for the leading edge signal (when it transitions from
low to high), it will pulse the line, and could change the
direction line immediately after that. If the motor driver is
waiting for the falling edge, it will see the direction change
BEFORE the falling edge of the pulse, meaning that it will
change direction one step too soon.

In the image above, the upper line of steps is interpreted as

If your output looks like this, you likely have your motor 4 steps in one direction, then two in the other. The lower line
pulse step polarity set incorrectly. On Ruida controllers, is interpreted as 3 and 3, and the only difference is which
there’s a setting called ‘PWM Rising Edge Valid’ that you can side of the step signal the driver is looking for.
change for each axis that tells the controller whether the
rising edge or falling edge of a step pulse is what the motor
driver is looking for. Toggling this may fix skewed engraving. Start & End Delay

The fix is relatively simple. In Edit > Machine Settings, look This features adds in a start/stop delay to allow the laser to
in the X & Y axis motor settings section at the bottom, and enable any systems it enables itself when starting a job. This
look for the value of 'PWM Rising Edge Valid' on the X axis. gives, for example, fans time to get to speed or evacuate
Change that - if's it's checked, un-check it, or vice versa. the air in the laser before stopping when done.
Then, copy the new setting over to the Y axis as well.

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5.5 User Interface & Features

SAVE
5.5.1 Menus
To save a project click on “Save” in the File menu or press
⌃ Ctrl + S / ⌘ Cmd + S . Type the name you want the file
The various features in LightBurn are accessed through the
menus. The various features in each menu are listed and saved as in the dialog box that opens up.
explained here. SAVE AS

• File Menu To save a file with changes, but still keep the original file
• Edit Menu intact, click on the “Save As” icon in the File menu.
• Tools Menu SAVE GCODE
• Arrange Menu
Generates and saves the GCode (the code that gets would
• Laser Tools Menu
normally be sent to the laser cutter) for the project as it
• Window Menu currently stands. ( ⎇ Alt + ⇧ Shift + L )
• Language Menu
• Help Menu
Note

This option will only be enabled for devices that

communicate via GCode.
File Menu

NEW
EXPORT
Clicking "New" in the File Menu will clear any current project
To export a file to a different file format, click on “Export” in
and create a new one. You can also press ⌃ Ctrl + N /
⌘ Cmd + N .
the File menu ( ⌃ Ctrl + X / ⌘ Cmd + X ). LightBurn can
export to SVG, AI, and DXF formats. Bitmaps are only
NEW WINDOW exported in SVG files, and text is automatically converted to
simple shapes in all export formats. ( ⎇ Alt + X )
Clicking "New Window" will open a new instance of
LightBurn. This can be used to run jobs on multiple lasers at If you have objects selected, only those will be exported,
the same time or quickly jump between projects. otherwise it will export the entire content of your project. If
you have exactly one bitmap selected, you will also be given
Please note that if you change LightBurn's settings while you
the option to export as PNG or JPG.
have multiple windows open, the settings in whichever
window is closed last will be saved to the preferences file
and will overwrite any changes you made previously in other
PRINT (BLACK ONLY)
windows.
This menu item ( ⌃ Ctrl + P ) outputs a black and white
RECENT PROJECTS
document to be sent to a printer or built-in "Print to PDF"
This will open a list of the most recently opened files to tools. This document is saved exclusively in black/white.
choose from.
PRINT (KEEP COLOR)
OPEN
Similarly to above, you can use Print (keep color) to send to
To open an existing or saved file, click on “Open” in the File a physical printer, or to a file, your design for review,
menu or press ⌃ Ctrl + O / ⌘ Cmd + O . markup, etc. The export is sent with the same colors as
selected in the Color Palette. This can also be triggered by
IMPORT
⌃ Ctrl + ⇧ Shift + P .

You can import any supported LightBurn files into the file
you are currently working on. Click on “Import” in the File
menu or press ⌃ Ctrl + I / ⌘ Cmd + I LightBurn SAVE PROCESSED BITMAP

supports importing the following file types: svg, ai, pdf, dxf,
Exports a copy of a bitmap that you have edited in LightBurn
hpgl, plt, png, jpg, bmp, tiff, gif, webp.
with the edits.
SHOW NOTES
SAVE BACKGROUND CAPTURE

Add or view project comments through this menu. ( ⌃ Ctrl

If you have a camera connected, this function saves a
+ ⎇ Alt + N )
screenshot of the camera feed.

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bypassing the clipboard. This means if you already have

OPEN PREFS FOLDER
something on the clipboard, it'll still be there after using
Opens the folder containing your LightBurn preferences in Duplicate. The duplicate is placed directly on top of the
your file browser. original.

EXPORT PREFS PASTE

Allows you to export your preferences as they currently To paste an object from the clipboard click "Paste" in the Edit
stand. menu or press ⌃ Ctrl + V . This will place a copy of the
clipboard contents in the current file. Note that LightBurn
IMPORT PREFS can paste text or images copied to the clipboard from other
software.
Allows you to import preferences from an exported copy.
PASTE IN PLACE
LOAD PREFS BACKUP

To paste an object from the clipboard click "Paste in place" in

Allows you to import preferences from a list of (automatically
the Edit menu or press ⎇ Alt + V . This will place a copy
saved) versions.
of the clipboard contents in the current file in the same spot
EXIT that it was in the original file.

To exit LightBurn, click on the “Exit" in the File menu or press DELETE
⌃ Ctrl + Q / ⌘ Cmd + Q . You will be prompted to save
To delete an object select it and click "Delete" in the Edit
your file if you have unsaved changes.
menu, or hit ⌦ Del . This will remove the object from the
Return to top current file.

CONVERT TO PATH

This converts a built-in shape object, like a rectangle, ellipse,

Edit Menu or text, into lines and curves that can be edited. Click on
UNDO "Convert to path" in the Edit menu or the right-click context
menu, or enter ⌃ Ctrl + ⇧ Shift + C . The original shape
To undo the last editing action done on the current file, click information is lost, so you won't be able to change text with
on "Undo" in the Edit menu or press ⌃ Ctrl + Z / ⌘ Cmd the text tool after using this.
+ Z
CONVERT TO BITMAP
REDO
This converts selected vectors into bitmaps (rasters/pixels).
To Redo the last editing action done on the current file, click ( ⌃ Ctrl + ⇧ Shift + B )
on "Redo" in the Edit menu or press ⇧ Shift + ⌃ Ctrl + Z /
⇧ Shift + ⌘ Cmd + Z
CLOSE PATH

SELECT ALL In order to Fill a shape with your laser, the shape must be a
closed loop, where the starting and ending point are the
To select all objects in the current file click on "Select all" in same. If the start and end points are very close, but not
the Edit menu or press ⌃ Ctrl + A / ⌘ Cmd + A . quite connected, "Close Path" will move them together. Click
on "Close path" in the Edit menu or press Alt+C.
INVERT SELECTION
CLOSE PATHS WITH TOLERANCE
Selects the opposite of what you have currently selected.
E.g. if you have one object selected, it will select every Works similarly to close paths, but allows you to set a
object except that one. ( ⌃ Ctrl + ⇧ Shift + I ) tolerance for "close" points, so that it doesn't join parts that
are far from each other.
CUT

To one or more objects from the current file, select them and
click on "Cut" in the Edit menu or press ⌃ Ctrl + X This
will put the object on the clipboard, and remove it from the
current file.

COPY

To copy one or more objects, select them and click "Copy" in

the Edit menu or press ⌃ Ctrl + C / ⌘ Cmd + C This will
put the objects on the clipboard, but leave the original
object alone.

DUPLICATE AUTO-JOIN SELECTED SHAPES

To duplicate a selection in place, select one or more objects This tool is great for repairing designs (like imported DXF
and click "Duplicate" in the Edit menu or press Ctrl+D. This files) that are made of many disconnected lines when they
is an "in-place" copy and paste operation all in one, should really be a closed ‘watertight’ shape.

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Error tolerance defines the maximum amount the new

optimized shapes can deviate from the source shapes, and is
controlled by the sliders beneath each optimization option.

Switches next to each optimization option control whether

they are enabled or disabled.

• Smooth source shapes flattens wavy or jagged lines in

selected shapes — useful for cleaning up vectors from
traced images.
• Fit shapes to lines simplifies existing lines or converts
curves to line segments — useful for reducing node count,
or cleaning up graphics with unwanted overlapping lines.
Auto-Join searches the (ungrouped) selected objects and • Fit shapes to arcs converts lines to curves — useful for
connects any open end points that are within 0.05 mm of reducing node count, or recovering arcs from software
each other. that exports them as many small line segmnets.

Click on "Auto-Join Selected Shapes" in the Edit menu or

The readout at the bottom of the Optimize Shapes window
press ⎇ Alt + J .
displays the number of Points (nodes), Lines, and Curves
If you Preview, run, or start a job that contains open shapes (arcs) in the original shapes and in the resultant optimized
on a fill layer you will get an error asking if you want to shapes.
ignore these.
Optimizations are visible in your workspace as you make
changes — adjust the tolerance sliders or enable and disable
optimizations to see the result of different combinations of
tolerances and optimizations.

Clicking OK confirms changes and optimizes the source

shapes, while Cancel discards changes and leaves the
shapes as they are.

DELETE DUPLICATES

Hotkey: ⎇ Alt + D

This tool is great for finding and removing duplicate shapes

which might otherwise cause erroneous moves and double-
cuts. It will delete (ungrouped) duplicate items within the
Auto-join is a great way to close these shapes. Anything it whole design. For example, if two squares of the same size
isn't able to fix can be fixed manually by dragging the upen and same rotation are sitting on top of each other, Delete
points together using Node Editing. Duplicates will remove the extra square.
OPTIMIZE SELECTED SHAPES

Hotkey: ⎇ Alt + ⇧ Shift + O

If you have filled objects that are appearing as lines in the

workspace but disappearing in the Preview, it's likely a
duplicated shape.

If the tool didn't appear to work, ungroup the objects in your

design and try again.
The Optimize Shapes tool smooths selected shapes or fits SELECT OPEN SHAPES
them to arcs or lines within a specified error tolerance.
This will select all open shapes in the document.

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SELECT OPEN SHAPES SET TO FILL SELECT

This will select all the open shapes that are set to fill in the Click on "Select" to select objects in the workspace, or to
document. access menus and toolbars.

SELECT ALL SHAPES IN CURRENT LAYER DRAW LINES

This will select all the shapes that are set to cut in the Click on "Draw Lines" or press ⌃ Ctrl + L to draw straight
current layer of the document. Note that if some of these or curved lines in the workspace. Click + Drag to make
shapes are grouped, the system may have to un-group them curved lines.
in order to select them.
RECTANGLE
SELECT CONTAINED SHAPES
Click on "Rectangle" or press ⌃ Ctrl + R to draw
Will select all the shapes that fall entirely within the shape rectangles in the workspace.
you have selected.
ELLIPSE

Click on "Ellipse" or press ⌃ Ctrl + E to draw ellipses in

IMAGE OPTIONS the workspace.

Offers you various ways to refresh or replace bitmap images POLYGON

in your project. Handy if you have made some edits to a
bitmap in a different editing software, and you want to Create a regular polygon with a variable number of sides
replace the old version you have open in LightBurn. (triangle, hexagon, octagon, etc). ( ⇧ Shift & drag)

Refresh Image EDIT NODES

Reload Image Click on "Edit Nodes" or press ⌃ Ctrl + ` to edit nodes of

objects in the workspace.
Replace Image To Fit
EDIT TEXT

Click on "Edit Text" or press ⌃ Ctrl + T to create or edit

SETTINGS
text in the workspace.
Clicking on "Settings" in the Edit menu will open the Settings
POSITION LASER
window, where you can change general user settings and
preferences. Allows you to click on a place in your project, and have your
laser move to that point in real life (works best with absolute
DEVICE SETTINGS
coordinates/end-stops).
Opens the Device Settings window, for editing LightBurn
MEASURE
preferences specific to the chosen laser.
Opens up a window that provides you with various
MACHINE SETTINGS
information about objects as you hover over them in your
Opens an editor that allows reading and writing firmware scene. Things like line length, start and end point, etc.
settings from supported controllers.
CREATE QR CODE

Allows you to create a QR code containing various

DEBUG DRAWING information such as: Wifi details, contact info, links, text, raw
content, etc.
This is mostly an internal tool for LightBurn developers that
shows the bounds of shapes being drawn. OFFSET SHAPES

CONVERT TO CUT (DEBUG) Used to create new shapes that are offset from the current
selection, inward or outward.
Also an internal tool for LightBurn developers - It converts
the selected shapes into the cuts that would be sent to the WELD SHAPES
laser, and makes a new shape from the result. This is not
how you produce gcode / cuts for your machine, it's just a Fuses multiple shapes together into a single outline.
debugging tool for the LightBurn developers. BOOLEAN UNION

Return to top Adds two closed paths together into one mass so that all
their intersecting lines disappear.

BOOLEAN DIFFERENCE
Tools Menu
Select an closed path you want cut, and then also select
Many of the tools in this menu are also available as icons in another that you want to cut out of the first and then click
the tool toolbar that by default, is on the left side of the Boolean Difference to do so.
workspace. See Creation Tools for more information.

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BOOLEAN INTERSECTION Select objects and the shift select line to mirror them about,
and then click "Mirror Across line" or press "Alt+M".
Select two closed paths and click Boolean Intersection to
remove all the areas that don't overlap. Rotate 90° Clockwise
BOOLEAN ASSISTANT
Select objects and click "Rotate 90° Clockwise" or press ".".
Gives you a preview of the Boolean functions described
Rotate 90° Counter-Clockwise
above, to help you choose the correct one.
Select objects and click "Rotate 90° COunter-Clockwise" or
CUT SHAPES
press ",".
Select the shape you want cut and also select another
Two-Point Rotate / Scale
shape, then select Cut Shape. The outcome will both what
you would get from a boolean difference and a boolean Select object and click "Two-Rotate / Scale " or press "Ctrl/
intersection. This also works on open paths (unlike the CMD + 2". Click the point you will rotate about, then to only
boolean operations). rotate, move the mouse to the second point. To scale hold
ADJUST IMAGE shift while rotating. For more information see Two-Point
Rotate / Scale
Allows you to edit a bitmap image in various ways, such as
brightness, contrast, image processing mode, negative, etc. Align Centers

TRACE IMAGE Click on "Align Centers" to place the center points of the
selected objects directly on top of each other.
Opens the image tracing tool where you can trace the
content of a bitmap image into vector graphics. Align Left

APPLY PATH TO TEXT Click on "Align Left" or press "Ctrl + Shift + Left arrow" to
align the selected objects in the workspace to the left.
If you select a shape and a line of text, this command will
attach the text to the shape, so the text follows the path. Align Right
This allows you to make curved text. (Read more here)
Click on "Align Right" or press "Ctrl + Shift + Right arrow" to
APPLY MASK TO IMAGE
align the selected objects in the workspace to the right.
Select a closed shape and a bitmap, and this function will
Align Top
cut the bitmap to fit the shape. See how to use this tool
effectively here. Click on "Align Top" or press "Ctrl + Shift + Up arrow" to
align the selected objects in the workspace to the top.
Return to top
Align Bottom

ARRANGE MENU
Click on "Align Bottom" or press "Ctrl + Shift + Down arrow"
to align the selected objects in the workspace to the bottom.
Group
Align H-Center
Click on "Group" or press "Ctrl + G" to group the selected
objects in the workspace. Click on "Align H-Center" to align the selected objects in the
workspace to the center of the horizontal plane.
Ungroup
Align V-Center
Click on "Ungroup" or press "Ctrl + U" to ungroup the
selected objects in the workspace. Click on "Align V-Center" to align the selected objects in the
workspace to the center of the vertical plane.
Auto-Group
Distribute
Automatically groups shapes within other shapes that
contain them. Provides various methods of evenly spacing objects across
various axes.
Flip Horizontal
Move H-together
Click on "Flip Horizontal" or press "Ctrl + Shift + H" to flip
the selected objects in the workspace horizontaly. Click on "H-together to move shapes like distribute, but
keeps shapes together
Flip Vertical
Move V-together
Click on "Flip Vertical" or press "Ctrl + Shift + V" to flip the
selected objects in the workspace vertically. Click on "V-together to move shapes like distribute, but
keeps shapes together
Mirror Across Line
Nest Selected

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Exports selected objects to a file, copies that file path, and

opens SVGnest.com so you can upload the file and nest your
objects.

Dock

A little like simple nesting. Select some shapes and click one
of the directional docking buttons, and LightBurn will "dock"
all your shapes together in that direction, moving them
together until they touch. See Docking for more information.

Move Selected Objects

Offers various places to move the selected objects to, such

as page centre, laser position, upper left, etc.
Create Rubber-Band outline from selection
Move to Page Center
Creates an outline on the current layer encompassing all
Click on this to move selected objects to center of page selected parts.

Move to Upper Left Break apart

Click on this to move selected objects to Upper Left of page. Click on "Break apart" to break selected object into
individual parts.
Move to Upper Right
Push forward in draw order
Click on this to move selected objects to Upper Right of
page. Click on "Push forward in draw order" or use "Page up" key
to move the selected object up one level in the draw order.
Move to Lower Left Usefull when trying to see objects on the screen.

Click on this to move selected objects to Lower Left of page. Push backward in draw order

Move to Lower Right Click on "Push backward in draw order" or use "Page down"
key to move the selected object down one level in the draw
Click on this to move selected objects to Lower Right of
order. Usefull when trying to see objects on the screen. "Ctrl-
page.
PgDn" or "Ctrl-PgUp" will send an object to the very bottom,
Move Laser to Selection or very top of the objects on the screen.

Offers various ways for you to move the laser to parts of the Push to Front
object you have selected, like the top left or centre of it.
Moves the selected object to the top of the drawer order.
Grid / Array
Push to Back
Click on "Grid / Array" to create an array or grid of objects in
Moves the selected object to the bottom of the drawer order.
the workspace. A window will open allowing you to enter the
parameters for the array or grid. For more details, see here. Note: Drawing order changes only work in wireframe
(outline) rendering mode, not filled. In filled rendering mode,
Circular Array
the display order will always match the layer order.
Click on "Circular Array" to create an array or grid of objects
Lock Selected Shapes
in a circle in the workspace. A window will open allowing you
to enter the parameters for the array. For more details, see Locks selected shapes from being edited in any way.
here.
Unlock Selected Shapes
Copy Along Path
Unlocks selected shapes to allow them to be edited again.
Click on "Copy Along Path" to make copies of your selected
shape(s) along a path. First, select the object(s) you want to Return to top
copy, then select the path to copy along. Then select "Copy
Along Path". You can create a certain number of copies or
set the space between copies. By default, the orientation of LASER TOOLS MENU
your copies will stay the same, but the "Rotate" option will
cause the shape to rotate along the path. The Laser Tools menu is the new home for utilities that
interact with the laser.

Print and Cut

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Zoom Out
This sub-menu lets you run the Print and Cut wizard, set the
targets, enable the different Print and Cut modes, or reset it. Click on "Zoom In" or press "Ctrl + -" to zoom out in the
workspace.
Calibrate Camera Lens
Frame Selection
Open the camera lens calibration wizard. For more
information on setting up the camera, see here. Zoom the view to completely contain the current selection.
(Ctrl + Shift + A)
Calibrate Camera Alignment
View Style
Open the camera alignment calibration wizard. For more
information on setting up the camera, see here. Allows you to change the appearance of objects in your
scene from wireframe or filled modes.
Rotary Setup
Return to top
This will open the rotary setup dialog box. Use this to set up
your rotary attachment.
LANGUAGE MENU
Feeder Setup
Choose the language you would like to have LightBurn use in
This will open the auto-feed setup dialog. Use this to set up
this menu.
the auto-feed table controls for Ruida controllers with an
auto-feeding table. Return to top
Focus Test

Opens the Focus Test generator tool. Requires a machine HELP MENU
with a controlled Z-axis.
About LightBurn
Interval Test
Shows your LightBurn Version, copyright and attribution
Opens the Interval Test generator tool, though this has been information.
largely replaced by the Material Test generator below.
LightBurn Support Forum
Material Test
Links to our online forum where you can get help from our
Opens the Material Test generator tool, which lets you support staff and the community.
generate and run test grids with varying settings.
Quick Help and Notes
Center Finder
Click on "Quick Help and Notes" or press F1 to access hotkey
Opens the Center Finder tool, used to locate the center of a list, general usage notes and version information.
circular object in a few simple steps. see Center Finder
Online Documentation

Click on "Online Documentation to access the

WINDOW MENU
documentation for LightBurn.
Reset to Default Layout PDF Documentation
To arrange the windows and menus back to the original Links to a PDF copy of our documentation, if you prefer
default layout, click on "Reset to Default Layout" You can use reading pages over online text.
the Window menu to toggle windows and menus on or off.
Online Video Tutorials
Preview
Click on "Online Video Tutorials" to access the tutorial
Click on "Preview" or press "Alt + P" to open the preview videos.
window. It will show the current laser project and includes
information on cut distance, rapid moves, and total time CorelDraw macro setup help
estimate. Cut lines are in black and traversal moves are red.
You can toggle the display of traversal moves on or off, as Links to documentation about installing the LightBurn macro
well as shading by power level. for CorelDraw

Zoom to Page Generate Support Data

Zooms so that the full workspace is in view. Generates encoded data that is handy to provide to our
support staff when you are seeking help with a problem.
Zoom In
Camera Selection Help
Click on "Zoom In" or press "Ctrl + =" to zoom in the
workspace. Helps you select an apropriate camera for your laser cutter.

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Check for Updates Enable Debug Log

Click on "Check for Updates" to make sure you are on the This is for the developers, turn on the log by clicking on
most recent version. "Enable Debug Log". The log file will be written to your "My
Documents" folder on Windows, or Documents on Mac, and
License Management is cumulative - each time you enable the debug log it will
append to any existing log, so it's a good idea to delete it
Launch the license dialog, where you can enter your license
after you're finished.
key, or see the status of your trial period or license.

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 5.5.2 Windows & Buttons

• Device Settings (settings specific to each laser)

5.5.2 Windows & Buttons

LightBurn Windows

This is a list of all the standard windows (and toolbars)

available in LightBurn, and how to use them.

USER INTERFACE

Main Elements

• Main window, menus, and status bar

• Main Toolbar (file, clipboard, view, settings)
• Move window (jogging and positioning)
• Laser Control (status and control)

Editing

• Arrangement Toolbar (grouping, mirroring, alignment,

distribution)
• Zooming, Panning, and Selecting Items (traversing the
workspace)
• Creation tools (selection, shapes, text, node editing)
• Modifier tools (offsetting, Boolean operations, grids)
• Numeric Edits (size, position, units)
• Fonts and Text (choice, configuration)
• Variable Text (dynamic text content)
• Shape Properties (configuration, power, cut order)

Cut Settings

• Cuts & Layers (how the laser treats your graphics)

• Color palette

Libraries

• Art Library (store assets that get reused)

• Material Library (store materials that get reused)

Machine Specific

• File List (files on DSP controllers)

• Console (textual control interface for GRBL/GCode)
• Camera Control (adjust and calibrate cameras)

Setup

• LightBurn Settings (global LightBurn settings)

• Machine Settings (on-machine settings)

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Main Toolbar PREVIEW

Open the Preview Window.

SETTINGS
Hover over an icon to see the name, click for more
information. Open the general LightBurn Settings window.
NEW DEVICE SETTINGS

Create a new file. Open the Device Settings window.

OPEN

Open a file. By default, the dialog box filters for LightBurn

( .lbrn and .lbrn2 ) files, but you can use the dropdown to
show all supported file types, supported image file types, or
supported vector file types.

Open will open the file as a LightBurn project. If you want to

bring a file into an existing project, please use Import
instead.

IMPORT

Import a file into your currently open project. By default, the

dialog box shows all supported file types, but you can use
the dropdown to filter for support image file types or
supported vector file types.

UNDO & REDO

Undo and redo your actions in LightBurn.

COPY, CUT, PASTE, DELETE

Copy will save a copy of your selected object(s) to the

computer's clipboard. Cut will do the same, in addition to
removing the existing object(s) from the page. Paste will
insert the contents of your computer's clipboard into
LightBurn. Delete will remove the selected object(s) from the
page.

PAN / DRAG VIEW

Allows you to click to drag the page around. If using a

mouse, you can accomplish the same thing by clicking the
mouse wheel and dragging.

ZOOM TO PAGE

Zoom to show the page as large as possible, centered within

your LightBurn window.

ZOOM IN & ZOOM OUT

Zooms your page in to get a closer view, or out to see more

of the page at once.

ZOOM TO FRAME SELECTION

Zoom to show the selected objects as large as possible,

centered within your LightBurn window. If no objects are
selected, it will instead zoom to show all objects on the
page. Unlike Zoom to Page, it will ignore empty space on
your page.

UPDATE THE BACKGROUND FROM THE CAMERA

Update the camera overlay, if you're using a camera.

Grayed out and unselectable when the camera is not in use.

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GRBL Primary Docs Ruida UI

You can also get the current position, set or clear a custom
origin or set the 'Finish Position' - IE, where the laser head is
sent when a job finishes.
Move Window
Note: If you have a Ruida controller, you will not see Set
The Move window is used primarily for jogging and Origin, Clear Origin, or Set Finish Position, as these are
positioning, as well as homing functions. handled by the controller itself. LightBurn will generally show
only controls you can use.

Info

This window will not show up for Galvo devices. Their mirror
configuration means "static movement in the workspace"
doesn't behave as expected.

Get Position, when pressed, will query the controller for its
current location, and display it in the X,Y,Z,U fields to the
right.

The Go button on the right side will send the laser to the
entered coordinates in the Move to Position entry boxes.

The Saved Positions drop-down displays a list of previously

stored positions. This can be useful for jogging to known
locations on the work area, like a specific corner, the
location of your rotary tool, commonly used jigs, and so on.
You can manage the contents of this list by clicking the
Manage button on the right.

To jog your laser, click one of the arrow buttons around the
home button. This will move your head by the set distance,
and speed entered in the window.

The Speed setting in this window also controls the

movement speed used when use the Frame buttons, or
using the 'Click to Move' tool.

If your laser supports it, enabling the 'Continuous Jog' switch

changes the behavior - In this mode, press and hold one of
the buttons to move the laser at the desired speed, then
release the button to stop.

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Primary Docs UI

Laser Window

The Laser Window lets you select the laser you're using, see
it's connection status, send jobs to the laser, and control a
few different things about how jobs are run on the laser,
including how the job is positioned, and the order things are
cut.

The O-Frame button, called the 'Rubber

Band Frame', traces a path around your design that is the
shape of a rubber band stretched around it. For the
hexagons file, it would look like this:

The type of laser you have active will affect how this window
looks, and Beginner Mode will change it too, so don't panic if
yours looks different than what is shown here.

START / STOP / PAUSE

The Start, Stop, and Pause buttons will likely get a lot of use:

• Start: run the current file on the laser

• Pause: pause a running job, allowing it to be resumed
when you click the pause button again
• Stop: immediately abort the running job
This is useful for lining up jobs with irregular shapes where a
The Send button, if your laser supports it, will let you send simple box outline doesn't fit well. For example, a long, thin
the current job to the laser as a named file, so you can run diagonal shape, or a triangle.
from the laser itself.
SAVE / RUN MACHINE FILES
FRAMING
The next two buttons will change depending on the type of
The two Frame buttons are used to preview the position of laser you're using, but they always do the same things. The
the job on the laser. first will save the current design as a 'Machine Ready' file, in
the file format used by your laser. The second will load and
run a previously saved file. If you have a Ruida, these will
The first is a standard rectangular frame, also save and run RD files. If you have a GCode based laser,
called a 'Bounding Box'. This is the smallest rectangle that these buttons will save and run GCode files.
will fully contain the shapes you're sending to the laser. HOME

If my current file was these four hexagons, the green The Home button will tell your laser to execute a homing
rectangle around them is the path the rectangular frame cycle, where it moves toward the home position looking for
would follow: the switches that activate when it hits the boundary. Homing
is how your laser figures out where it is.

GO TO ORIGIN

The Go to Origin button tells the laser to jog to the position

currently set as the user origin. Most DSP controllers have an

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'Origin' button on the panel that you press to set the current Preview Window
position as the user origin. If you want to send the laser to
that spot, press the 'Go to Origin' button. The preview window allows you to preview the path the laser
will take and verify your order of operations while getting a
START FROM / JOB ORIGIN rough idea of your final result, while giving an estimated
time of how long the program will take.
These two controls affect where the job is placed on the bed
of your laser. Please read the Coordinates and Job Origin You can bring up the preview in a few ways:
page for details on the different modes, and how they affect
the placement of your job. • Press ⎇ Alt + P

• Click the preview button on the toolbar - it looks like a TV

CUT SELECTED GRAPHICS
• In the menu, go to Window > Preview
This toggle switch tells LightBurn to only send the portion of
• Right click and choose Preview in the context menu
your design that is currently selected. If you run a file on
your machine and part of the design doesn't cut all the way The previewed path is handled exactly like it will be sent to
through, select that piece, enable this switch, and click the laser control so the path is affected by things like
Start to re-send just the selected part of the job. The
placement of the part will not change. • Cut settings (multiple passes, tabs, kerf, etc)
• Layer order
USE SELECTION ORIGIN
• Optimization settings
When used in combination with Cut Selected Graphics,
• Cut Selected Graphics
the Use Selection Origin button tells LightBurn that you
want the origin of the job to be calculated from only the • Origin
parts that are selected, not the whole design. This is useful if PATH PREVIEW
you have many different shapes in a file, like a large
selection of frames, but only want to send the one you've There are a few ways you can see how the job will run.
chosen, and want the origin calculated from just that
Time Slider
selected item.

SHOW LAST POSITION

When enabled, the Show Last Position button places a cross-

hair cursor in the edit window at the location of the laser
head. If you jog the laser within LightBurn using any of the
positioning tools, the position will be updated. The position
does not update live - for example, it will not update while a
job is running, because that would encourage you to watch
the screen instead of your laser. A laser should never be left
unattended while running.

OPTIMIZE CUT PATH

This toggle will enable / disable the path optimizer that plans
the cutting path the laser will take. With it disabled, the
order will simply be the order that the shapes in your file
were drawn in. The Time Slider allows you to quickly slide through the
project and understand the cut order and path.
OPTIMIZATION SETTINGS
Play Button
This button opens the Optimization Settings window,
allowing you to change the various options that control the
cut planner.

DEVICES

Opens the Devices window, allowing you to add, remove, or

edit device profiles for the lasers you want to use with
LightBurn. Right-clicking the Devices button closes and re-
opens the connection to the currently selected device.

Play allows you to play the project in real time or sped up or

slowed down based on the "Playback Speed" slider.

Job Information

Below the Time Slider there is information about your

project:

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 5.5.2 Windows & Buttons

• Cut distance - The distance the laser travels while on Shade According to power

• Rapid Moves - The traverse move distance (laser not on) The shade according to power option only works with
• Total time estimated - This is the total time estimated for Grayscale with Image Mode or Power Scaling with Fill Mode
the job based on the cut speeds and traversal move
speeds defined in "Additional Settings" in Device Settings.
If you've changed your acceleration or speed settings, or
you find that your preview times are not accurate, you can
use the Read From Controller button in this window to
update the settings for the preview.

New in v1.3: The preview will automatically simulate the

overscan moves used by DSP controllers, giving a more
accurate time.

PREVIEW OUTPUT

Start Here

The Start Here button will you allow you to start a program
on the laser part way through, from wherever the preview
time slider is currently set.

Save Image

Save Image saves out an image file of the current state of

the preview window.

OPTIONS

Show Traversal Moves

Show traversal moves shows travel (non-laser moves) with

red lines when enabled.

Invert

The Invert button is used to change the preview to make the

lasered areas light, and the background dark, so you can see
what your output might look like on slate, wood that's been
painted black, or any other material where the burned area
will be lighter than the original material.

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TROUBLESHOOTING
Primary Docs UI
If the preview window's estimated time is inaccurate, you
may need to update the Simulation Settings as part of your
Device Settings. Arrangement Toolbar

The Arrangement Toolbar comes in two flavors–long, shown

at the top, and shorter, shown just below it. Both offer the
same functions, but the shorter version of it is available for
those with smaller displays, to save space.

If you are using the shorter version of the Arrangement

toolbar, buttons with a small triangular mark in the lower-
right corner of the button will open a sub-menu with more
choices, like this:

The Arrangement toolbar mostly functions to control the

placement and alignment of shapes in your design.

GROUP AND UNGROUP

The Group button and the related Ungroup button (below)

are used to place shapes into a container (a group) so they
can be treated as a single entity when moving, resizing,
assigning layer color, and so on. The relative position and
size of the grouped objects is maintained. You can also make
groups of grouped objects, creating a hierarchy of grouped
shapes.

Use the hotkeys ⌃ Ctrl + G or ⌘ Cmd + G to group, and

⌃ Ctrl + U or ⌘ Cmd + U to Ungroup.

Grouping shapes is often used to tell LightBurn to treat the

group as a single entity for an operation, like aligning
shapes, using the Boolean tools, and even for cutting, if the
proper optimization options are chosen, but the most
common reason is simply to make it easier to move and size
a collection of related shapes, like different parts of an
imported file or image trace.

Note: grouped shapes are not "connected"–if you draw four

distinct lines, and make their ends touch so it looks like a
square and then group them, they are still four distinct lines,
not a continuous connected path. To join the shapes
together, you would use the Auto Join tool.

The Ungroup button does the opposite of what the Group

button does–it takes a set of grouped objects, removes them
from the group, and discards the container. The individual
shapes that made up the group are now distinct shapes
again.

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VERTICAL MIRROR AND HORIZONTAL MIRROR

The mirror buttons take the current selection and flip it

horizontally or vertically. You can use the hotkeys ⌃ Ctrl
+ ⇧ Shift + H or ⌘ Cmd + ⇧ Shift + H to mirror
horizontally and ⌃ Ctrl + ⇧ Shift + V or ⌘ Cmd
+ ⇧ Shift + V to mirror vertically. If the Edit window has
the keyboard focus, you can also press H or V to mirror
horizontally or vertically.

MIRROR ACROSS A LINE

This tool behaves slightly differently to the other two mirror

tools in that it creates a copy of the selected object or
objects, and mirrors it (or them) across a line. The line must
have only two points, and be the last item selected. The
default hotkey for Mirror Across Line is ⌃ Ctrl + ⇧ Shift
+ M or ⌘ Cmd + ⇧ Shift + M .

ALIGN CENTERS

Select two or more shapes, then click the Align Centers tool
to move all shapes in the selection to be centered over the
last selected item.

ALIGN VERTICALLY ALONG LEFT, CENTER, OR

RIGHT

These buttons will move all shapes in the current selection

to align the left, right, or vertical centers of the selected
shapes to the last item in the selection.

ALIGN HORIZONTALLY ALONG TOP, CENTER, OR

BOTTOM

These buttons will move all shapes in the current selection

to align the top, bottom, or horizontal centers of the
selected shapes to the last item in the selection.

This tool can be used if you want to create a symmetrical DISTRIBUTE VERTICALLY

shape, like a bottle or heart. You draw half the original

These two buttons will vertically move the items in the
shape, then mirror it to create the other half, like this:
current selection to space them evenly, either setting the
same distance between the centers of each object, or
setting the same distance between edges of the objects.

DISTRIBUTE HORIZONTALLY

These two buttons will horizontally move the items in the

current selection to space them evenly, either setting the
same distance between the centers of each object, or
setting the same distance between edges of the objects.

MAKE SAME WIDTH / MAKE SAME HEIGHT

These buttons will set all objects in the selection to the same
width or height as the last selected item. Objects will resize

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 5.5.2 Windows & Buttons

from their centers. Holding ⇧ Shift while clicking one of Zooming, Panning, and Selection
these buttons will preserve the aspect ratio of the selected
items while resizing. While working on a design in the Edit Window, you can
focus on different parts of your design with the Zoom and
Pan functions. You can also use the Selection tool to select
portions of your design to modify. The video below covers
MOVE SELECTION TO CORNER OR
PAGE CENTER
useful selection tips to help you work with your designs
more effectively.
These buttons move the current selection to the indicated
corner of the workspace, or the center of it. You can quickly
move the selection to the page center by hitting P after ZOOMING
selecting. These functions can also be found in the Arrange
menu, under 'Move Selected Objects'. Scrolling the mouse wheel will zoom in or out from the
location of the mouse, allowing you to quickly zoom in on
Holding the ⌃ Ctrl or ⌘ Cmd key while pressing one of whatever your mouse is pointing at. Zooming can also be
these buttons will move the laser to the indicated corner of done on most touchpads with a two-finger swipe up or down.
the selection, instead of moving the selected objects. These
functions can also be found in the Arrange menu, under The + and - keys on the keyboard also zoom in and out.
'Move Laser to Selection'.
PANNING

To pan the view, sliding the window around, press and hold
MOVE SELECTION TO LASER POSITION
the middle mouse button and move the mouse. If you don't
have a middle mouse button, you can hold the Space bar on
This button will move the current selection to the current
your keyboard down instead - you'll see the mouse cursor
position of the laser head. The selection is placed relative to
the laser head based on the setting of the 9-dot corner change to a hand , and then you can grab and drag the
view with the left mouse button.

control on the Numeric Toolbar TOOLBAR

These tools can also be accessed from the Main Toolbar.

The first button, the four arrows, is the Pan control. Click
that to enter Pan mode, to drag the view. You'll see the

mouse cursor change to a hand, like this: When the

hand cursor is visible, you can drag the view around by
pressing the left mouse button and moving the mouse. The
Space bar acts as a shortcut for the Pan control.

The second button is Zoom to Page - clicking this will reset

the view in the workspace to frame the entire work area,
which is the view that LightBurn starts with.

The next two buttons are Zoom In and Zoom Out. Clicking
them will zoom in or out of the center of the view.

The fourth button is Frame Selection - Clicking this will

zoom the view to focus on whatever is currently selected. If
nothing is selected, it will zoom to fit all of the objects in
your project.

SELECTION

Objects in LightBurn must be selected before they can be

modified. The primary way to select objects is to click on
them while the Selection tool is active. Please see the
video at the top of this page for more tips on selecting
objects, or read below for a summary.

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In this case, all three items will be selected even though

they are not fully contained by the selection rectangle.

Experiment with these two selection methods -

understanding how they work, and when to use them,
makes working on larger projects much faster.

Selection Modifiers

To supplement click-select and rectangle selection,

LightBurn supports these modifier keys:

• ⇧ Shift : Holding Shift while selecting will add the new

selection to the current one.

A few things happen when a shape is selected: •( ⌃ Ctrl / ⌘ Cmd ) + ⇧ Shift : Holding both ⌃ Ctrl and
⇧ Shift will remove the new selection from the current
1. The selected shape is drawn with an animated pattern instead
one.
of solid lines.
• ⌃ Ctrl / ⌘ Cmd : Holding ⌃ Ctrl by itself will toggle the
2. The edit handles for resizing, positioning, skewing, or rotating
selection state of the new selection.
the selection appear.
3. The size and position of your selection is shown in the Additional Selection Tools

Numeric Edits toolbar.

There are also a few items in the Edit menu for special types
4. Other controls in LightBurn may activate, if relevant to the of selection:
selection.
• Select All: selects everything in the project
To clear the current selection, left click an empty space in
• Invert Selection: Anything selected becomes
the view or press the ⎋ Esc key.
unselected, and anything unselected is now selected
You can select a collection of shapes by pressing and holding • Select open shapes: Selects anything in the design that
the left mouse button and dragging a rectangle around the is an open shape (IE, is not a closed path that forms a
things to select, from left to right, like this: continuous loop)
• Select open shapes set to Fill: Similar to Select open
shapes, but only selects open shapes that are set to 'Fill' -
This is useful, because LightBurn is unable to fill shapes
that aren't closed, so this can help you find them.
• Select all shapes in current layer: If you choose a
layer setting and click this option, it will select everything
assigned to that layer. You can also do this by holding the
⇧ Shift key and clicking the layer in the Cuts/Layers

window.
• Select contained shapes: this is one you won't use
The red rectangle will disappear when you release the often, but it's incredibly powerful when you need it. Select
mouse button, and all the shapes fully enclosed within it will a single shape in LightBurn, then click 'Select Contained
be selected. This is called an enclosing selection - only Shapes' to add everything that is 'inside' the item
things fully contained in the red enclosing rectangle will be currently selected. For example, if you wanted to select
selected. everything inside one of the two blue outlines below, click-
select or drag-select would be difficult and time
You can drag from right to left instead, and this will create a consuming, but 'Select contained shapes' does it in just
green rectangle, which will select anything that it crosses: two clicks:

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Primary Docs UI

Numeric Edits Toolbar

The Numeric Edits toolbar in LightBurn is used for adjusting

the size, position, and orientation of shapes or groups of
shapes in your project.

XPos and YPos

The X and Y (horizontal and vertical) positions of your

selection, relative to the point in your selection indicated by
Troubleshooting
the 9-dot control toward the right side of the toolbar. In the
above image, the 9-dot control is showing the lower-left
Normally, selecting an object in LightBurn will give a nice corner, so the XPos and YPos values are showing the current
even "crawling ants" animation. If you find that you're location of that corner of the selection.
getting odd flashing or patterns, the most likely problem is
Width and Height
overlapping geometry. This is often the result of importing
the same file twice, or other design software exporting paths The width and height of the current selection. When the lock
improperly. control is enabled, the aspect ratio (relationship between
width and height) of your selection is maintained - this
To solve this problem quickly, try deleting duplicate shapes
means that if you have a shape that is currently 50 mm wide
using Edit → Delete Duplicates or ⎇ Alt + D .
and 25 mm tall, it is twice as wide as it is tall, or it has a 2:1
You can also try ungrouping ( ⌃ Ctrl / ⌘ Cmd + U ) and aspect ratio. If you change the width to 80 while the lock is
deleting individual shapes if you want more manual control. enabled, the height will automatically change to 40,
preserving the 2:1 ratio. If you unlock the lock control, the
Next Step: Basic Usage - The Essentials width and height can be changed independently.

The width and height controls are followed by percentage

controls which can be used to quickly change the relative
size of your selection. Enter 50 in one of the boxes, and the
size will become 50% of whatever it was before.

Rotate

The rotate box is used to rotate the current selection by the

number of degrees entered.

mm / in control

Used to quickly toggle between metric and imperial. Default

state will depend on your current unit of measurement.

Equation support

Note that the XPos, YPos, Width, Height, and Rotate fields
can all accept equations, and the XPos, YPos, Width, and
Height controls accept units as well. This means that if you
are working in mm, but you want to create a shape that is 5
inches wide, just enter 5in or 5" into the width field and
LightBurn will convert it for you. More information about the
equation support in LightBurn can be found on the Tips and
Tricks page.

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Primary Docs Text & Fonts UI TEXT OPTIONS TOOLBAR

The Text Toolbar, located on the upper toolbar in LightBurn

by default, is where you set properties on text shapes, like
Fonts and Text
which font to use, as well as size, spacing, and more.

The Text Toolbar looks like this:

Creating text in LightBurn is simple - click the Create Text

tool ( ) on the Creation Toolbar, click somewhere on the

page to get a cursor, and type. The list of fonts in LightBurn is taken from your computer
system. If you want to use a new font in LightBurn, use the
When you enable the Create Text tool, the Text Options facility provided by your operating system to install the font,
toolbar will activate as well. then re-start LightBurn.
With the Text tool in LightBurn you can:
Favorites and filtering fonts
• Create text on the screen, or edit existing text by clicking
within it.
Right-click the font dropdown for additional options. You can
• Change font and size, alignment, and spacing add the currently selected font to your favorites. Favorites
• Enable / disable automatic welding will appear at the top of the font list. You can also choose to
• Create Variable Text objects filter for SHX fonts or system fonts.

FONT SETTINGS
• Font - Select the font.
There are a number of global font settings that can be found
• Height - Sets the overall font height. The Height property
in the settings dialog on the File Settings page:
of fonts is not exact - It is generally the height of a capital
letter X in the font, but every font has an internal size that
is scaled by this height, and the dimensions aren't
required to be accurate.
• HSpace - adjusts the horizontal character spacing as a
percentage of the font size. Positive numbers space the
characters out more, negative numbers move them closer
together.
• VSpace - adjusts the vertical line spacing as a percentage
of the font height. Positive numbers increase the distance
between lines, negative numbers reduce it.
• Align X - chooses the horizontal anchor position of the
text - Left, Right, or Middle
• Align Y - chooses the vertical anchor position of the text -
Bottom, Top, or Middle. Top aligns text to the top of capital
letters, and Middle aligns to roughly the middle of the
capital letters. This is most useful when applying text to a
path.

• Default Font - Default selected font for new documents

• Bold - Displays the font in bold typeface, if available
• Default Height - Default font height for new documents
• Italic - Displays the font in italics, if available
• Enable Right-to-Left text support - This will
• Upper Case - Forces all text to be upper case
automatically be enabled on first run if a Right-to-Left
language is the current system input language. But it can • Right-to-Left - Force Right-to-Left text rendering. Must
be forced on here later if needed. It will allow you to turn be enabled in settings. This will automatically be set if
on Right-to-Left font rendering for any text. enabled and current input language is Right-to-Left.

• Set SHX Font Path - Click to set directory containing • Welded - Enables automatic welding of characters. When
SHX font files. Shift+Click to clear. See SHX Fonts section characters touch or overlap, as is common with script
below for more. fonts, enabling this option will automatically weld the
overlaps together.

The remaining two options are for Variable Text, like serial
numbers, dates, and so on. More information about Variable
Text can be found here.

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CURVED TEXT

After creating a piece of text, if you return to Selection mode

by clicking the Select tool or pressing Esc, you will see

a blue dot near the text you've created, like this:

If you hover over the dot, your cursor will change to the

bend cursor.

If you click and drag the dot, your text will bend around an
invisible circle, like this:

Note that for text to remain editable you cannot delete the
path, so if it is not something you want engraved along with
your design, put the path on its own layer and set that layer
not to output, like this:

Double-click the dot to clear the bend and restore the text.

New in v1.3
Curved text and text on a path will still automatically weld,
When bending text, you can use the "Distort" toggle to and can be used with the Variable Text feature as well.
choose whether to distort the text as part of the bend, or
leave the individual characters unchanged. SHX FONTS

LightBurn also supports the use of SHX font files which are
an old AutoDesk font format, mainly intended for use with
CNC machines. Most importantly, SHX fonts lack many of
limitations of standard system fonts and have the ability to
define "single line" fonts, such as this:

LightBurn does not ship with any included SHX fonts, but
there are many to be found online for free with a quick
APPLY PATH TO TEXT search. Once you have SHX files downloaded, LightBurn
must be told where they are. In the Font Settings dialog,
If you want the text to follow a more complicated curve, you
click on "Set SHX Font Path" and choose the directory where
can use the 'Apply Path to Text' function in LightBurn to
your SHX files are located. It will not show the files as it is
attach text to any shape in LightBurn. Draw your shape and
merely a directory chooser.
your text, then select both and go to Tools > Apply Path to
Text, or right-click and choose it from the pop-up menu: Once LightBurn knows where to load the SHX fonts from
they should automatically show up in the Text Options
Toolbar font dropdown.

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Primary Docs UI

Shape Properties

In the Window menu, you can enable the Shape Properties

panel, which will contextually display properties of any
selected shape. The contents of this panel will depend
entirely on the shape or shapes that are currently selected.

At the simplest, such as when only a Path shape, QR Code or

when multiple shapes are selected, the panel will only
display 3 properties:

• Cut Order Priority: Sets the priority of this shape when

SHX fonts are differentiated from normal fonts by the icon used with 'Order by Priority' in the Cut Optimization
next to each entry: settings. Lower values are cut first.
• Power Scale: Scales the power used to cut this shape by
• this percentage between Min Power and Max Power
denotes an SHX font
• • Locked: Prevents movement or other changes to this
denotes a standard operating system font
shape.
MOVING LIGHTBURN FILES WITH FONTS
Note that locked shapes are shown without the usual
When you save a copy of a file that contains text, LightBurn selection controls since they cannot be moved while locked:
automatically includes a copy of the text as a path and
embeds it into the file. If you open the file on another
computer that has the same font, you will be able to edit the
text as usual. However, if you open the design on a
computer without the font, LightBurn will warn you about
the missing font(s) and load the path embedded in the file.
This way your file won't break when you move to another
computer, although you won't be able to edit the text
without the correct font.

If you want to move designs containing text between

computers, be sure to install all necessary fonts on all
computers you're using.

IMPORTING OTHER FILES WITH TEXT

If you are opening files not made in LightBurn that contain

text, please make sure that any fonts used in the file are
installed on your computer or that the text has been When multiple shapes are selected, changing these values
converted to paths using whatever tools are available in the acts on all selected shapes at once.
other program. Different programs will use different terms
for this process, but terms such as 'welding', 'convert to Other shape types include a wide variety of other properties
outline', and 'convert to path' are commonly used. that can be set but will always also include the properties
listed above.

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IMAGE • Width: X axis size component.

• Height: Y axis size component.
• Sides: Number of sides.

RECTANGLE

• Width: X axis size component.

• Gamma: Adjusts the mid-tone curve for images. 1.0 is
• Height: Y axis size component.
normal. Lower values brightnen the mid tones, and higher
values will darken them. • Corner Radius: Sets the radius for curved corners on the
rectangle.
• Contrast: Increases or decreases image contrast.
• Brightness: Increases or decreases image brightness. TEXT

• Enhance Radius: Radius of edge enhancement - 0 is

none.
• Enhance Amount: Increases or decreases edge
enhancement.
• Enhance denoise: Use to reduce noise in smooth areas.

Note: Enhance is also often referred to as "Unsharp

masking", and will increase the contrast of edges in the
image. A larger radius spreads the effect across a wider area • Max Width: Text will begin scaling if the length exceeds
near the edge being enhanced. this, use zero for no limit..
ELLIPSE

• Width: X axis size component.

• Height: Y axis size component.

POLYGON

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Primary Docs Tools UI

The selection shown above is also comprised of unlocked
shapes, as denoted by the fact that the move, resize, and
rotate controls are shown. Locked shapes, however, do not
Creation Tools show any of these selection controls, as shown below.

The shape creation tools are the basic ways you build stuff
from scratch in LightBurn, along with the Selection tool, and
the 'Click to Position' tool.

The tools are:

• Creation Tools
• Selection tool
• Click Selection
• Drag Selection
• Enclosing Selection
• Crossing Selection
The direction that the pattern animates shows the direction
• Selection Modifiers that the shape will be cut in (unless you tell LightBurn that
• Moving, Resizing, Shearing, and Rotating it's ok to choose a different direction).

• Snapping To clear the current selection, left-click an empty space in

• Draw Lines tool the view, or press the ⎋ Esc key.

• Measuring Drag Selection

• Rectangle tool
If you click an empty space in the edit window and drag the
• Ellipse tool cursor, a selection rectangle appears. Drag the rectangle out
• Polygon tool over a number of shapes and let go to select them. There
are two types of drag selection:
• Click to Move tool
Enclosing Selection

SELECTION TOOL
If you drag from left to right, you'll see a red rectangle.
Selecting a shape with an enclosing selection means the
You'll likely use this more than any other tool in LightBurn. shape must be completely contained by the rectangle in
The selection arrow is used to choose which things in your order to select it.
workspace you want to change, and there are a number of
different ways that selection happens in LightBurn.

Click Selection

Point at the outline of a shape and click with the left mouse
button to select it. The shape will change from solid to an
animated pattern of dashes. There are several things you
can tell from this pattern:

Crossing Selection

If you drag from right to left, you'll see a green rectangle.

Selecting a shape with a crossing selection means that if the
rectangle crosses the shape at all, the shape will be
selected:

The circle on the left is not selected. The circle in the middle
is selected, and it is a simple shape, because the pattern is
just simple dashes. The two circles on the right are grouped
- visible because the pattern is a combination of dots and
dashes.

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makes the action symmetrical, using the center of the object

as the anchor instead of the other side.

When dragging the non-symmetrical adjustments, you can

"shear" the entire design in the X or Y axis. This allows for
"corner-pinching" of your design, and maintains the same
center as you had before.

The center square that appears is a movement handle - you

can click and drag it to reposition the shape, however you
Selection Modifiers
can also click anywhere on the boundary of the shape to do
To supplement click-select and rectangle selection, this, and you don't even have to select it first - Simply click
LightBurn supports these modifier keys: the boundary, and while continuing to hold the left button,
drag the shape.
• ⇧ Shift : Holding ⇧ Shift while selecting will add the new

selection to the current one The circular arrows shown at the four corners are used to
rotate the shape. By default the rotation is "free", however
• ⌃ Ctrl + ⇧ Shift or ⌘ Cmd + ⇧ Shift : Holding both
⌃ Ctrl and ⇧ Shift will remove the new selection from
holding the ⌃ Ctrl key will snap it to 5 degree increments.

the current one When dragging, scaling, or rotating shapes, the bottom
• ⌃ Ctrl or ⌘ Cmd : Holding ⌃ Ctrl by itself will toggle the status bar in the main window will often show feedback, like
selection state of the new selection this:

Note that on macOS, the Command key is used instead of

the ⌃ Ctrl key.

Moving, Resizing, Shearing, and Rotating

When one or more shapes are selected, several controls

appear around them, like this:

Here I can see the position of my mouse, and the angle I

have rotated the shape to while I'm rotating it.

Snapping

When you move the mouse over a shape to select it, you will
occasionally see the cursor change to a small crosshair. This
shows that you are over a snap point, like a corner, node,
the center of a line, or the center of a shape. If you click at
this moment, the point you drag the object from will be that
snap point. When dragging an object to move it, as you get
The small squares around the outside of the selection can be near other objects, those objects may also snap the cursor
clicked and dragged to resize the selection from that side or location, allowing you to position shapes perfectly with each
corner. If you move the mouse over one, the cursor will other. If you are close to a grid point, the selection will snap
change to show that the action is available. to the grid as well.

When dragging one of the four corners, the shape will

maintain its relative width to height (aspect ratio) so it
doesn't 'stretch'. You can override that by holding the
⇧ Shift key while dragging a corner.

When dragging any of the sizing adjustments, the behavior

is asymmetric - the other side of the object acts like an
anchor and stays in place. Holding the ⌃ Ctrl or ⌘ Cmd key

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Measuring

A little known feature of the Line tool is that it is also

intended to be used for measuring distances. The status
display at the bottom of the main window shows the length
of the line being drawn, even before you've completed it.

If you want to measure the distance between two points in

your design, start a line at one point, then move the mouse
to the other point, but don't click yet. Look at the status
window to see the length of the line in progress. When you
have noted your measurement, right-click or press ⎋ Esc to
cancel the line.

If you do not want shapes to snap when dragging, hold the

⌃ Ctrl key to temporarily turn off the snapping behavior.

DRAW LINES TOOL

Hotkey = ⌃ Ctrl + L or ⌘ Cmd + L

Click the pencil to use the Line tool. Click anywhere on the The status window shows:
page to start a line, then click in a different location to place
the endpoint of the line. The Line tool will continue adding • dx: the distance along the X axis only
segments until you either click back at the starting point to • dy: the distance along the Y axis only
close it, click the right mouse button to stop, or press the
• len: the length of the current line segment
⎋ Esc key.
• It will also show the angle between successive line
To create curved lines, click and drag when placing a point. segments as you create them
You can combine curved and straight segments when using
the Line tool.
RECTANGLE TOOL

Hotkey = ( ⌃ Ctrl / ⌘ Cmd ) R

The rectangle tool is used to draw squares and rectangles.

Holding Shift while dragging will lock the width and height,
producing a perfect square. Holding Ctrl will drag the
rectangle or square from the center, instead of the corner.

With a rectangle selected, if you look in the Shape Properties

Window you can adjust the 'Corner Radius' property to
produce rounded rectangles, or frames with inward corners:

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Primary Docs UI

Cuts / Layers

ELLIPSE TOOL

Hotkey = ⌃ Ctrl + E or ⌘ Cmd + E

The ellipse tool is used to draw ellipses and circles. Similar

to the Rectangle tool, holding ++shif++ while dragging will
lock the width and height, producing a perfect circle. Holding
⌃ Ctrl will drag the ellipse or circle from the center, instead

of the corner.

POLYGON TOOL

The polygon tool is used to draw regular polygons, like

hexagons. Holding ⇧ Shift while dragging will lock the
width and height. Holding ⌃ Ctrl will drag the polygon from
the center, instead of the corner.

There are two methods to change the number of sides. Start

by selecting the polygon and then do one of the following:

1. Open the Shape Properties Window and adjust the Sides

property.

The Cuts / Layers window in LightBurn shows the list of

operations you have in your design. The layers will usually
be cut in this order, but you can change that if you want.

This view gives:

2. In LightBurn 1.5 or higher, drag the purple handle to change
the number of sides as shown below: • A summary of all operations in the design
• The type of operation (Line, Fill, Multi, or Image)
• The main speed and power settings
• Toggles to show whether the layer is output (sent to the
laser) or shown in the editor window.

If you select an entry in this list of operations, the values at

the bottom of the list will let you edit speed, power, number
of passes, and interval.

The buttons to the side allow you to manipulate the list of

layers:

CLICK TO MOVE TOOL Move

Hotkey = ⎇ Alt + L
The first two buttons, "Move up / Move down", let
The Click-to-Move tool is a quick way to jog your laser to a you re-order the entries in the list.
location somewhere in the workspace. Select this tool, then
click anywhere on the page and LightBurn will issue a Delete
command to send your laser there. This tool automatically
turns itself off after about 10 seconds, in case you This button will delete all the content on the
accidentally leave it on. Trying to select a shape and having selected layer.
the laser move away from where you want it can be
confusing. Cache

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Cut Settings Editor

These two buttons let you copy a layer's settings
(right arrow) into a cache and paste the settings CUT SETTINGS - FILL MODE

onto a selected layer. This can be very useful if

you want the same settings on multiple layers, or
want to use one layer's settings as the starting point for
further modifications on another layer.

ADDITIONAL TIPS

• If you right-click the 'Output' or 'Show' headers at the top

of the list, you can quickly turn on, off, or toggle that
setting for all layers:

Common Settings

• Right-clicking an entry in the layer list will flash all the

shapes using that color in the edit window, allowing you to
quickly see what's using this layer setting.
• Holding the Shift key and clicking a layer entry will select
all shapes using that layer color. Note that if you have
shapes using this layer grouped with other shapes from
other layers, the shapes from the selected layer will be
removed from the group in order to select them, so this
operation can alter your file.
• Double-clicking an entry in the layer list will bring up the
full Cut Settings Window, allowing you to edit to all the cut
settings, including many not shown here.

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When Overscanning is not used or not set correctly,

engraved jobs appear more burned at the edges and lighter
in the middle.

This is caused by the laser slowing down to change scanning

direction.

Thankfully LightBurn can compensate for this by running the

tool head outside the boundaries of the engraving, but with
the laser off. This maintains an even speed on the engraving
itself to provide a consistent engrave. You need a little more
space either side of the engraving to accommodate this
overscanning.

This setting will not be available for DSP controllers or Galvo

lasers. See the DSP or Galvo tabs for more information.

GCode DSP Controllers Galvo Lasers

On GCode devices, enable Overscanning in your Fill or Image

layer.

If you already have this enabled and you are still seeing
issues, you might need a larger value for the Overscan
setting, particularly if your acceleration is low.

If Overscanning is enabled on a GCode laser and there isn't

enough room at the edge of the job to accommodate the
extra travel distance, you may encounter LightBurn's Cut
May Be Out Of Bounds error.

Advanced Settings DSP controllers handle Overscanning in hardware. If a job on

a DSP laser requires Overscanning and there isn't enough
Fill mode permits you to instruct the laser to scan line by line room at the edge of the job to accommodate it, your DSP
and fill in the shape you want, similar to how a paper printer controller may return the Not Enough Extend Space error.
works. Fill mode will fill in closed shapes but not open
shapes. Galvo lasers don't use Overscanning. Correcting for
excessive burning at edges is handled by the Delay settings
in Device Settings.
Note for long-term users

Line Interval
In older versions of LightBurn the 'Fill' mode was referred to
as 'Scan'. We've updated the terminology to make it easier Controls the spacing between scanned rows, and indirectly
for new users.
controls Lines per Inch.

Lines per Inch

Bi-directional Fill
A different, often more intuitive way of controlling the line
When enabled, the laser will engrave in a side-to-side interval, or spacing between rows.
sweeping motion with the laser on and engraving in both
directions. When disabled, the laser will engrave traveling Scan Angle
one way, then return to the start of the next line without
Normally 0, meaning the laser will scan back and forth
engraving the return pass. Depending on the type of laser,
horizontally across the image, progressing from the bottom
enabling this can save significant time on long engraving
of the image to the top. If you set this to 180, the laser will
jobs.
scan the image from top to bottom. Setting this to 90 will
Cross-Hatch scan the laser vertically over the image, progressing from
left to right.
When enabled, runs a second engraving pass 90 degrees
rotated from the first to ensure a consistent and thorough
fill.

Overscanning

When enabled, adds extra moves to the beginning and end

of each line to give the laser time to speed up before firing,
and slow down afterward.

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are running the laser fast (300 mm/sec or more) this is

Note usually the most efficient option, with some exceptions.
• Fill groups together: This setting will fill all shapes in a
If you have a DSP controller, we do not advise using angles
group at the same time.
that aren't a multiple of 90 degrees. Horizontal and Vertical
scanning is supported natively by the hardware, and it will • Fill shapes individually: This setting fills all shapes one
automatically handle over-scanning beyond the sides of the by one.
image to get the head to full speed before engraving starts.
Advanced settings
Scanning at non-90 degree angles is "emulated" using
normal cutting moves. It works, but it's mostly useful as a
Under the Advanced tab you'll find a few useful, but less
style option, and not recommended for general use.
frequently used options.

Number of Passes

Sets how many times the laser will run this filled shape.

Angle Increment

This feature allows subsequent passes of the layer or sub-

layer to increment the scan angle automatically.
Ramp Length
Z Offset
This setting can be used to slope the sides of an engraving
If you have Z moves enabled, and your controller supports it, by varying the laser power, and is useful if you create rubber
the Z Offset setting can be used to move the laser head stamps, particularly if the designs have thin regions that
closer to the material (inward) or farther away from it need extra support. The ramp length controls how far from
(outward). Focusing deeper into the material can sometimes the design the slope will extend.
help to cut thicker material, and lifting the laser away from
the material can produce a thicker line. Note: On a DSP controller, the ramp varies the laser power
from Min Power to Max Power, so you must set these
Z step per pass
differently to get a ramped side. Typically you would set Min
When doing more than a single pass over a shape, the Z Power to be just above the firing threshold of your laser.
step per pass setting allows you to tell LightBurn to raise or
Flood Fill
lower the laser with each pass by some amount. This is most
often used for thick cutting or deep engraving, allowing you Flood fill tries to eliminate travel moves across blank space,
to shift the focus point deeper with each pass to help so it's perfect for engraving something like a large, empty
maintain efficient cutting. rectangle, where the blank area in the middle would
consume most of the time spent.

Warning for Z moves

Warning
If your system uses auto-focus, you may not be able to push
the focus point lower, because most systems treat the auto- This option is incredibly useful when you need it, but is very
focus height as the lowest possible height (Z limit) to avoid sensitive to machine tuning and backlash, and can end up
crashing the laser head. Be careful using Z moves, as they leaving gaps in your engraving if the design is complex and/
do have the potential to physically damage your laser by or your machine is not set up optimally.
crashing the head into the material.

If used on complex designs, Flood Fill can produce engraving

paths that jump around a lot, and return later to fill in
Fill Grouping missed spots, which is why it can leave gaps if the machine
isn't well tuned. Use it sparingly, and use the Preview tool to
These options control which shapes are filled at the same
see how the option will engrave your design so you aren't
time on the laser. If you run your laser fast, OR your laser
surprised by the path it takes.
accelerates slowly, it is often most efficient to scan things all
at once, so the laser spends most of its time moving at the Fill + Line Behavior
speed you've chosen, and less time changing direction. If
you are engraving slowly, your laser accelerates fast, or the In older versions of LightBurn, Fill+Line mode allowed
design contains a lot of blank space, it can be more efficient primitive Sublayer use to draw an outline around an
to fill clusters of close shapes, or just fill the shapes one by engraved shape. This has since been superseded. The
one. If you aren't sure, try different options and use Preview legacy behavior can be approximated with Sub-Layers, one
to estimate the time. for Fill and a second one for Line with the same base motion
settings.
• Fill all shapes at once: The default, this setting means
that everything on this layer will be filled at the same
time, sweeping back and forth across the whole job. If you

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CUT SETTINGS - LINE MODE

Danger

LightBurn will automatically convert pre-1.2 project files

with Fill+Line settings to Sub-Layers in 1.2, including
Fill+Line behavior. This produces two layers, one with your
legacy "Fill" settings, and a subsequent layer with "Line"
settings, to be run afterwards. Going backwards from
current project files to pre-1.2 LightBurn is likely to result in
breakages involving Sub-Layers due to how complex the
changes are.

Common Settings

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Tabs / Bridges

Adding Tabs / Bridges to your design commands your laser

to skip small sections of a cut, so objects do not fall out
immediately but can be removed later. For an in-depth walk
through on this features, see the Tabs / Bridges page.

Galvo-Specific Settings

Wobble (Galvo-only)

This option is only available if you are using a galvo laser.

Because galvo lasers are not optimized for cutting, it can be
hard to apply enoug power to a given area while in Line
mode to cut through material. Wobble can be used to trace
small circles along the path of the line, creating a thicker line
and forcing the galvo to spend longer in each section of the
line. The Step value refers to how far apart the circles are,
and the Size value refers to the diameter of the circles (in
millimeters).

Advanced Settings

The image above shows the settings for Line mode. In this
mode, the laser follows the exact path of your design,
tracing the lines with the beam enabled at the power you've
chosen. If you move quickly, or with low power, you will
likely just etch the surface (sometimes called vector
marking). If you move slowly and with high power, especially
with a CO2 laser, you will cut deeper, possibly through the
material. The only difference between surface marking and
cutting is the power and speed.
Gantry-Specific Settings
Number of Passes
These settings will only be available if you are using a gantry
How many times the laser will repeat the shapes on this laser.
layer. Sometimes, when cutting thick material, trying to
engrave very deep, or using a lower power laser, more than Z Offset
one pass may be necessary.
If you have Z moves enabled, and your controller supports it,
Perforation Mode the Z Offset setting can be used to move the laser head
closer to the material (inward) or farther away from it
If you are trying to cut fold lines in card stock, stitch holes in (outward). Focusing deeper into the material can sometimes
leather, or just make dashed lines, Perforation Mode help to cut thicker material, and lifting the laser away from
allows you to choose the distance to cut, followed by the the material can produce a thicker line.
distance to skip.
Z step per pass
This can also help when using delicate materials with a
powerful laser. With very low cut and skip values, the beam When doing more than a single pass over a shape, the Z
is rapidly switched on and off, reducing the effective power step per pass setting allows you to tell LightBurn to raise or
output. Try starting with cut and skip values of 0.1 mm each, lower the laser with each pass by some amount. This is most
and adjust the ratio between cut and skip to tune it further. often used for thick cutting or deep engraving, allowing you
to shift the focus point deeper with each pass to help
maintain efficient cutting.

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Start / End pause time

Warning for Z moves
These options can be used to add a delay at the beginning
If your system uses auto-focus, you may not be able to push of a cut, the end, or both. If you also enable the Cut
the focus point lower, because most systems treat the auto- Through option, the beam will be turned on during this
focus height as the lowest possible height (Z limit) to avoid pause, which can be used to prime the cut, for example
crashing the laser head. Be careful using Z moves, as they when cutting very thick material. The Power % value sets
do have the potential to physically damage your laser by the power of the laser during this pause.
crashing the head into the material.
If used without the Cut Through toggle enabled, it can be
used to add a delay to let the gantry settle down after a
Kerf Offset rapid move, or allow time for an air assist solenoid to
engage.

Closed Shapes Only Cut Through

Because LightBurn must determine the inside and outside of Cut Through will dwell (pause) with the laser on at the start
a shape in order to apply a Kerf Offset, this setting will only or end of a cut to help pierce the material there.
work with closed shapes.
Overcut

Kerf refers to the thickness or width of a cut made by a Overcut will extend a cut, to burn an extra bit at the end.
cutting tool. The kerf of a laser is much narrower than that of
Override PWM Frequency
a saw blade, but the extra material removed can interfere
with close-fitting parts such as tabbed boxes or inlays. If you have an RF Excited tube, this setting allows you to
control the PWM frequency of the pulses sent to the laser,
Kerf Offset compensates for the extra material removed by
and can change the edge finish on certain materials.
offsetting the path of the laser to the outside of closed
shapes (for positive values) or the inside (for negative Override PPI
values). This doesn't modify the underlying shape, so your
design can be used on lasers with different kerfs by Only available on Trocen controllers, the PPI setting (Pulses
adjusting the Kerf Offset value. Per Inch) lets you tell the laser to send an exact number of
pulses per inch of travel, instead of varying the beam power
The image below shows how Kerf Offset (dashed lines) directly. This is useful for delicate materials like paper, and is
relates to the original shape (solid lines). similar to using Perforation Mode, but is handled by the
hardware itself.

Lead In / Lead Out

Lead-in and Lead-out are optional lines or curves added to

the start or end of a cut. When cutting thick material,
particularly if using 'Cut Through' delays, or cutting metal,
there is often a mark left at the start of the cut that is
slightly thicker than the rest, and can leave an indent on an
otherwise smooth edge. With this setting, you can add a
small line to the start or end of a cut, so that mark happens
off the cut line itself. The 'Angle' value controls the
Advanced Settings placement of the lead line - a positive number tells
LightBurn to put the lead line outside the shape, and a
Under the Advanced tab you'll find useful, but less negative number means to put it inside. You can choose to
frequently used, options, many of which can be used to make the lead a straight line, or a short arc.
compensate for lasers that don't fire at the start or end of
cuts. This tab will not be available if you are using a galvo
laser.

The shape above on the left is using an arc set to +45

degrees, so it starts outside the shape. The one on the right
is a line set to -20 degrees, so it appears inside the shape.

Dot Mode

When enabled, the laser will pause and pulse at regular

intervals along the path, instead of cutting continuously. The
'Time' value specifies the pause delay in milliseconds, and

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the spacing parameter sets how far apart the pulses are. CUT SETTINGS - OFFSET FILL MODE

This can be an effective way to do stitching holes, or cut

very thin or delicate materials, but the constant pausing can
shake the machine - using Perforation Mode is often
preferable for this reason. This setting is not available on all
lasers.

Common Settings

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In this case, you can see that the left image has many more
traversal moves (non-cutting movement of the laser, shown
in red), where the right side does not. Offset fills take
considerably longer to generate because the computations
to generate the path are much more complex.

Aside from the differences in path generation, settings here

are similar to the regular fill mode.

Advanced Settings

This mode will fill an outline with lines that follow the shape
of the object. If you have ever worked with a CNC router, it
would be called an "offset pocket" operation.

For comparison, a traditional Fill is on the left, and an Offset

Fill on right.

Raster fill is preferred for general use, however offset fill can
save time in certain cases if you have a slower machine, or
the shape you are filling is hollow, like this:

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CUT SETTINGS - IMAGE MODE Negative Image

This mode is only available for images, and lets you choose This will invert your image during engraving. Light becomes
options to control how LightBurn renders the image data on dark, dark becomes light. This is useful for engraving slate
the laser. or glass, where burned areas become lighter.

Overscanning

When enabled, adds extra moves to the beginning and end

of each line to give the laser time to speed up before firing,
and slow down afterward.

When Overscanning is not used or not set correctly,

engraved jobs appear more burned at the edges and lighter
in the middle.

This is caused by the laser slowing down to change scanning

direction.

Thankfully LightBurn can compensate for this by running the

tool head outside the boundaries of the engraving, but with
the laser off. This maintains an even speed on the engraving
itself to provide a consistent engrave. You need a little more
space either side of the engraving to accommodate this
overscanning.

This setting will not be available for DSP controllers or Galvo

lasers. See the DSP or Galvo tabs for more information.

GCode DSP Controllers Galvo Lasers

On GCode devices, enable Overscanning in your Fill or Image

layer.

If you already have this enabled and you are still seeing
issues, you might need a larger value for the Overscan
setting, particularly if your acceleration is low.
The image above shows the settings available for images.
If Overscanning is enabled on a GCode laser and there isn't
Many of these settings are also available in Fill Mode.
enough room at the edge of the job to accommodate the
extra travel distance, you may encounter LightBurn's Cut
Tip May Be Out Of Bounds error.

DSP controllers handle Overscanning in hardware. If a job on

For image engravings, CO2 lasers are typically run at low
a DSP laser requires Overscanning and there isn't enough
power, decreasing speed if needed to make a darker
engraving. Diode lasers are often run at high or even full room at the edge of the job to accommodate it, your DSP
power, depending on material and laser output wattage. controller may return the Not Enough Extend Space error.

Galvo lasers don't use Overscanning. Correcting for

These settings do not allow you to control things like image excessive burning at edges is handled by the Delay settings
brightness or contrast. Instead, those are set on a per-image in Device Settings.
basis and can be accessed via the Adjust Image tool or
Shape Properties panel. Line Interval

Bi-directional Fill
Controls the spacing between scanned rows, and indirectly
When enabled, the laser will engrave in a side-to-side controls DPI.
sweeping motion with the laser on and engraving in both DPI (Dots Per Inch)
directions. When disabled, the laser will engrave traveling
one way, then return to the start of the next line without Controls the pixel density of the output - this is another way
engraving the return pass. Depending on the type of laser, of representing Line Interval. DPI is 25.4 / Line Interval.
enabling this can save significant time on long engraving
Scan Angle
jobs.
Defaults to 0, meaning the laser will scan back and forth
horizontally across the image, progressing from the bottom
of the image to the top. If you set this to 180, the laser will

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scan the image from top to bottom. Setting this to 90 will

scan the laser vertically over the image, progressing from
left to right.

NOTE: If you have a DSP controller, we do not advise using

angles that aren't a multiple of 90 degrees. Horizontal and
Vertical scanning is supported natively by the hardware, and
it will automatically handle over-scanning beyond the sides
of the image to get the head to full speed before engraving
starts. Scanning at non-90 degree angles is emulated using
normal cutting moves. It works, but it's mostly useful as a
style option, and not recommended for general use.

Z Offset

If Z moves are enabled, this setting controls how much to

raise or lower the Z axis when executing this fill. Lifting the
laser a few mm, for example, can make the beam wider, Example Image
allowing the use of larger interval values, which can make
filling a large area faster.
Threshold
Cells per inch

Number of Halftone shading dots to compute per inch. Only

enabled when the Halftone Image Mode is selected.

Halftone angle

Angle of the Halftone shading patern. Only enabled when

the Halftone Image Mode is selected.

Number of Passes

How many times to repeat the entire engraving process.

Ramp Length
A simple on / off switch if the image is dark / bright at a
Length to ramp in and out of the sides of engraved features. given location. This should only be used for images that
Typically used for rubber stamps. are two-color black/white to begin with, such as an image
you dithered outside of LightBurn. Don't use this mode for
Pass-Through
grayscale or color images.
When working with images that have been pre-processed for
laser engraving, enable this setting to engrave the image as
Ordered
is, rather than resampling using the image modes described
below. Line Interval/DPI will be directly tied to the size of
the image.

Image Mode

The Image Mode setting controls how LightBurn processes

your image. Below you can see a description of each Image
Mode in LightBurn, along with an example of how that mode
changes the look of the example image. Click on the image
previews to see a larger version.

Also called ordered dithering, this is a step above

threshold for grayscale images, and uses densely packed
on/off dots to approximate shading, using an ordered/
regular grid pattern. This is ok for general use, but works
best for images with large areas of solid fill, where
diffusion dithering can cause unwanted artifacts (see
below).

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Atkinson Jarvis

A good "in between" mode for solid color or smooth High quality dithering. Usually the best choice for smooth
shaded images. It resembles Jarvis but preserves detail shaded or photo images.
better, though very light or dark areas may be blown out.

Newsprint
Dither

Emulates newspaper halftone. It has good shading, but is

Also called error diffusion dithering, this is the best choice visibly patterned. Good for higher DPI settings, or
for smoothly shaded images, like photos. This also Smoothieware controllers.
approximates shading with simple dots, but does so
without evident patterning, and tends to produce more
subtle shading. Halftone

Stucki

Good quality shading for high DPI images. It is similar to

newsprint but can have variable cell size and pattern
angle.
High quality dithering. Slightly faster than Jarvis and a
good choice for smooth shaded or photo images.

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Sketch Note

When previewing a Grayscale engraving, be sure to check

Shade according to power otherwise you will see a
completely black preview since, unlike other modes,
Grayscale scans every portion of the image, just at varying
levels of laser power.

Useful for line drawings or handwriting as it tries to detect

hard edges.

Grayscale

Fill Grouping

These options control which shapes are filled at the same

time on the laser. If you run your laser fast, OR your laser
accelerates slowly, it is often most efficient to scan things all
at once, so the laser spends most of its time moving at the
speed you've chosen, and less time changing direction. If
Varies power output as a percentage between Min and you are engraving slowly, your laser accelerates fast, or the
Max power, using Min power for the lightest shades and design contains a lot of blank space, it can be more efficient
Max power for the darkest. With a diode laser this can to fill clusters of close shapes, or just fill the shapes one by
provide great shading but is harder to get right than plain one. If you aren't sure, try different options and use Preview
dithering. With a CO2 laser, grayscale mode can achieve to estimate the time.
variable depth (3D) engraving rather than shading.
Images typically need to be specifically created for this • Fill all shapes at once: The default, this setting means
use. that everything on this layer will be filled at the same
time, sweeping back and forth across the whole job. If you
are running the laser fast (300 mm/sec or more) this is
usually the most efficient option, with some exceptions.
• Fill groups together: This setting will fill all shapes in a
group at the same time.
• Fill shapes individually: This setting fills all shapes one
by one.

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TABS / BRIDGES Tabs default to 0.5 mm in width and you can place many
tabs on any shape. The system will, however, limit how close
Sometimes it is helpful to include tabs (sometimes called
any two tabs can be based on the currently set tab size.
bridges) in objects that you are cutting out so that they do
not fall out immediately but can be removed later. The If a tab needs to be moved, simply click on it again and drag
concept comes from the CNC world but is much simpler in it to a new location, even on another shape.
the context of a Laser. Simply put, it's where you skip a very
small section of a cut, often less than 1 mm in length. In the Finally, you can delete a tab by double-clicking or
example below, the left square has no tabs applied, while shift+clicking the tab.
the right has a single 1 mm wide tab on each side.
Advanced Usage

In a Line mode cut setting's option dialog you will now see a
Tabs / Bridges section which allows more control.

Basic Usage

First, note that you will need to disable Beginner Mode in

the LightBurn Settings otherwise the tabs functionality will
not be available. Once that is done, you will see the "Add
Tabs" tool is available:

You can only add tabs to shapes that are in Line mode. Once
the Add Tabs tool is selected you will see the Insert Tab

cursor ( ) when hovering over a shape which you can

add a tab to.

Simply click where you would like a tab, and a red circle will
apear where you clicked, denoting that a tab will be placed
there.

Global Enable / Disable

The Tabs / Bridges group has a checkbox in the top-left.

Flipping this to off will supress any tabs on that cut layer
without losing any previously configured tabs or tab settings.

Tab Generation

• Manual - Any tabs must be manually placed using the

methods described above.
• Automatic - Tabs will be placed on all cut layer shapes,
based on the values of Even Spacing, Tabs Per Shape,
and Skip Inner Shapes.

Tab Size

Defines the total length of any tabs in whatever the

currently configured system unit type is (mm or inch). The
system will skip cutting for this distance, if possible.

Even Spacing

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When automatically generating tabs, each contiguous path

Libraries Primary Docs UI
section will have at least one tab applied at the very start of
the path and then again at this distance interval (mm or inch
depending on unit settings).
Art Library
Tabs Per Shape
The Art Library is a way to quickly store and recall artwork
When automatically generating tabs, using this option will that you use on a regular basis and want quick access to
place this number of evenly spaced tabs on each contiguous when designing.
path section for each shape on the cut layer.

Limit Max Tabs

This option allows you to set an upper bound on how many

tabs each object can have automatically generated.

Tab Cut Power

If set to anything other than 0%, tabs will have pulsed cuts
across the distance of the tab instead of just skipping it
completely. In the example below, the top tab is set to 25%
whereas the bottom tab is set to 75%.

On the left side of the window it shows the libraries that are
currently loaded, and the right side shows the artwork in the
currently selected library. Artwork can be easily imported
into the library from files on your hard drive, or from a
selection in your current project. When you want to use
Not all laser controllers can reliably vary the power mid-cut something from the library, just grab the thumbnail from the
so this was a way to implement "partially cut" tabs in a right view and drag it into your project.
consistent way. By increasing the amount it pulses on during
the tab you can further weaken the tab overall. Note: The library only stores artwork, much like the
contents of your AI, SVG, DXF, or image files. It does not
Skip Inner Shapes store the cut or fill settings applied to the artwork.

When enabled any shapes that are completely contained by Library Files
another shape in the same cut layer will not have automatic
Each library you create is a file on your hard drive containing
tabs applied. This does not effect manual tab placement.
all the graphics inside it in a compact form. You can copy
Clear Tabs library files between computers to share the contents.
LightBurn remembers which libraries you have loaded.
Delete all tabs (manual or automatic) from every shape on Unloading a library file just removes it from your list of
this cut layer. loaded libraries, but doesn't delete the file or its contents,
which makes it easy to bring in seasonal or holiday specific
libraries when you need them, then unload them to reduce
clutter when you don't.

To create a new (empty) library, click the 'New' button and

choose a location and a name to store the library file. Once
created and selected, you can immediately start adding
content to it.

Adding artwork to a Library

If you have files on your hard drive that you want to add you
can click the Import button. This will let you import multiple
files at once if you want to, and each one will become an
entry in the current library. You can also select something in

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your current project and click 'Import Graphic from Project'

Libraries Primary Docs UI
to add the selected artwork to the current library.

You can also right-click in the library view, like this:

Material Library

LightBurn's Material Library provides a way to store and

organize presets for different operations on different
materials, and have a way to quickly apply them. To add
presets to the material library, you set up a cut layer
however you like and save it to a library. You set a material
type, thickness (if appropriate), and a short description.
Libraries can be saved to shared drives to access your
settings conveniently from multiple computers.

From the pop-up menu, you can add the current selection to
the library, rename the selected library graphic, or delete it.

Adding artwork from the Library to your project

When you want to use an item from the library, locate it in

the thumbnail view on the right, then simply drag it into
your project wherever you would like it to appear, and drop
it. You can also click 'Add Graphic to Project' in the buttons
along the bottom.

Loading and Unloading Libraries

If you have libraries that you use rarely, or are seasonal (like
Halloween, Christmas, Easter, Spring, Fall, etc) you can
unload them when you are no longer using them by
selecting the library on the left, and clicking the 'Unload'
button. This just removes it from the view, but does not
delete the file from your hard drive. When you need it again, Presets can be applied to a layer by selecting the library
click the Load button, and locate the file on your hard drive. entry and assigning or linking it to the layer.
It will be added back to the list and usable until you unload it
ACCESSING THE MATERIAL LIBARY
again.
To get started, make sure you can see the Library Window.
In the default layout, it's behind the Laser Window, so you
may have to click to show it. If you don't see it there, make
sure the Library Window is turned on by going to Window >
Library.

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CREATE NEW MATERIAL LIBRARY PRESETS

Note
Material library presets are created by copying settings from
existing cut layers. If your current selected layer has Sub-Layers in any
capacity, using "Create new from layer" will assign all
1. Select one of your cut layers, then click the Create new from Sublayer details to that object, and render with "Multi" in
Layer button in the Library window. the Cut Settings Editor.
2. Fill out the detail sheet with the Material Name, Thickness
(if relevant), Title (if relevant), and Description
Assign
3. Now you can use the new entry anytime in the future by
assigning it to a new cut layer. Assigning a material library preset to a layer is equivalent to
manually copying cut settings written in a notebook into the
layer settings. You can modify the layer's cut settings
without affecting the saved preset, and you can modify the
saved preset without affecting the layer. This is often useful
as a starting point for creating new presets, or using an
existing preset with minor modifications.

Link

Linking a material library preset to a layer will make a

connection between the library and the layer. Modifying a
preset will also update the layer's cut settings, and you will
be unable to modify the layer's cut settings in the Cut
Settings Editor unless you unlink the layer. This is often
useful for files that you will be running again in the future, so
that future improvements to your custom presets will be
automatically applied in your project.

MANAGING MATERIAL LIBRARIES

Material Library Details Modify Existing Presets

Existing Material Library presets can be managed by

Name Description
selecting the preset's description and using the buttons on
Material The name of the material this applies the right side of the Library window.
Name to. Presets are grouped by material.

Thickness The thickness of the material. Use No

Thickness for surface operations like
engraving or scoring that don't
depend on the material thickness.

Title Only available when No Thickness is

selected. Used to describe the
general category of preset, such as
"engrave" or "score" and group
presets in a similar way to grouping
by thickness.

Description Describe the preset.

USE MATERIAL LIBRARY PRESETS

Presets are used by assigning or linking them to a cut layer

in your project. To assign or link a preset to a cut layer:

1. Select a layer you want to assign the preset to, or an object on

that layer.
2. In the material library, select to preset you want to apply to
the cut layer.
3. Click either Assign or Link Edit Cut

Click Edit Cut to open the Cut Settings Editor. This allows
you to change any of the cut settings as you would normally
and saves them back to the library.

Edit Description

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Click Edit Description to modify the Name, Thickness and

Description for the highlighted entry.

Duplicate

Click Duplicate to create a copy of the highlighted entry.

This can be helpful in quickly adding to your library.

Hint: Combined with Edit Description and Edit Cut you

can keep the same "Material Name" and "Thickness" to
create 'nested' entries (e.g. 3 mm cut, scan and image).
Keeping just the "Name" while changing the "Thickness"
allows nesting of different thicknesses of the same material.

Delete

Click Delete to remove a single cut setting entry from the

library.

Save a Library

As you fill out the Library with your favorite materials, it is

always a good idea to periodically save your additions. To do
this, click the Save button.
Load a Library

Selecting Load provides access to your previously saved

Material Libraries. Clicking on it will open a dialog allowing
you to select and open a saved Material Library. Your chosen
file will then become the active library for use.

Duplicate a Library

Click Save As to create a complete copy of your active

library and saves it under a new name of your choice.

New Library

Merge Libraries (LightBurn 1.5+)

Depending on your workflow, you may want to have multiple
libraries to work from. You can start a new Material Library Starting with LightBurn 1.5, the Merge button allows you to
any time by clicking the New button in the lower-right select a Material Library file saved on your computer to
corner of the Library window. This will open a new, blank merge with your currently active library.
library ready to fill out and save.
ADVANCED USAGE

Multiple Lasers

If you have multiple lasers, it's typically best to create a

material library for each laser. When you save a library, it is
linked to the currently active device. In the future, when you
select that device, the library associated with it will load
automatically. When you change material libraries, LightBurn

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will check any linked layers against the newly loaded

Primary Docs Ruida UI
material library. If there's a matching preset in the new
library, LightBurn will automatically transfer the link over to
the new library and update the layer's cut settings.
File List Window
Multiple Computers
This window is only supported on DSP controllers that allow
Multiple computers can access a single Material Library file hosting files on the controller, and allows you to see and
hosted on a network drive or from cloud service storage manage the files hosted there.
(e.g. Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud, OneDrive, etc.). To open
up a shared Material Library on a different computer, use the
Load button in the Library window. Info

Please note that if you have multiple computers pointing to If not working with DSP controllers, this menu will not
the same Material Library file, updates made from one present itself or be usable. This is intended behavior.
computer won't show on the other computer(s) until
LightBurn is restarted or the library is reloaded with the
Load button.

Hit the Refresh button to query your controller for the list of
hosted files. You can select a file and press Start to run it,
Delete to remove it from the controller, or Download to save
it locally. Pressing Upload will let you choose a local cut file
to send to the controller (this is not the same as the current
job, which you can upload with the "Send" button in the
Laser window.

It is worth noting that some controllers, particularly Ruida,

can take significant time to delete a file from the beginning
of the list if there are many files (or large files) following it.
We suspect that the controller is compacting the internal
storage when you do this, so if you are planning to delete
multiple files, it is faster to delete from the end of the list
first.

The 'Delete All Files' button is generally much faster than

deleting files one by one.

The 'Calc Time' button is available only on supported

controllers (Ruida) and will compute the time taken to run
the job on the controller itself. With engraving jobs this can

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take a considerable amount of time to do, as the controller is

GRBL Primary Docs UI
basically simulating the job internally, and the math is
complex. When it completes, the duration to run the file will
be shown in the 'Info' column.
Console Window

On GCode machines, the console window allows you to

directly input commands and see messages from the
controller itself.

You can type a command in the text box and the console will
output the results. Examples would be manual GCode
commands or retrieving configuration details from your
connected device.

If the controller encounters an error during execution, it will

be shown here as well.

If you have commands that you use frequently, you can

store them in one of the macro buttons. Right-click a button
to bring up the options to change the macro contents. Give
the button a meaningful name, and enter one or more
commands to send to the controller when the macro button
is clicked.

Enable the 'Show All' toggle switch to display all commands

sent between LightBurn and your controller.

Note, the console window functions are not available on

DSP controllers, like Ruida, Trocen, or TopWisdom as these
are not GCode based, and do not accept GCode commands.

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Primary Docs Settings UI

More Info

Although Beginner Mode can make it easier to get started, it

also mean that your interface will look a little different than
Settings
most video tutorials or screenshots you'll see.
The Settings window in LightBurn controls global user If you're searching for a button or features and you don't
preferences for LightBurn - these are the settings that apply see it, it might be because of Beginner Mode, but it could
regardless of what laser(s) you set up. These are split into also be because you're using a machine that doesn't
two pages - Display / Units settings and File settings. support the feature you're looking for. LightBurn's interface
adapts to only show you the features that are compatible
DISPLAY & UNITS SETTINGS
with your machine type.
The first page is the display and units settings, shown below:

Curve Quality

This controls the precision LightBurn uses in displaying

curves on the screen. All curves are displayed as a series of
short lines, but the higher this value is, the shorter those
lines will be. You can see the difference below.

If you're working with files containing thousands of curves

and your computer is lagging you may want to try reducing
this value. If you need your curves to be very precise, you
may want to increase it.
Display / Graphics

Settings in this section control the display and presentation Enable Anti-aliasing
of LightBurn.
Anti-aliasing smooths the appearance of lines on your
Beginner Mode screen. Enabling anti-aliasing will make your design
previews look much nicer, but does increase demand on
Beginner Mode simplifies the interface by removing options your machine. If you notice your computer lagging,
new users are unlikely to use. It can be turned on and off at especially on older computers or when working with very
any time from this screen. When Beginner Mode is active, complex designs, you may want to try disabling this setting.
you'll see the message below in the title bar.

Beginner Mode removes the following controls from the Main

Window:

• Toggles for Move, Rotate, Shear and Scale at the bottom

of the window
• Optimization Settings button
• Show Laser Position
• Cut Selected and Use Selection Origin Filled Rendering
• Many of the Align Tools from the Arrangement Toolbar are When enabled, LightBurn will display filled shapes directly in
replaced with the Align Helper the edit window. This takes longer than rendering the wire
outlines, and it can hide things from you behind those filled
shapes that may still be sent to the laser, so we recommend

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using this only for spot-checking your work, and not for Show Cylinder Correction Enable on Main Window
general editing.
This adds a toggle to the main window in the Laser pane to
Use Dark Background easily confirm whether cylinder correction (for engraving of
cylindrical objects without a rotary) is enabled or not.
Shows the main edit window using a dark color scheme
which may be easier on people with light sensitivity.

Show Palette Button Labels

This setting, enabled by default, shows numbered labels on

the color palette swatches, making it easier to tell the more
similar entries apart. This is also useful for users with color
blindness or other vision impairments.

Use System Clipboard

Enabling this makes copy and paste operations slightly

slower, but allows LightBurn to:

• Copy and paste across different runs of LightBurn, or

between two running copies of the app
• Paste images copied from other software or web browsers
• Paste text directly into the edit window, auto-creating a
text object for you

Invert mouse wheel zoom direction

This toggle allows users to override the scrolling behavior

within LightBurn to better match their preferences for
macOS or Windows.

Show full-screen line cursor

Toolbar Icon Size
When enabled, this feature draws a cross-hair that spans the
This slider allows you to manually change the scaling of icon
entire edit screen, which can make it easier to line up
elements in the LightBurn UI. This allows for manual
graphics.
overrides for HiDPI screens, UI scaling, and visually impaired
Show Rotary Enable on Main Window users. Not all UI elements may fit on screen if increased too
high.
This adds a toggle to the main window in the Laser pane to
easily confirm whether rotary is enabled or not at a glance. Font Size

This slider allows the end user to decrease or increase the

font size for LightBurn window text anywhere in the
program. This allows for manual overrides for HiDPI screens,
UI scaling, and visually impaired users. Not all UI elements
may fit on screen if increased too high.

Info

Setting either of these sliders to be too high may result in

clipping of UI elements, due to being an assumed size. If
you scale them up or down such that you cannot reach the
menu items to open the menu and shrink them, please use
the methods listed here to reset LightBurn to the default
layout.

Units & Grids

Inches / mm

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LightBurn internally operates in millimeters, but can display FILE SETTINGS

in either millimeters or inches. Speeds can be represented

as either units per second or units per minute. Users with
diode lasers will likely prefer the units per minute setting,
whereas CO2 lasers generally express speeds using units per
second.

Grid Contrast

This allows you to adjust the brightness of the grid in

LightBurn's main window relative to the background.

Visual Grid Spacing

The visual grid is set to 10 mm by default. Note that this is

independent of the Grid Snap setting below.

Grid Snap Distance

Positioning of lines and other primitives will snap to the Grid

Snap distance unless overridden using the Ctrl key. The
default for this is 1 mm.

Click Selection Tolerance

General Import Settings
This is how close you have to be to a line or vertex, in screen
pixels, to click it. Increase this number if you have trouble Group Imported Shapes
selecting things, decrease it if you find yourself selecting
things you didn't mean to. This toggle groups shapes imported from a single file
together automatically, so they don't get scattered in a
Object Snap Distance complex design.

Controls how close, in screen pixels, your cursor has to be to Select Imported Shapes
an object vertex or center to engage the object snapping
behavior. This permits LightBurn to automatically select the shapes
imported from a file in your editor to adjust and edit them as
Snap to Objects / Snap to Grid
needed without needing to manually select them.
LightBurn has two snapping behaviors which can be enabled
Import Hidden Layers from AI Files
and disabled here. Snap to Objects will snap your pointer
location to the nearest object center or vertex when creating When importing AI (Adobe Illustrator) files, you may want to
new objects, or drawing lines, making it easier to connect import layers hidden in the source file for construction,
and align shapes. Snap to Grid will snap your cursor position design, etc. for lasering.
to the nearest grid location, as specified by the Grid Snap
value. Note that the Grid Snap and the Visual Grid do not Allow Importing to Tool Layers
have to be the same.
Enable files to be imported directly to LightBurn's tool
Shape Move Increments layers.

When moving objects with the cursor keys in the edit Font Settings
window, these values control the distance to move the
Default Font
selection, when using the arrow keys by themselves or with
the Control or Shift modifiers. This is the font LightBurn will attempt to use for all blocks of
text made with the Create Text Tool.

Default Height

This is the default height (in millimeters) of text LightBurn

will attempt to make when using the Create Text Tool.

Set SHX Font Path

LightBurn allows the use of SHX fonts for single-line & quick
text to laser. LightBurn will attempt to load them from the
folder specified in this dialogue.

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particularly useful on lasers that don't have enclosures with

Info safety interlocks, such as most diode and galvo lasers.

It's suggested that this folder is placed in a location you can Save state of Move / Scale / Rotate switches
easily access, your Documents folder, where you store your
LightBurn projects, etc. It is not suggested this is stored This stores the state of the Move, Scale and Rotate switches
within the LightBurn application folder installed by default to persist across multiple uses.
at C:\Program Files\LightBurn\ .
Save Job Log

This instructs LightBurn to save which project file was run,

Enable Right-to-Left Text Support
on what laser profile, and at what time.
This allows LightBurn to render and utilize fonts for
Automatically check for updates
languages that are intended to be used right-to-left, such as
Urdu. This permits (or denies) LightBurn the ability to
automatically check for updates to itself, and inform you of
Selection double-click shows Text Edit dialog
them. This may be useful if your license is out of date and
If enabled, double clicking on a text object with the selection you want to hide the update notification.
tool active will open the text edit dialog. If disabled, or if the
Ignore out-of-bounds shapes if possible
text tool is active, double clicking will allow you to edit the
text directly in the main window. This instructs LightBurn to not send shapes outside your
DXF Import Settings work area to your laser, permitting use as a construction
area.
Units
Play error sound if file send fails
DXF files do not store the measurement system that was
used to create them. If you create an object that is 5 inches This produces an audible chime in the event uploading a file
wide, it might import as 5 mm wide, because LightBurn can to a DSP controller fails.
only see the '5'. Similarly, if your object was created in
Load default layer settings on new or restart
microns, it might import huge. Set this value as appropriate
before importing DXF files to ensure correct scaling. Colors normally start with their last used settings. If this
option is enabled, a new drawing will have a clean slate with
Auto Close Tolerance
default color settings for all layers. Default settings can be
DXF files are often saved as a collection of discrete pieces, updated using the "Make Default" Button in the Cut Settings
instead of continuous paths. The Auto-Close Tolerance value Editor. If this option is enabled, it may make sense to also
tells LightBurn to connect any lines or curves that are on the use Material Libraries to store layer settings and make them
same layer and closer together than this value. easy to reuse.

Other Settings Use Internal Load / External Load / Bypass Load

Auto Save Interval These settings permit you to use non-native system
dialogues to perform file/save/open operations with
You can set the frequency of your auto-save by adjusting the LightBurn. This can be useful to avoid crashing or hanging
value in minutes here. Setting the auto-save interval to 0 on certain programs modifying or using native dialogs.
disables the automatic backups.
Output Settings
Auto-launch files in running copy of LightBurn
Curve Tolerance
This toggle attempts to open any LightBurn project files
opened on your computer within a running copy of This setting is similar to the Curve Quality setting above,
LightBurn, rather than opening an additional copy of the except that it controls the quality of output to the laser.
program. Because it specifies the maximum amount of error allowed,
the lower the value, the more accurate the curve will be. A
Save Cut Selected / Selection Origin to Project value of 0 would be "perfect", but would create very dense
data, as some lasers can only process line segments. Most
This saves the cut selected and selection origin items to the
users will be fine leaving this at the default value of 0.05
file you're currently editing in, for any number of files.
mm.
Save Job Origin to project

This saves specific information about the origin of your job

to the project. One example of a potential use is a "custom
origin" when using a jig or fixture for your laser.

Ignore 'Start' button if monitor is off / asleep

This toggle prevents you from accidentally starting the laser

by presing the wrong key when waking the computer. This is

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Technical Details Primary Docs Settings UI

Device Settings

In the above image, the blue curve between the two points
The Device Settings window controls device-specific
is the ideal shape. The black line is a straight line between settings for your laser. To change these settings, select the
them, and the red line shows the error (how far the line is appropriate device in the Laser window and go to Edit →
from the curve). LightBurn measures this error, and if it's Device Settings. The settings for GCode and DSP devices
equal to or lower than the Curve Tolerance value, it outputs are described below. For Galvo devices, please see Galvo
the straight line. If not, the curve is subdivided into two Settings.
linear segments and the process repeats with each new
segment. Those segments are shown below in violet, along
with their new error values. You can see that the two new
lines do a much better job of approximating the original
curve.

Most people will probably never need to change this - the

default is 0.05 mm, which is about ½ the width of a typical
beam. Note that this is the maximum error value allowed,
typical output will be better than this, and this only affects
curves, not straight lines or vertices — which are exact.

The Device Settings window as seen with a GCode device.

The Device Settings window is split into several tabs, not all
of which will be available for all machines.

• Basic Settings contains the most commonly used

settings.
• GCode allows for modification of the GCode output for
GCode devices.
• Additional Settings controls the settings used for
simulating a preview and estimating time.
• Custom GCode allows for advanced GCode
customization when using the Custom GCode device
type.

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Basic Settings GCode Additional Settings Custom GCode

BASIC SETTINGS

This tab is available for all devices, and contains the most
commonly used settings.

Working Size

The maximum X (Width) and Y (Height) travel for your

laser. This affects the work area in LightBurn, but does not
affect the laser itself.

Origin

The location of your laser's Origin, or home. If this is set

incorrectly, the orientation of your laser's output will be
mirrored or inverted.

For help with troubleshooting your laser's Origin, please see

Troubleshooting: Wrong Orientation.

Laser Offset

If your laser has a red-dot pointer for framing, this setting

allows you to compensate for misalignment between the
pointer and the actual cutting location.

This setting defaults to disabled, but you can enable it to

shift the laser's output relative to the red dot. Expand the
box below for tips to calculate the offset.

Adjusting Laser Offset

1. Mark a location on a piece of material to use as a reference.

2. Make sure Start From in the Laser window is set to
Current Position, and line up the red dot with the location
you marked.
3. Burn a small dot or intersecting lines at this location. Make
sure you have an easily identified point at the Job Origin.
You may need to change the Job Origin setting in the Laser
window.
4. Measure the distance between the reference point you
originally marked and the actual point you engraved with
the laser to determine what offset you need, and enter
those values for X (horizontal offset) and Y (vertical offset).
5. Check that your adjustment is correct by repeating the
process.

Enable U Axis

Enable this setting to apply per-layer U Axis offsets. This is

not supported by all controllers.

Z Control

This section contains settings for your laser's Z axis, which

controls the distance between the laser and the workpiece.
The options available will vary depending on what laser
you're using.

Enable Z Axis

Enable this to allow LightBurn to control the Z axis of your

machine.

Warning

Enabling this setting means that LightBurn will always emit

Z values for a running job. If using this setting, you must
either enable Relative Z moves only or(C) setLightBurn
a Material
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height value in the Cuts / Layers window.

If you do not take either of these steps, the default

 5.5.2 Windows & Buttons

are typically set at the factory where your laser was

Primary Docs Settings UI
manufacturered or configured and it's best not to touch any
of these unless you really know what you are doing.

Machine Settings Beyond the parameters that you can change there are five
operations that can be taken with the buttons at the bottom
Many of the controllers supported by LightBurn have user of the dialog:
configurable device parameters and, in many cases, you can
edit those parameters directly from the Machine Settings WRITE

dialog in LightBurn. Notable exceptions are Smoothieware

Write all currently modified parameters back to the
and Marlin, which do not currently allow use of the Machine
controller. This must be clicked before you close the dialog
Settings dialog.
as the parameters are not sent to the controller as you
While connected to your machine you can go to Edit > change them, only after clicking the Write button.
Machine Settings and will be presented with the following READ
dialog (sometimes after a brief delay while the parameters
are read from the controller): This will reload the settings from the controller. Note that
any changes you made will be lost if you have not written
them to the controller first.

SAVE

Save the controller parameters to a .lbset file. This allows

you to backup your controller parameters so they can be
reloaded later in case of accidental change or loaded on
another machine which you would like to be configured in
the same way.

LOAD

Load a .lbset file and overwrite the current controller

parameters with its contents. Warning: this will overwrite
all parameters! Be sure to back up what you had first with
the Save option and only load parameters from a known
and trusted source!

In some cases your laser manufacturer will actually provide

this file for you, as a backup.

CALIBRATE AXIS

The content of this dialog will be different for every

controller type so we won't go through every option and
The Calibrate Axis tool is provided as a shortcut to getting
value here. The parameter names are intended to be
your machine axis movement distances dialed in and setting
relatively self-explainatory but if you do not understand what
the steps/mm parameter on your controller. Please note that
something does, definitely do not just go about changing it.
this is no replacement for knowing the true steps/mm value
Look in the documentation for your controller or search on
for your specific machine. You can read more on our steps/
the LightBurn Forums for more info.
mm page.
We would like to specifically call out the Vendor Settings
To use this tool, you will need to follow these steps:
section that will appear for Ruida controllers. These settings

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 5.5.2 Windows & Buttons

• Choose an axis to calibrate with the Calibration Axis • Back in the Calibrate Axis dialog, enter the measured
option. This will display the current steps/mm setting value into the Actual Distance field. This will show you
directly below. the newly calculated steps/mm value below.
• Choose a distance you want to move that axis as a test. • Finally, click on the Write button to persist this value to
200 mm, for example. Then enter that in the Requested the controller.
Distance field.
Note: It may require multiple iterations of these steps to
• Instruct your laser to move that distance. If you cannot do
dial everything in to an acceptable level of accuracy,
that from a built in control screen, you may have to back
especially with less accurate measuring tools. Though, the
out of Calibrate Axis and use the jogging functions on
larger the Requested Distance value, the easier it is to
the Move Window to move the selected distance.
measure the difference. Simply repeat the same steps, using
• Measure the actual distance moved in whatever way is the same requested distance each time. The new steps/mm
easiest for your particular machine, with the most value should continue to become more accurate the more
accurate measurement tool you have. Calipers or a ruller times you repeat this process.
with fine degredations would be best.

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Primary Docs Tools

5.5.3 Tools & Wizards

Primary Docs Tools Adjust Image Tool

LightBurn Tools & Wizards

This is a list of all the standard tools offered in LightBurn to

make your projects easier and to edit your designs more
directly.

IMAGES

• Image Adjustment
• Image Tracing
• Image Masking

ALIGNMENT & FIXTURING

• Center Finder
• Snapping Tool
• Docking Tool The Adjust Image tool is designed to greatly simplify the
process of tweaking image properties such as contrast,
• Cut Shapes
brightness, and gamma while also changing the engrave
EDITING & MEASURING settings. Best of all it allows you to instantly see the results
of these changes with both the image properties and
• Edit Nodes Tool
engrave settings applied.
• Measure Tool / Ruler
The Adjust Image tool can be accessed by selecting any
• Modifier Tools
single image, right clicking, and choosing the Adjust Image
• Two-Point Rotate option.
• Tab/Slot Resizer

GENERATORS & VARIABLES

• Material Test Generator

• QR Code Creator
• Variable Text
• Formatting

On the top left the original grayscale source image is

displayed. On the top right is the processed result of the
chosen settings. Just like in the main edit window, you can
use the mouse scroll wheel to zoom in and out on the image
and clicking and dragging to move the image around. The
source image and output image are kept in sync while
zooming and moving around.

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The most important setting here is the "Image Mode"

dropdown as it will allow you to choose from the various
image processing modes we have. Unlike changing this
setting from the Cut Settings Editor, you get to see what
that image mode looks like immediately, side-by-side with
the source image.

IMAGE SETTINGS

The Image Settings group on the right contains settings that

correspond directly to those found in the Image Shape
Properties panel. In the Adjust Image window, they're
provided as easy to use sliders, so that you can very quickly
LAYER SETTINGS tweak these values to get the desired result.

The Layer Settings group on the left contains settings that

correspond directly to those found in the Cut Settings Editor,
as highlighted below:

PRESETS

LightBurn offers two image presets within the Adjust Image

window, as well as the option to save your own frequently
used image settings as custom presets.

The Basic preset is a good starting point for your own

engravings or custom presets. The Black Paint on White is
similar, but inverted for engraving light marks onto dark
surfaces.

Save Image Preset

The first button next to the Presets dropdown allows you to

save your current settings as an image preset. You can
choose which layer and image settings are included in the
preset. Any settings not included won't be changed when
the preset is loaded.

When adjusting an image and changing these settings, it will

update those values on the cut layer currently used by the
image selected when you click the OK button. If you click
Cancel, nothing will be changed. It should be noted that
these settings will affect any image on the same layer.

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Tracing Images

LightBurn has a feature that will trace the outline of a

bitmap image and convert it to a vector graphic. This works
best for content that has very clear edges, like a silhouette
or a cartoon. It does not work very well for photographs,
though with some cleanup those may be usable as well.

We have an excellent tutorial video for this feature on our

YouTube channel here: Image Tracing Tutorial

To start, import an image object into LightBurn, select it,

then choose Tools -> Trace Image from the menu or press
⎇ Alt + T . You can also select an image, then right-click

and choose Trace Image from the pop-up menu.

Delete Image Preset

The second button allows you to delete presets. Make sure

the preset you want to delete is selected in the dropdown
first.

Export/Import Image Preset

The third and fourth buttons allow you to export and import
image presets, which is useful for backing up your presets
and for moving them between computers.

You'll be presented with the Trace Image dialog, with your

image showing in the window, like this:

In the image above, the purple lines are the vectors that
LightBurn has produced from the image being traced. If you
want to be able to see them more clearly, click the "Fade
Image" button, and the image will dim. You can also zoom
and pan using the same controls as the preview window
(mouse wheel to zoom, and click-drag the view with either
left or middle mouse).

CONTROLS

The preview window can be panned and zoomed just like the
edit window, using the middle mouse button to pan and the

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mouse wheel to zoom. Double-clicking the middle mouse The default Smoothness value of 1.0 is generally a good
button resets the view. starting point to produce smooth curves without losing sharp
corners.
Cutoff and Threshold
Optimize
The Cutoff slider controls the lower end of the range of
values that LightBurn will outline with vectors, and the After generating lines and curves, the image trace feature
Threshold slider sets the upper end. The default is 0 to will attempt to merge similar lines and curves together to
128, which traces around all values in the range of 0 to 128 reduce the node count of the result. The Optimize parameter
brightness, excluding lighter values in the range of 129 to controls how aggressive this is. 0 means no merging. The
255 brightness. default of 0.2 is a nice balance between accuracy of the
result and node count.
By adjusting these two controls, it is possible to trace around
a narrow range of the image. Fade Image

Dims the image to make it easier to see the resulting vector

shapes

Show Points
Selection Area
Enables the display of the points (nodes) of the resulting
By clicking and dragging within the trace window you can vector trace. Enabling this is useful when you are tuning the
specify a portion of the image you would like to trace. Once Optimize parameter to see the resulting points.
the area is defined, you can grab and drag a corner of it to
SKETCH TRACE
adjust, or just single-click to reset it.
Sketch trace is intended to help with tracing handwriting or
hand-drawn images, for instance tracing a recipe to engrave
onto a cutting board. Without this setting, the threshold
used to determine whether a pixel is filled or empty is
consistent across the entire image. With this setting
activated, LightBurn will consider its pixels neighbors more
heavily to compensate for inconsistencies in both lighting
and the darkness of the image you're tracing. You can see
more at this timestamp of our tracing video.

Ignore less than

This setting tells the tracing tool to ignore anything smaller

than this many pixels in area. If you are trying to trace a
noisy image, increasing this may help.

Smoothness

Image tracing determines how aggressively the trace tool

smooths out the shapes it generates. A value of 0.0 will
produce entirely straight lines, while the maximum value of
1.333 will make almost everything into curves.

The shape on the left was traced with a Smoothness of 0,

and produced a jagged result. The shape on the right was
traced with a Smoothness of 1.333, and produced overly soft
corners.

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 5.5.3 Tools & Wizards

Image Masking / Cropping

If you have an image for which you would like to only

engrave a portion of that image, you can use the Image
Mask feature to mask off the area of the image to be
engraved. At the simplest this is the same as doing a basic
crop to the image, but you can go so much further than that
with masking.

BASIC USAGE

At the simplest this process consists of an image and single,

simple shape:

Note: You cannot mask using a layer set to Fill, as the filled
output would cover the visible image. Any shape you wish to
use as a mask must be either a Tool layer, or set to Line
mode.

The mask will now be applied to the image as you can see
below:

As shown here, the shape is using a Tool Layer which can be

useful for this process as the masking shape will not also be
output. If you also need to cut along the mask then simply
use any of the normal tool layers for this process.

Now select both shapes. You can then apply a mask by

either selecting Tools > Apply Mask to Image or right
clicking on the selection and choosing Apply Mask to
Image.

As you can see in the above screenshot, the selection box is

still the same size as it was before. This is because the
entire image still exists, but the mask is providing a
windowed view into that image. If you select just the

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masking shape or the image, you can move it to reposition

the mask. Note

When using multiple shapes to mask an image, all shapes

must be on the same cut/tool layer and those shapes must
be grouped together. Otherwise the Apply Mask to Image
option will not be available._

No image data is lost during this process and you can still
reposition the image or mask even after saving and
reopening a project at a later time. However, as you can see
in the preview below, only that part of the image that was
masked off will be output:

But you can, of course, go far beyond that. Any closed shape
can be used as a mask and the easiest way to think about
how that mask is applied, is that anywhere LightBurn would
normally fill that closed shape in Fill Mode will now be
"filled" with the image instead. For example:

ADVANCED USAGE

What we've shown above amounts to merely an advance

crop feature but image masking can go much further. For
example, you can mask an image using multiple shapes.

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 5.5.3 Tools & Wizards

Just remember that you must group together all shapes to

be used as a mask first.

Removing a Mask

If you would like to remove the masking you can either

simply select, then delete the mask shape or shape group,
or you can select the image, right click, and choose
Remove Mask from Image:

Using the Remove Mask from Image option will preserve

the mask shape (or shape group) for later use.

Flattening a Mask

Finally, if you would like to "bake in" an image mask, you can
select the image, right click and choose Flatten Image
Mask. This will make the mask permanent, actually
removing the now unused image data as well as deleting the
image mask shape. As you can see below, the selection box
is now smaller and the mask shape is now gone:

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Primary Docs Tools

Center Finder

The Center Finder is available in the Laser Tools menu. It

is useful for finding the center of circular stock, as well as
defining that stock in your LightBurn workspace.

First Steps

• Home your machine.

• If your machine does not have homing switches, make
sure to start the machine with the laser head at the 0,0
point of your work space — that is typically the lower left
corner for GCode-based devices.
• If the stock you are referencing is light or can be moved
easily, make sure to secure it so it does not get bumped
during the operations.

Set the Points

Point 1

Jog the laser head to the first position on the edge of your
circle, as shown in the wizard.
Point 2
Note: you must jog the laser head with the laser control
Jog the laser head to the next position on the edge of your
panel or from the Move window. Center Finder will not work
circle, as shown in the wizard.
if you move the laser head by hand.

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 5.5.3 Tools & Wizards

Point 3

Jog the laser head to the last position on the edge of your
circle, as shown in the wizard. Align to Center

Move to Center

The last step will show you the calculated center of your
circle and allow you to jog to that point.

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Set Origin

Absolute Coordinates

If you use Absolute Coordinates for your workflow, move

your design to the guide circle, and make sure your Start
From mode is set to Absolute Coords.

User Origin — Center

If you use User Origin make sure the center radio button is
selected as Job Origin.

After you move the laser to the center of your stock, press
the Origin button on your DSP control panel or the Set
Origin Button in the Move window.

Notes

• The accuracy of the Center Finder depends on the

accuracy of your point placement. If you have a red dot
laser that is accurate, one trick is to try to split the dot on
Create Guide Circle the edges of your stock.

Toggle on Add Guide Circle to Project to create a circle on • You can set the points in any order, and they do not need
the T1 Tool Layer that will provide a representation of your to be positioned exactly as shown in the reference photos
stock in your LightBurn workspace. — they need only be far enough apart from one another
along the perimeter of the shape that they are valid for
calculating the center. The reference photos are meant as
guidelines for acceptable distance.
• This tool can find the center of any shape that can be
described with a circle diameter:

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 5.5.3 Tools & Wizards

• Squares (pick 3 corners) If the warning persists, make sure the controller is still
connected and is showing Ready at the top of the Laser
window. If you are unable to connect, see Troubleshooting:
Connection Problems.

Not enough separation between points

You have not moved the laser away from the last point or
have not moved it far enough to make an acceptable
calculation. Try moving farther away and setting the point
• Equilateral Triangles again. You must jog the laser using its control panel or the
Move window, and not by hand.

Unable to Calculate Center

• Hexagons LightBurn can't calculate center, or it would be outside your

workspace. This typically happens on machines without
homing switches that were not manually homed properly.
Restart your machine with the head at your machine origin
and try to run the wizard again.

Troubleshooting

Set a Point Incorrectly

Hit the Reset Button. This will clear all points saved. After,
restart from the current point. You can set the points in any
order.

Unable to query the current position of the laser

This happens when LightBurn is unable to get the position of

the laser from the controller. Often, the laser is still moving,
or another command is still in process. Click OK, and try
again after waiting a few seconds.

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Primary Docs Tools

Snapping Tool

When moving objects around the work area, you may notice
that on certain points your cursor changes to a different Docking Tool
icon. This allows you to use that point to snap a moving
shape to another. The Docking tool can be used to bring your objects closer
together in your workspace, to allow for more efficient use of
your space.

Each of the Docking buttons will tell your selected objects to

move in that direction, until they hit something.

SNAPPING BEHAVIORS

LightBurn will automatically align your selection to snapping

points if you see the cursor change to a snap cursor before
you click:

- The selection will snap to a point

- The selection will snap to a line

- The selection will snap to the midpoint of a line

- The selection will snap to the center of an object

Hold ⌃ Ctrl or ⌘ Cmd to toggle object snapping (Disable by

default, may be enable if Settings were changed).

Hold Alt to make snapping 'stickier' - you can snap to things

from farther away.

By default, the Docking tool will move all selected objects,

as far as they will go.

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Grouped objects will move together, so if any of them stop,

the whole group will stop.

If no other objects are hit, the edge of the workspace will be

used.

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ADDITIONAL OPTIONS

The Docking tool comes with a few extra features to change

how it works. These options can be found next to the
Docking buttons:

Move as group

The Move as group setting treats separate objects as if they

were grouped.

Lock inner objects

The Lock inner objects setting keeps objects inside other

objects together.

When this setting is Off, the inner objects will continue to

This means that they will only move until one of the objects
move, even when the outer object has stopped.
stops, and the rest of the selected objects will also stop.

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When turned on, the setting will keep the inner objects with Note that this does not affect objects that are overlapping;
the surrounding object. in this case, the objects will each move independently,
finding their own object to dock against (unless you use the
Move as Group option above).

Padding

The Padding setting allows you to specify a distance that will

be maintained between objects that are docked.

By default, this value is 0.0, which means that objects will

dock right against each other.

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By increasing this value, you can have objects leave some

Note that the Padding is only applied in the direction the
space when they meet.
objects are docking - it won't be enforced in the other
directions.

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You can fix that extra padding by moving the objects away,
then back:

The units for the Padding tool (in / mm) are the same as
other tools, such as the Numeric Edits tool.

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Taper Warp
Edit Nodes Tool
Available in LightBurn 1.5 and higher

The Taper Warp Tool assists in rotary engravings on

tapered objects by compensating for the difference in The Edit Nodes tool allows you to edit the nodes, lines, and
diameter between the top and the bottom. curves that make up a shape in LightBurn. Note that built-in
primitives in LightBurn, like Text, Ellipses and Rectangles,
cannot be edited without converting them to a generic path
object first using Convert to Path.

NODE EDIT

Action Windows / macOS Notes

Linux

Smooth S S while
corner hovering
node over a
node

Convert S S while
line to hovering
smooth over a line
The Taper Warp dialog box curve

USING TAPER WARP Convert L L while

curve to hovering
1. Select which side of the artwork is at the top of the object line over a
2. Measure the diameter of the top of the object curve

3. Measure the diameter of the bottom of the object Convert C C while

4. Measure the distance between top and bottom smooth hovering
node to over a
5. Enter measurements into the dialog box and press OK corner node
RESULTS
Delete D D while
node hovering
over a
node

Delete D D while
line hovering
over a line

Insert I I while
node hovering
point over a line
or curve

Insert M M while
node at hovering
midpoint over a line
The orange tool layers represent the text and its boundaries
or curve
before being altered by Taper Warp
Break B B while
shape at hovering
point over a
point

Trim line T T while

hovering
over a line,
trim line
under
mouse at
next
intersection

E E while
hovering

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Action Windows / macOS Notes Primary Docs Tools

Linux
Extend over a
line point,
extend line
from point Measure Tool
under
With the measurement tool you can view a wide array of
mouse to
useful information about any shape object. To use this tool,
intersection
click on the ruler icon in the Creation Tools toolbar. ( ⎇ Alt
with
another + M )
shape

Align to A A while
angle hovering
over a line,
press 'A' to It will display the following dialog:
align it to
the nearest
horizontal,
vertical, or
45° angle
(new in
v1.3)

Video Tutorial: Trim and Extend

SNAPPING

Note that in all of the above tools, when creating a new

shape, you will occasionally see the cursor change if you
hover over a point on an existing shape. This means
LightBurn is going to snap what you're about to make to that As you hover the cursor over shapes, individual shapes are
point. You can bypass this behavior by pressing the Ctrl key highlighted in green and the line or curve segment the
(Command on MacOS). LightBurn will snap to object centers, cursor is currently hovering over is highlighted in purple, as
end points of lines or curves, or center point of lines or shown on the right edge of the first M below:
curves, in addition to just snapping to the grid.

PATHS AND SHAPES - CONVERT TO PATH

In LightBurn, all vector objects are stored as paths - a series

of points connected by lines or curves. If you use the Draw
Lines tool, you are directly creating what LightBurn calls a
Path shape. Path shapes are the "lowest level" thing you can
make in LightBurn.

Rectangles, Circles, Polygons, and Text shapes are different -

They store the information used to build the path, and if any
of that information changes, the path is discarded an re-built
from scratch.

For example, Rectangle shapes know their Width, Height,

and whether the corners have a radius. If you edit the
'Corner Radius' property on a rectangle shape, the path that The measurement dialog describes the highlighted shape. A
LightBurn has built is thrown away, and a new one with the brief explanation of the values included:
new radius is created. Similarly, if you change the font
applied to a text shape, the old version of it is discarded and Value Explanation
a new one is built using the new font.
Nodes Number of nodes (end points of line
If you want to node edit a shape, it has to be a path shape - segments and curves)
using the Convert to Path function in LightBurn on a built-in
Lines Number of straight lines
shape type tells LightBurn to turn it into an editable thing
that is just points and curves, and that it's ok to throw away Curves Number of arcs or Bézier curves
the information about the original type of thing it was.
Perimeter Total length of all line/curve
Length segments

Closed/Open Whether or not the shape is closed

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Value Explanation works for any two points, regardless of whether any shapes
exist.
Area The total area of the shape. Empty
for open shapes LightBurn 1.5+: Starting in LightBurn 1.5, holding down
⇧ Shift and dragging with the Measure Tool locks the
Segment Length of the highlighted line/curve
measurement to horizontal, vertical, and 45 degree angles.
Length segment

Start Point X, Y coordinate of the start node of

the highlighted segment

End Point X, Y coordinate of the end node of

the highlighted segment

Difference Difference in X and Y between the

start and end nodes

Angle Angle of the line between the start

and end points

Arc Radius Radius of the arc, if the curve is a Dragging with axis snapping
true circular arc. Empty otherwise

Arc Center Center point of the arc, if the curve

is a true circular arc. Empty
otherwise

Below you can see further examples of the state of the

measurement tool dialog, based on the type of segment
being measured.

DRAG MEASURE

If you need to measure the distance between two points,

you can click and drag between any two points and get the
above information. You can select an existing node, but this

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Primary Docs Tools UI

Modifier Tools

The modifier tools, as the name suggests, are primarily used The offset tool remembers the last set of options you used,
to modify existing shapes. and if you hold the Ctrl key when you click the offset button,
it will perform the offset operation using the previous
The tools are:
settings, without bringing up the dialog.
• Modifier Tools
• Offset
WELD
• Weld
• Boolean Hotkey = Ctrl/⌘ + W

• Boolean Assistant Clicking on the Weld icon will join all the selected shapes
• Boolean Union into a single entity that is the outline of all the selected
shapes. Note that Weld requires closed shapes, but will
• Boolean Subtract
accept any number of inputs. If you weld something and the
• Boolean Intersection middle content disappears, try Boolean Union instead.
• Video Walkthrough of the Boolean Operations
BOOLEAN
• Arrays
The Boolean tools are used to combine shapes into more
• Grid Array
complex shapes. The three different Boolean operations are
• Circular Array Tool shown here:
• Virtual Arrays
• Start Point Editor
• Radius Tool
• Add a Radius
• Remove or Change a Radius
• Troubleshooting Radii
• Warp and Deform (version 1.4+)
• Warp Selection
• Deform Selection

OFFSET
• Union keeps the area covered by either shape - it merges
Hotkey = Alt + O them.
• Difference is the 2nd shape removed from the first.
The offset tool is used to create outlines around existing
shapes, either inward or outward, offset from the original by • Intersection keeps the area covered by both shapes.
a given amount. We use the offset tool in the 'Making a
Boolean tools require exactly two shapes or two groups of
Simple Project' topic, so that's a great introduction.
shapes. Weld can be used on any number of shapes, and
can often be used as an alternative to repeated Boolean
Union operations. Otherwise, you'll need to perform multiple
Boolean operations to combine more than two shapes.

All shapes used with the Boolean tools must be closed

shapes, meaning continuous loops whose starting and
ending points are the same.

Boolean Assistant

The corner style option chooses how outward corners are

Hotkey = Ctrl/⌘ + B
offset:
Because it can be hard to remember which operation (or
which order) is going to do the thing you want, we've added

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a new Boolean Helper that will let you preview each of the includes options to adjust spacing, to shift odd rows, mirror
Boolean operations before deciding on one. the shapes, and more.

Click any of the first 4 buttons to see what that operation

will look like, or click the 'Reset' button to see the original
shapes. If your design is not complex, hovering over the
buttons will also work. When you see the result you want,
click the 'Ok' button to keep it, or click 'Cancel' to revert.

Boolean Union The X and Y columns settings let you specify how many
copies of your shape to make in each direction.
Boolean Union is similar to weld, but works with 2 selected
objects only. However these selected objects can actually be Total Width and Total Height are convenience options that
grouped items, not just a single vector shape. allow you to tell it the maximum size to occupy/ It will set
the X Columns and Y Rows values to whatever is necessary
to fill the specified size without going over, based on the
Boolean Subtract other provided settings.

Hotkey = Alt + - Spacing can be specified between edges (how much padding
between shapes) or between centers (absolute object
Boolean Subtract (also called Boolean Difference) will spacing).
remove the area that the second selected shape overlaps
the first shape by. The order in which you select shapes will Column and Row Shift values let you offset alternate
determine the outcome. This tool also works with grouped columns or rows, and you can mirror them as well, allowing
items. If you end up subtracting the items in the wrong you to more efficiently pack oddly shaped items together,
order, Undo, then perform the operation again — the undo like this:
switches the order of the items, so a simple Undo and click-
again of of the Subtract button is a quick fix.

Boolean Intersection

Hotkey = Alt + *

Boolean Intersection creates a new shape from the

overlapping areas of two selected shapes.

Video Walkthrough of the Boolean Operations

Click for a Boolean demonstration video

Circular Array Tool
The above video describes in more detail how the various
Boolean operations differ, and why welding text to a circle The Radial Array (or circular array) tool lets you create
should be done with a Boolean Union instead. copies of a shape (or shapes) around a central point. This is
useful for creating ornamental patterns, clock faces, and
ARRAYS
more.
Arrays allow you to make regularly spaced copies of a
shape. LightBurn offers both grid and circular arrays.

Grid Array

The Grid Array tool allows you to copy a shape (or shapes)
with regular spacing horizontally, vertically, or both, and

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Note that these virtual shapes are not selectable and will
always be laid out based on the array options you provided.
However, any changes made to the original shapes are
automatically reflected in the array.

You can manually enter the point of rotation, but it's much
simpler to create a shape to use as the center point, and
select that shape last. The created copies can be rotated or
not - Numbers on a clock, for example, are often left upright
for readability, but roman numerals are usually rotated.
Beyond just altering the original shapes, there are many
operations that can be done after the fact to virtual arrays,
all of which are available from the shape context menu. This
menu is available from any shape that is currently part of a
virtual array. You do not have to select all shapes in that
array first.

In the above example, the small center circle was selected

last, and the 'Use last selected object position as center'
option is chosen, along with 'Rotate object copies' to
produce the pattern.

Virtual Arrays

There is also a Virtual Array option that can be selected by

checking "Create Virtual Array" at the bottom of the Grid
Array dialog. Instead of making copies of the original
shapes, this will generate virtual clones of the original that
stay synced at all times. When using a virtual array, the
virtual clones will render with a dashed outline and muted fill
color to denote they are virtual:

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animates in. In the Optimization Settings, if you tell

LightBurn to choose the best starting point or best direction,
it can choose a different point than the default if it will
reduce cutting time. The Start Point editor lets you force the
starting point and direction.

With a shape selected, click the 'Start Point' tool and you'll
see the starting point and direction indicated by an arrow. If
the arrow is gray, it means this shape is displaying the
default point and direction, but it is not forced. If you click
any node on the shape, the arrow will move there, and turn
blue, indicating that the user has chosen this as the starting
point and direction.

Holding Shift and clicking a point will choose the opposite

direction, and holding Ctrl and clicking the shape will clear
the starting point back to the default.

RADIUS TOOL

The Radius Tool can be used to fillet (round over) sharp

corners, take a round bite out of a corner (using a negative
radius value), or remove a radius from a corner.

It also allows you to remove radiuses from corners, turning

them into sharp points.

• Edit Array: Display the "Create Grid Array" dialog again,

but for this existing array. This allows you to modify any of
the parameters and even convert it back into a normal
array, by unchecking "Create Virtual Array".
• Duplicate Array: Virtual arrays cannot be selected
directly, only the shapes included in them. So this allows
you to duplicate an entire virtual array and all of the
shapes in it. Fillets have all kinds of applications, and they can be
• Flatten Array: Convert the virtual array into a standard combined to form more complex shapes.
array where all shapes are separate copies and no longer
synced to the original shapes.
• Remove from Array: Remove the currently selected
shape(s) from the virtual array.
• Add to Array: Add any currently selected shapes not in
the virtual array to the array. Note, you must select at
least one shape that is in a virtual array and one shape
that is not in a virtual array currently.

START POINT EDITOR

The Start Point edit tool lets you tell LightBurn where to start
cutting a shape, and in which direction. By default, the
starting point is the first point of the shape, and the
direction will be the direction that the selection marquee

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Remove or Change a Radius

As of release 1.3, you can use the radius tool to delete

rounded corners (returning them to a sharp one) by clicking
on them. This even works on imported designs that were
made in different software, as long as the software exported
actual arcs.

After removing a radius you can then apply a differently-

sized one to the corner, as normal.
Add a Radius

1. Click the radius tool

2. Set the radius value
3. Select the object you want to modify
4. Click on a corner to apply the radius

Troubleshooting Radii

Radii can only be applied where there is room for the radius
to be applied.

LightBurn 1.5 and later support applying a radius where

curved (Bézier) lines meet, but earlier versions can only
apply a radius to a corner where straight lines come
If you change the radius to a negative number it takes a
together.
fancy little bite out of the corner.

LightBurn 1.5+ Starting in LightBurn 1.5, rectangles have

an additional handle available that acts as a shortcut for the
Radius Tool. Drag the blue handle away from the corner to
increase the radius of all four corners, and drag toward the
corner to decrease the radius. Dragging vertically creates a
reversed radius, with a bite taken out of the corner.

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If that still isn't working, check that the connected lines are
straight. It's possible for lines that appear straight to be
curves, especially in imported files. Select the Edit Nodes
Tool, hover over the line either side of your corner and hit
L on your keyboard.

If a radius still can't be applied it might be because the two

lines that make up the corner aren't actually joined at that
point. To check, move the corner using the Edit Nodes Tool, if
it splits off into two lines, bring the one you moved back
toward the other so that they snap together and join, and
then try the radius again.

If you are having trouble converting a rounded corner back

into a sharp one, it could be because there is not a true arc
Using the Radius Tool with curved lines
at the corner. This is most common with imported shapes,
When the radius tool is active, the icon changes as you because some programs export arcs as a series of tiny lines.
hover over a corner to indicate whether the radius tool can You can try repairing these with Optimize Selected Shapes.
be used.
To exit the radius tool, hit ⎋ Esc on your keyboard.

Icon Meaning WARP AND DEFORM (VERSION 1.4+)

Click to fillet corner You can find both Warp Selection and Deform Selection
under the Tools menu. Both tools can be used on single or
multiple objects by selecting the objects and then selecting
Click to remove fillet the tool. You can modify text, shapes, or images by dragging
the handles.

While using warp and deform:

Can't fillet - corner is next to a
curve
• Double-click on a handle to reset it.
• Hold ⇧ Shift while dragging a handle for horizontal
Can't fillet - not enough space
symmetry.
• Hold ⎇ Alt or ⌥ Option while dragging a handle for
vertical symmetry.
If the cursor isn't appearing as you hover over a corner,
Warp Selection
make sure you've selected the radius tool in the Creation
Tools. The Radius icon should be highlighted. Also check that Warp Selection uses four handles, one at each corner.
you have selected the object you wish to edit by clicking on
it.

Deform Selection

Deform Selection uses 16 handles, arranged in a 4x4 grid.

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Editing Primary Docs Tools UI

Two-Point Rotate and Scale

This feature allows you to rotate an object around a pivot

You can grab and drag the blue dots at the corners and point.
intersections of the grid to deform the shape. See the
animation below for examples. HOW TO USE

First, select the object you want to rotate.

Then, click the "Two-Point Rotate / Scale" button in the

"Arrange" menu (or ⌃ Ctrl + 2 ) to start the use of the
tool.

In the bottom right corner of the window, LightBurn will ask

you to select the first point (the center of rotation). Click on
a point in the editing area to do this.

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If the point you're selecting is a corner point, the mouse

cursor will change to a crosshair. This can help if you're
trying to rotate around a very specific point.

After confirming your first point, the instructions in the

bottom right corner will update to ask you to select the
second point. Your cursor will also change.

By clicking and dragging you can rotate the shape, and

LightBurn will give you a preview as you move your mouse.
Holding down ⇧ Shift will allow you to simultaneously scale
the shape.

Release the mouse to apply the rotation (and scale, if used).

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Slot & Tab Resizer SETTINGS

This feature is available in LightBurn 1.3 and higher.

ABOUT

Info

This is a separate tool from the tabs/bridges tool, which can

be used to leave a part connected to the material it is being
cut from so it doesn't fall out immediately.

Have you ever wanted to use a jointed design that was

made for a different thickness of material, or wanted to cut
it at a different size/scale, but the thought of manually fixing
all the joints is painful?

The Resize Slots tool searches for slots or tabs of a specific • Old Material Thickness: The current length of the lines
size, and let you choose a new size for them to be, taking a you want to adjust.
lot of the hard work out of it! • New Material Thickness: The length you want to adjust
the lines to.
• Tolerance: Allows you to 'fuzz' the Old Material Thickness
slightly. This helps if the lines vary slightly in length. It
also allows you to put in the measurement of the material
the part was designed for, and use the tolerance to allow
for any kerf offsets built into the existing design.
• Adjust Slot Depth: Adjust the bottom/innermost line of
the slot. This allows you to keep the outer size of the
assembled piece the same.
• Adjust Slot Width: Adjust the sides of the slot. This
would typically be used when the slots are meant to
intersect on the interior of a laser cut piece instead of on
the corners, like boxes.py's tray insert
• Adjust Tab Height: Adjust the top/outermost line of the
USAGE
tab. This allows you to keep the interior size of the
assembled piece the same, while making it bigger or
This tool currently works on two main forms of geometry: smaller on the outside.

• Slots, like those found in 3D puzzles or partitions in trays, TROUBLESHOOTING

somewhat similar to a traditional halved joint or dado.
• The tool doesn't yet work on internal slots/ cutouts/
• Tabs, like a tenon or the fingers in a box joint, usually mortises as it's tricky for the computer to determine which
found in boxes and drawers. direction they should grow/shrink.
STEPS • The tool searches ungrouped objects. If it's not
recognizing the tabs or slots in your design, try
1. You'll need to know the length of the lines you want to adjust. ungrouping your objects.
You can use the Measurement Tool to find it if you are unsure.
• The tool only works on sharp (not filleted/rounded)
2. Ungroup your shapes if necessary. Then select your objects corners. Some tools (like boxes.py) default to adding small
and click Tools → Resize Slots in Selection. loops on internal corners and small filets/rounded corners
3. The tool searches for tabs or slots within the selected objects, on external ones. The external filets ones can be removed
and then searches within that geometry for lines with the using the Radius Tool and the internal loops can be
length you specify in Old Material Thickness. Any slots or removed using the Offset tool set to 0.
tabs identified by the tool are highlighted in red. The lines that • The tool requires well-formed shapes as an input. If the
will move are highlighted in blue and shown with an arrow shape has extra nodes, or if any of the lines are
indicating the direction and distance they will move. technically curves (even if they're straight), it will interfere
4. Click the 'OK' button to confirm. with slot/tab detection. The highlighted sections in the
image below show examples of problematic shapes. You
can use optimize selected shapes to try to repair these
shapes.

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Primary Docs UI

Material Test

ABOUT THE MATERIAL TEST GENERATOR

LightBurn has a built-in test pattern generator to help you

find the best settings for your laser and material
combination. You can find it in the LightBurn menus by going
to Laser Tools → Material Test.

Video guide to using the Material Test Generator

MATERIAL TEST EXAMPLE

A material test showing different speeds and powers on black

anodized aluminum

On the left side, each row is labeled with the engraving

speed. Along the bottom, columns are labeled with the
power level used. At the top, the sample shows additional
relevant settings—in this case, Interval, Passes, and
Frequency.

USING THE MATERIAL TEST GENERATOR

The Material Test dialog as it appears for a DSP laser

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After opening the Material Test Generator, you'll be able to Laser Explanation
configure your test pattern. By default, the Material Test Controls
Generator will create a 10x10 grid of boxes with varying
Power and Speed. Use the Params dropdown if you wish Stop Stop running the material test
to change which values are changed in the test.
Save RD File/ Device-dependent—if available,
Test Configuration Save GCode saves the test grid in RD or
GCode format
The settings below will enable you to configure your test
grid. The parameters tested can be Power, Speed, SAVING AND EXPORTING
Interval, Passes, or Frequency. Q-Pulse can also be
tested, if using a galvo laser with the appropriate source. At the top are buttons allowing you to save, delete, export,
and import presets. There is also a dropdown allowing you to
Test Grid Explanation select a saved preset. This is useful if you have custom
Settings settings you like to run frequently, for instance a smaller test
pattern you want to use on metal tags or a range of settings
Count How many rectangles are in each you want to test on different woods.
row/column
To locate the presets saved on your computer, go to File →
Param The setting being tested along
Open Prefs Folder. You'll find the
this axis
material_test_presets.lbmt file inside the presets folder.
Min The lowest value to be used for
this setting

Max The highest value to be used for

this setting

Height/Width The height/width of each

rectangle in the test grid

Y Center/X The position of the center of the

Center test grid

Cut Settings

The three buttons at the bottom of the dialog box open the
Cut Settings Editor for you to adjust the settings to use in
your test.

Button Explanation

Edit Base settings for the test—the two

Material settings chosen in Param will be
Setting varied in the grid, but other settings
will be left unchanged

Edit Text Settings to use for the text labels

Setting

Edit Settings to use for the border around

Border the shape—available in LightBurn 1.5
Setting and higher

Running The Test

The buttons on the right side allow you to preview the test
grid, adjust location, and run the laser.

Laser Explanation
Controls

Preview Generate a preview of the test

grid

Frame Frame the test grid to see its

position on the material

Start Start running the material test

Pause Pause the material test

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with the appropriate interval. If you aren't familiar with the

Primary Docs UI
Material Library, you might want to give it a try - not having
to figure out optimal settings every time saves a lot of time
and effort.
Interval Test Tool
INTERVAL TEST SETTINGS

ABOUT INTERVAL SETTINGS

Finding an appropriate interval setting is an important part

of optimizing your engraving quality. The interval refers to
the distance between lines when raster engraving.

Speed and Power

The speed and power to use for all the swatches. If you've
already run a speed and power test with our Material Test
tool (see video on YouTube), you can go with those settings.
Otherwise, your laser manufacturer likely has recommended
Diagram of the effect of interval spacing on engravings settings available to use as a starting point.
If your interval setting is too high, you'll need more power to Min and Max Interval
achieve the same burn, and you may see gaps between the
lines. You may also see stepping on curved edges. The lowest and highest interval settings to use for the test.
For most CO2 and Diode lasers, using an interval below 0.1
Appropriate interval settings will give you a darker, deeper mm is unnecessary.
engraving with cleaner edges.
Steps
Lowering your interval settings too far will increase your
engraving time, with minimal increase in engraving quality. How many sample squares to create. Reducing this will
reduce the material needed, but will also result in larger
USING THE INTERVAL TEST TOOL differences between each test square.

Every type of machine and material will process differently, Size

so the Interval Test is a quick way to determine appropriate
settings for a given combination of machine and material. The size of the sample square. Reducing this will reduce the
material needed, but may make the results harder to read.
After running the Interval Test, look at your test squares
Simple Fill or Dithered Image
closely with good lighting. You'll want to look for an etch in
which you don't see defined lines between the passes (too Simple Fill will generate squares with a solid black fill.
high an interval) and passes don't appear to overlap (too low Dithered Image will fill the square with a dithered gradient
an interval). This can vary significantly between materials. to help you see what your gradients will look like when
See the video above for visual examples. photo engraving.

1. Place a scrap piece of the material you're testing into your

laser, and adjust your focus appropriately.
2. Figure out how much material you have available for the
interval test. The default settings for the material test will
produce a test grid about 150 mm long and 50 mm tall. You
may need to run multiple tests, so keep that in mind.
3. Adjust your settings.
4. Preview the test to make sure the output is what you expect.
5. Frame the test to make sure it's placed and sized appropriately
for the material
6. Press start to run the test.

If you're using the Material Library to save and apply cut

settings, don't forget to create or update a material preset

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QR Code Generation

QR Codes are square 2D barcodes that can be scanned by a

mobile device with a camera. They are able to store and
convey a wide variety of information, such as simple text, a
URL, or even WiFi access information, such as the example
shown below.

With the QR tool selected, click and drag in the Edit Window
where it will show a square being drawn, this will be the
initial size of your QR Code. Once you release the mouse
button, you will be shown the QR Code Properties dialog.

Most modern mobile devices with a camera include some

sort of built in QR code scanning ability, often direct from
the stock camera application. Simply point the camera at
the code and it will recognize it and provide a prompt to
proceed with whatever information is contained. If this does
not work, check the documentation for your specific device.
In some cases, you may need to download a barcode
scanning application.

USAGE

LightBurn can easily generate QR Codes for you using the

QR Code tool. Navigate to the Tools Menu and then select
Create QR Code as shown below.

From here there are 3 main options for QR code content:

• Raw content: typically plain text or URLs

• WIFI: Creates a WiFi access point configuration code for
mobile devices.
• Contact: Creates a "Contact Card" code which will load
contact info into your mobile device's contacts.

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As you enter QR Code content you will see the QR code in

the edit window update in realtime. The more content you
add, the smaller the sub-squares will become to fit all of that
data. You can always scale the size of the QR Code after the
fact, if needed.

Note that you may also edit an existing QR code object by

selecting it, right clicking, and choosing the Edit QR Code
option. This will bring up the same QR Code Properties dialog
as before with all the information filled in.

WiFi

With with WIFI tab you can create a barcode that, when
scanned, will allow that mobile device to automatically
contect to a WiFi access point with all of the connection
informtation provided.

Raw Content

This is the simplest and most flexible option as it allows you

to enter any text you would like. At the simplest this is just
basic plain text or a URL. But there are a wide variety of
other options supported by many mobile devices such as
email addresses, phone numbers, geo-location information,
and more. There is a great list explaining the options and
how the text must be formated on the zxing barcode
scanner documentation.

The input options are:

• Network name / SSID: The configured name of the access

point

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• Password: The WEP or PSK password for the network if one

is required (see Authentication type below)
• Hidden network: When checked this specifies that the
SSID of the network to connect to is not broadcast publicly
and that the mobile device should act accordingly.
• Authentication type: Choose from WPA/WPA2, WEP, or
None. Typically most modern access points use WPA2.
Check the configuration on your access point if you are
unsure.

Once you've entered the WiFi access point information the

content under the Raw Content tab will automatically be
updated to reflect the WiFi configuration. As shown below:

Just like with the WiFi tab, once infomation is entered on the
Contacts tab, if you go back to the Raw Content tab you will
see the raw contact card shown, which in this case is in the
"MECARD" format.

The WiFi raw content format is described in more detail in

the zxing barcode documentation.

Contact

With the Contact tab you can create barcodes that contain
contact information which can then be automatically loaded
into a mobile device's contacts storage.

CUT SETTINGS

Because of the way QR Codes work it's assumed that there

is a high amount of contrast between the light and dark
sections of the barcode. Most importantly the dark sections
must be completely filled so you should be sure to use the
"Fill" mode on the cut layer being used for the QR Code. If in
LightBurn you see the QR Code render as shown below, that
means you either are not using "Fill" mode on that cut layer
or filled rendering is turned off.

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Once in "Fill" mode, be sure to set an appropriate power

level for the material you are using in order to provide
sufficient contrast between the fill engraved areas and the
base material similar to what you see below:

You can enable filled rendering from the Window menu by

choose Filled / Coarse or Filled / Smooth

If you would rather not enable filled rendering in the edit

window, you can also see a preview of what the filled QR
code will look like by launching the cut Preview. You will, of
course, still need to have the QR code on a "Fill" mode cut
layer.

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 5.5.3 Tools & Wizards

advance ahead when you click the Next or Previous buttons,

Variable Text or when it automatically advances to the next page for you.

Primary Docs Text & Fonts Tools The buttons on the right are for:

Previous: Go to the previous page of values (decrements

VARIABLE TEXT IN LIGHTBURN the Current entry by the 'Advance by' amount)
Variable text is a feature that allows you to use special Next: Go to the next page of values (increments the Current
codes in your text entries that will be substituted for entry by the 'Advance by' amount)
something else when you send the data to the laser (or the
preview). Variable text can be used for: Test: Displays the text that will be output, for as long as the
button is pressed.
• Date or time stamps
• Serial numbers Reset: Resets the Current value to the Start value

• Displaying cut settings Auto-Advance: When this switch is enabled, each time you
• Merging a CSV file into your designs press one of the Start, Send, Save GCode (GCode devices
only), or Save RD File (DSP devices only) buttons in the
In all of these cases, the text in LightBurn is set to one of the Laser window, LightBurn will automatically advance the
dynamic text modes, and the text entered is used to tell Current value by the 'Advance by' amount. If you are
LightBurn what you want it to display. You select the text running a large batch of parts, names, serial numbers, etc,
mode like this: each time you send a job to the laser the software will
advance to the next batch.

Text objects within LightBurn have a property called Offset.

This value is added to the current variable text index when
evaluating the text object. This allows you to have text
With the mode selected, you enter one of the special codes objects on your design that display different serial numbers,
for that mode, and when you preview, save, or send the file or different rows from the CSV file.
to the laser, LightBurn will replace the text with the desired
output.

The different formatting codes are listed here: Variable Text

Formats

Variable Text Manager If you created a design with 4 name tag labels on the page,
you would set the Variable Offset value for each of the four
If using serial numbers or a CSV file, you have additional
labels to 0, 1, 2, and 3, and tell the Variable Text manager to
controls, available in the Variable Text window in LightBurn,
advance by 4 with each run.
shown below:
Automatic Arrays

When copying a text shape using Grid Array, Circle Array, or

Copy Along Path, LightBurn can automatically advance the
'Offset' value on your variable text objects for you. In this
way you can quickly create full sheets of items containing
serial numbers or CSV file references.

The values shown are:

Current: The current serial number, or row from the CSV

file, that will be displayed.

Start: The first serial number you want to use, or the first
row in the CSV file to be used.

End: The last serial number to use, or the last row in the
CSV file to use.

Advance by: Imagine you are creating a series of numbered

labels. Rather than cutting each one separately, you would
most likely want to do several at once on a page. The
"Advance by" value tells LightBurn how many entries to

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 5.5.3 Tools & Wizards

VARIABLE TEXT FORMATS Expression Output

the minute with a leading zero (00
These are the different formatting codes used for Variable to 59)
Text in LightBurn.
s the whole second without a leading
Date / Time text format zero (0 to 59)

When using the Date/Time mode for text, the system will ss the whole second with a leading
automatically substitute special combinations of characters zero where applicable (00 to 59)
with values for the current local date and time.
z the fractional part of the second, to
For example, if your text field is "d/MM/yyyy" the system go after a decimal point, without
would replace it with "15/6/2019". The values you can use trailing zeroes (0 to 999). Thus
for substitution are listed below. " s.z " reports the seconds to full
available (millisecond) precision
These expressions may be used for the date: without trailing zeroes.

zzz the fractional part of the second, to

Output Expression
millisecond precision, including
the day as number without a d trailing zeroes where applicable
leading zero (1 to 31) (000 to 999).

the day as number with a leading dd AP or A use AM/PM display. A/AP will be
zero (01 to 31) replaced by either "AM" or "PM".

the abbreviated localized day name ddd ap or a use am/pm display. a/ap will be
(e.g. 'Mon' to 'Sun'). Uses the replaced by either "am" or "pm".
system locale to localize the name.
t the time zone (for example "CEST")
the long localized day name (e.g. dddd
'Monday' to 'Sunday'). Uses the
Any sequence of characters enclosed in single quotes will be
system locale to localize the name.
included verbatim in the output string (stripped of the
the month as number without a M quotes), even if it contains formatting characters. Two
leading zero (1-12) consecutive single quotes ('') are replaced by a single quote
in the output. All other characters in the input string are
the month as number with a MM
included verbatim in the output string.
leading zero (01-12)
Formats without separators (e.g. "ddMM") are supported but
the abbreviated localized month MMM
must be used with care, as the resulting strings aren't
name (e.g. 'Jan' to 'Dec'). Uses the
always reliably readable (e.g. if "dM" produces "212" it could
system locale to localize the name.
mean either the 2nd of December or the 21st of February).
the long localized month name (e.g. MMMM
'January' to 'December'). Uses the Example format strings (for the date & time 21 May 2001
system locale to localize the name. 14:13:09.120):

the year as two digit number yy

Input Result
(00-99)
dd.MM.yyyy 21.05.2001
the year as four digit number yyyy
ddd MMMM d yy Tue May 21 01

These expressions may be used for the time: hh:mm:ss.zzz 14:13:09.120

Expression Output hh:mm:ss.z 14:13:09.12

h the hour without a leading zero (0 to h : m : s ap 2 : 13 : 9 pm

23 or 1 to 12 if AM/PM display)
Serial number text format
hh the hour with a leading zero (00 to
23 or 01 to 12 if AM/PM display) When using the Serial mode for text, the system will
automatically substitute certain special combinations of
H the hour without a leading zero (0 to
characters with the current serial number value, and other
23, even with AM/PM display)
characters control how it is formatted.
HH the hour with a leading zero (00 to
23, even with AM/PM display) These expressions may be used for serial numbers:

m the minute without a leading zero (0 Output Expression

to 59)
The serial number as a decimal d
mm value

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 5.5.3 Tools & Wizards

Output Expression Columns are numbered starting from 0.

The serial number as a h Cut Setting text format

hexadecimal value, lower case

When using the Cut Setting mode for text, the system will
The serial number as a H automatically substitute certain characters with values from
hexadecimal value, upper case the cut setting applied to the text.

Tells LightBurn to pad the number 0 Like the Date / Time or Serial number formatting, any text
with leading zeros between a pair of single quotes is copied exactly to the
output, and a pair of single quotes together is replaced by
The number of characters used controls how many digits the one single quote in the output.
system will display. If the serial number is larger than the
Expression Output
number of digits allowed, as many digits as will fit from the
end of the number will be displayed. For example, if your C followed by a number, pulls settings
serial number is 1234, the table below shows how that from the numbered cut layer (ex,
number would be formatted for each of the displayed C03) for the remainder of this string
formatting inputs:
s speed, as a number in the current
speed units
Input Output Input Output

d 4 0d 4 S speed, including the current units

(like mm/sec)
dd 34 0dd 34
p max power, as a percentage
ddd 234 0ddd 234
P max power, including the percent
dddd 1234 0dddd 1234 sign

ddddd 1234 0ddddd 01234 m min power, as a percentage

dddddd 1234 0dddddd 001234 M min power, including the percent

sign

You cannot mix decimal and hexadecimal formatting in the d/D DPI, as a number, always dots per
same text entry, and you cannot split a serial number with inch
other characters. For example, this string is not valid: ddd-
ddd because of the hyphen between the two groups of i interval, in the current distance
units
format characters.
I interval, including the current
Like the Date / Time formatting, any text between a pair of
distance units (like mm)
single quotes is copied exactly to the output, and a pair of
single quotes together is replaced by one single quote in the L Displays the name of the laser. Can
output. optionally be followed by a
character index to start displaying
CSV/Merge text format
from, and optionally, a comma and a
When using the CSV/Merge mode for text, the system will 2nd number for the number of
automatically substitute certain special combinations of characters to display. For example, if
characters with entries from the selected row of a CSV file. A L displayed 'Ruida 6442G', L6 would
display '6442G', and L6,4 would
CSV file is "Comma Separated Values" - a very simple text
display '6442' (without the quotes)
format that uses a line in the file as the row, and commas to
separate columns in the file. z Z offset for the current layer, in the
current distance units
For example:
Z Z offset for the current layer
LightBurn,80,10 including the units (eg, mm)
Corel,300,20

q Q-pulse width
In a CSV/Merge entry in LightBurn, the text you enter uses
the percent sign followed by a number to look up a column Q Q-pulse width, followed by 'ns' to
indicate the units
in the current row of the CSV file. For example, using this
text with the above table: k frequency in kHz

I'm thinking of buying %0 - it costs $%1 K frequency in kHz, followed by 'kHz'

to indicate the units
Would display:

I'm thinking of buying LightBurn - it costs $80

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 5.5.4 Hotkeys and Gestures

• Select Mode: Pressing the Esc key while in the

workspace will return to the selection tool
5.5.4 Hotkeys and Gestures
Move
Most feature hot-keys can be found next to the action in the
menus. • Arrow keys move the current selection
• Shift + arrow moves in large steps

Hotkey Editor (version 1.3+) • Ctrl/⌘ + arrow moves in small steps

MENU HOT-KEYS
As LightBurn has added more features, it's become harder to
find available hotkeys that will work with a variety of File
keyboard layouts. Version 1.3 has added a hotkey editor, so
you can cusomtize most of LightBurn's shortcuts to your Action Windows / macOS
liking. Any button on the toolbar can be given a hotkey, and Linux
the editor includes a search function to help you find them.
New Ctrl + N ⌘+N
Access the Hotkey Editor through the menu: File >> Edit
Open Ctrl + O ⌘+O
Hotkeys
Import Ctrl + I ⌘+I

Save Ctrl + S ⌘+S

Save As Ctrl + Shift + S ⌘ + Shift +

S

Save As Alt + Shift + L ⌥ + Shift +

Gcode L

Export Alt + X ⌥+X

Print (Black Ctrl + P ⌘+P

Only)

Print (Keep Ctrl + Shift + P ⌘ + Shift +

Colors) P

Exit Ctrl + Q ⌘+Q

Edit

The Hotkey Editor Window

Action Windows / macOS
Linux
General Usage Hotkeys
Undo Ctrl + Z ⌘+Z
MOUSE
Redo Ctrl + Shift + ⌘ + Shift + Z
• Selection: Left click, or band-box Z
• Shift + click adds to the current selection Select All Ctrl + A ⌘+A
• Ctrl/⌘ + click removes from the current selection
Invert Ctrl + Shift + ⌘ + Shift + I
• Drag: Left-click & hold on an object, drag it
Selection I
• When dragging, Shift will keep the drag vertical,
horizontal, or 45 degrees Cut Ctrl + X ⌘+X

• When dragging, Ctrl means "don't grid / object snap" Copy Ctrl + C ⌘+C
• When sizing, the default is retain the current aspect ratio,
Duplicate Ctrl + D ⌘+D
holding shift unlocks it.
• When sizing, Control means "resize from center" Paste Ctrl + V ⌘+V

• Zoom: Mouse wheel (zooms relative to the cursor) Paste in Alt + V ⌥+V
• View drag: Middle-mouse click and drag place

• Double clicking text: Auto chooses text mode and Delete Delete / Delete /
places cursor. BackSpace BackSpace

KEYBOARD Convert to Ctrl + Shift + ⌘ + Shift + C

Path C
• View drag: Hold space-bar + left-click & drag (useful for
Mac, or users without a mouse wheel) Convert to Ctrl + Shift + ⌘ + Shift + B
• Delete: Backspace or Delete keys Bitmap B

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 5.5.4 Hotkeys and Gestures

Action Windows / macOS Action Windows / macOS

Linux Linux

Close Path Alt + C ⌥+C Toggle Alt + Shift+ ⌥ + Shift

WireFrame/ W +W
Auto-Join Alt + J ⌥+J Filled

Optimize Alt + Shift + ⌥ + Shift + Frame Selection Ctrl + Shift + ⌘ + Shift

O O A +A

Delete Alt + D ⌥+D Square Frame Alt + R ⌥+R

Duplicates Selection

Vector Tools Rubber Band Alt + Shift + ⌥ + Shift

Frame R +R
Action Windows / macOS
Linux Laser Machine Tools

Draw Line Ctrl + L ⌘+L Action Windows / macOS

Linux
Rectangle Ctrl + R ⌘+R
Rotary Setup Ctrl + Shift + ⌘ + Shift
Ellipse Ctrl + E ⌘+E
R +R
Edit Nodes Ctrl + ` ⌘+`
Position Laser Alt + L ⌥+L
Add Tabs Ctrl + Tab ⌘ + Tab
Pause Pause
Create / Edit Ctrl + T ⌘+T
Stop Ctrl + Break
Text
Reset Device Right Click
Offset Shapes ALt + O ⌥+O
Connection "Devices"
Weld Shapes Ctrl + W ⌘+W
Cuts/Layers
Boolean Union Alt + + ⌥++

Boolean Alt + - ⌥+- Action Windows / macOS

Subtract Linux

Flash items Right Click Right Click

Boolean Alt + * ⌥+*
on Layer Layer Layer
Intersection
Select all Shift+Click Shift+Click
Boolean Ctrl + B ⌘+B
items on Layer Layer
Assistant
layer
Break Apart Alt + B ⌥+B
GLOBAL HOTKEYS
Cut Shapes Alt + C ⌥+C
The following work from anywhere while objects are
Image Tools selected.

Action Windows / macOS Action Windows / macOS

Linux Linux

Adjust Alt + I ⌥+I Group Ctrl + G ⌘+G

Image
Ungroup Ctrl + U ⌘+U
Trace Image Alt + T ⌥+T
Flip Horizontal Ctrl + Shift + ⌘ + Shift
H +H
Window

Flip Vertical Ctrl + Shift + ⌘ + Shift

Action Windows / macOS V +V
Linux
Mirror Across Ctrl + Shift + ⌘ + Shift
Preview Alt + P ⌥+P Line M +M
Zoom In Ctrl + = ⌘+= Align Left Ctrl + Shift + ⌘ + Shift
← +←
Zoom Out Ctrl + - ⌘+-
Align Right Ctrl + Shift + ⌘ + Shift
Zoom to Page Ctrl + 0 ⌘+0
→ +→
Preview Alt + P ⌥+P

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 5.5.4 Hotkeys and Gestures

Action Windows / macOS Action Windows / macOS

Linux Linux

Align Top Ctrl + Shift + ⌘ + Shift Align Bottom B B

↑ +↑
Align Centers C C
Align Bottom Ctrl + Shift + ⌘ + Shift Vertically
↓ +↓
Align Centers E E
Align Centers Ctrl + Shift + ⌘ + Shift Horizontally
Vertically PgUp + PgUp
Move Selection P P
Align Centers Ctrl + Shift + ⌘ + Shift to Page Center
Horizontally PgDn + PgDn

Move H-Together Alt + Shift + ⌥ + Shift Tool In-use - Hot-Keys

H +H
NODE EDIT

Move V-Together Alt + Shift + ⌥ + Shift

V +V Action Windows / macOS Notes
Linux
Push forward in PgUp PgUp
draw order Smooth S S while
corner hovering
Push backward PgDn PgDn node over a
in draw order node

Push to front Ctrl + PgUp ⌘ + PgUp Convert S S while

line to hovering
Push to back Ctrl + PgDn ⌘ + PgDn smooth over a line
curve
EDIT WINDOW SPECIFIC
Convert L L while
The following work only while focused on the edit window. curve to hovering
line over a
Action Windows / macOS curve
Linux
Convert C C while
Rotate 5° Ctrl + Shift + ⌘ + Shift + smooth hovering
clockwise . (decimal) . (decimal) node to over a
corner node
Rotate 5° Ctrl + Shift + ⌘ + Shift +
Counter- , (comma) , (comma) Delete D D while
clockwise node hovering
over a
Rotate 10 Ctrl + . ⌘+.
node
clockwise (decimal) (decimal)
Delete D D while
Rotate 10 Ctrl + , ⌘+,
line hovering
Counter- (comma) (comma)
over a line
clockwise
Insert I I while
Rotate 90 . (decimal) . (decimal)
node hovering
clockwise
point over a line
Rotate 90 , (comma) , (comma) or curve
Counter-
Insert M M while
clockwise
node at hovering
Rotate 45 Shift + > Shift + > midpoint over a line
clockwise or curve

Rotate 45 Shift + < Shift + < Break B B while

Counter- shape at hovering
clockwise point over a
point
Two Point Ctrl + 2 ⌘+2
Rotate Tool Trim line T T while
hovering
Align Left L L over a line,
trim line
Align Right R R under
mouse at
Align Top T T

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 5.5.4 Hotkeys and Gestures

Action Windows / macOS Notes

Linux
next
intersection

Extend E E while
line hovering
over a
point,
extend line
from point
under
mouse to
intersection
with
another
shape

PRINT AND CUT

Action Windows / macOS

Linux

Start Wizard Alt + 0 ⌥+0

Set First Target Alt + 1 ⌥+1 HELP

Position
• Pressing F1 while hovering the mouse over the edit
Set Second Alt + 2 ⌥+2 window will bring you to the documentation page for the
Target Position editing mode you're in.
Align Output to Alt + 3 ⌥+3 • Pressing F1 while hovering the mouse over some tools will
Targets show you help for that tool.
• Otherwise, pressing F1 will bring up the Help & Notes
Align Output to Alt + 4 ⌥+4
dialog window.
Targets (no
scaling)
Printable Hot Key Guide
CAMERA
Click to Download
Action Windows / macOS
Linux

Update Alt + C ⌥+C

camera
overlay

KEYPAD JOG

Note - Numlock must be enabled in Windows and

Linux to use Keypad jogging
Jog moves the laser in the jog increments set in the Move
tab.

To activate keypad jog you must first click in the workspace

area and not have the text tool active. (Press Esc for the
selection tool for example)

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 5.6 Advanced Topics

5.6 Advanced Topics

Advanced Primary Docs

split by root-level groups, then the shapes within each set

will ordered by layer, and so on. This is good for doing large
5.6.1 Optimization Settings (Cut Planner) projects where you want an entire multi-layer item to
complete before moving on to the next, in case you have to
interrupt the project, or something goes wrong.
The cut planner gives you a great deal of control over the
Each 'Order By' option produces a set of outputs that is then
ordering of your cuts - you can let LightBurn try to choose
fed into the next option (if any), and so on. Each resulting
the best path for you, order it piece by piece yourself, or
set is then optimized with the additional options (like inner
somewhere in between. If you have "Order by Layer" as the
shapes first, reduce travel moves, etc).
only entry in the list at the top (the default), it will behave
the way you're used to. After selecting your choices in the ORDER BY LAYER
Cut Planner, use the Preview (Alt-P) to see how your choices
have impacted things by using the slider at the bottom of If you choose Order By Layer, the cut planner will apply all
the window. remaining optimizations to the first layer, then the second
layer, and so on.
Access these settings by pressing the Optimization Settings
ORDER BY GROUPS
button shown here:
If you choose Order By groups the cut planner will apply all
remaining optimizations to all the objects in a root-level
group, then the next Grouped object, and so on. Objects not
part of a group are treated as being in a group together.

ORDER BY PRIORITY

The settings are displayed in this dialog (and the defaults

If you choose Order By Priority, the cut planner will apply all
are shown here):
remaining optimizations to the objects with the highest
priority (Assigned in the Shape Properties Window) first, then
the next lowest and so on.

Optimizations

These optimizations are applied to each cutting set of

outputs from the above ordering as a set.

CUT INNER SHAPES FIRST

As the name implies, if there is an object within another

object, and both are being cut, it will cut out the inside
object before the outside one.

CUT IN DIRECTION ORDER

This will try to cut the shapes in your project in the specified
direction - top to bottom, left to right, etc.

REDUCE TRAVEL MOVES

This will have the cut planner try to order the cuts in a way
that it will choose objects beside each other to try and
Order By reduce non cutting travel moves.

You can select what the initial ordering parameters will be. REDUCE DIRECTION CHANGES
You have a choice of Layer, Groups or Priority. As well you
The cut planner will try to choose nearby cuts that allow it to
can use a combination of these three choices in any order
keep moving in the same direction, which keeps the laser
you wish.
moving faster.
Note that the order is important. If you order by layer, then
HIDE BACKLASH
groups, the list of shapes will be split into lists by layer first,
then those lists will be sorted by group, and finally, the This option is similar to the 'backlash repay optimize' setting
remaining optimizations will be applied. If you order by found in RDWorks - It produces a cutting order that reduces
groups first, then by layers, the list of shapes will be first or eliminates the misalignment between the start and end

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 5.6.1 Optimization Settings (Cut Planner)

points of a cut caused by loose or flexing belts, or other

REMOVE OVERLAPPING LINES
forms of play in the mechanical parts of the laser. Enabling
this option will force some of the other options to give it the The cut planner will remove lines that overlap each other
most flexibility when planning the cutting path. that would cause the laser to cut in the same place twice.
CHOOSE BEST STARTING POINT LightBurn v1.3 and later

Allows the system to start a cut at any point within a shape, Starting in LightBurn 1.3, the cut planner will remove lines
not just the first point. Works best when "reduce travel that only partially overlap, and has a user-adjustable
moves" is also enabled. distance setting for recognizing lines as overlapping.
CHOOSE CORNERS, IF POSSIBLE Older versions

The cut planner will attempt to start a cut at a sharp corner In older versions of LightBurn, the cut planner will remove
to minimize burning or staining on the surface of an item. any line fully covered by another line, but will not remove
CHOOSE BEST DIRECTION
partial overlaps, like this:

The cut planner will attempt to choose the best direction to

cut in.
(the lines are offset from each other slightly here to be able
to see them)

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 5.6.2 Cut Shapes Tool

Primary Docs Tools

5.6.2 Cut Shapes Tool

The Cut Shapes tool in LightBurn allows you to cut vector

shapes in a project using a closed shape as the cutting tool.
Cut shapes can be used to cut a project into smaller sections
that can be run separately, allowing you to create projects
that are larger than will fit within the area of your laser.
Large scale designs make heavy use of this feature. (1)

1. Cutting a single project larger than your laser: https://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=n__saOKVupA

To use the Cut Shapes tool, select the shapes you wish to
cut, then add the cutting tool shape to your selection (the
last shape selected is the cutting tool). In the Tools menu,
select 'Cut Shapes' and the software will perform the cut.

An example is shown below - the black oval is used as the

cutting shape, and the result is shown on the right,
separated so you can more easily see the cut line.

In this zoomed in view, near the lower-left you can see that
when the red shapes were cut, the software added a new
line, closing those shapes, but did not add anything when
the green lines were cut. This is because the red layer is set
to 'Fill', and in order for the resulting shapes to fill correctly,
they need to be closed. The green layer is set to 'Line' mode,
so those shapes are not closed when cut.

Key points to remember:

• The last shape you select is used as the cutting tool

• The shape used as the cutter must be a single closed
shape
• The cutting tool shape is discarded - if you need it again,
make a duplicate of it (Ctrl+D)
• Shapes that are cut will be closed if they are set to 'Fill', or
left open if they are set to 'Line'

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 5.6.3 Print and Cut with LightBurn

5.6.3 Print and Cut with LightBurn

"Print and Cut" normally refers to the ability to print a design

on a printer, then have it automatically cut it out with a
blade or laser cutting machine by using registration marks
on the print to align the cut to it.

Print and Cut in LightBurn is used to align your current

project to something you've previously output. The most
common use for this is, as above, printing a file with a
design on it and then using the laser to cut out the design,
but it can also be used to align multiple jobs on your laser.

You can use it to register two halves of a large job with each
other, for example, to cut something larger than your
machine. We have a tutorial that shows how to do this here:
Cutting a single project larger than your laser

You can also use it to register multiple passes over the same
job - For example, you could use your laser to lightly
engrave an outline, remove it from the machine to paint it,
then put it back in the machine, align it using Print & Cut,
then engrave a different area in the same project. The important part in this file is the two cross-hair marks -
these are the target marks that you will use to align the
Note: In order for the output to be positioned correctly on
cutting path with the printed sticker. They don't have to be
your laser, you must use Absolute Coords as the positioning
cross-hairs, but these are simplest to align with, as the
mode, otherwise the output will not match the position of
center of the selected object is what is used for alignment
the print.
when recording positions. Each target marker must be a
single object that can be selected - If you draw two lines to
Registering a printed file with a laser cut job: make a crosshair, group them.

As an example, take this design, printed on sticker paper: After placing the printed version of the file in the laser,
follow these steps to align the laser output with the print.

Note: There is now a wizard for Print and Cut that will guide
you through the steps below. You can start the wizard by
clicking Laser Tools > Print and Cut > Start Wizard, shown
here:

You'll be presented with the Print and Cut wizard, shown

I've imported the same design into LightBurn, with the cross- here:
hair markers, and added an outline to the dragon using the
offset tool:

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 5.6.3 Print and Cut with LightBurn

After setting both targets, the menu will automatically

enable the 'Align Output to Targets' option for you, like this:

Print and Cut Scaling

After setting targets, you will have the option to Align

Output to Targets (no scaling) or Align Output to
Or, you can do the steps using the menu items instead. Targets.

Using the red-dot pointer of your laser, jog the laser head to If your design in LightBurn is the same size as the physical
align with the center point of one of the two cross-hair design you are using Print and Cut with, you should choose
marks. You cannot move the laser head by hand for this - the Align Output to Targets (no scaling) option. This will
you have to jog the laser either with the buttons on the laser generally be the case if you are resuming a job or
control panel, or in the Move window in LightBurn. performing a multi-step engraving process on your laser.

In LightBurn, select the same cross-hair mark, then go to However, you may sometimes need to scale your design. As
an example, you might need to cut out a design on sticker
Laser Tools > Print and Cut > Set First Target Location, like
paper that was scaled up or down as part of the printing
this:
process. In this case, you should use Align Output to
Targets. When you select your targets, LightBurn will
automatically scale the design to match the real-world size
indicated by your targets.

You will also see the "(Print & Cut mode)" message in the
status window, like this:

Now, jog the laser to align the red dot pointer to the center
of the second marker.

In LightBurn, select that second cross-hair mark, and again

If you preview at this point, the orientation of the preview
choose Tools > Print and Cut > Set Second Target Location:
should match that of the print on your laser:

In the above image, you can see the preview image is

rotated slightly clockwise, matching the orientation of the
You will notice that in the above image, the menu option for printed image in the laser.
'Set First Target Position' has the icon highlighted as well -
this means that the First Target Position is set and active.

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 5.6.3 Print and Cut with LightBurn

with your laser and the corresponding positions you select in

Note: In order for the output to be positioned correctly on the software. You do not actually need to output the markers
your laser, you must use Absolute Coords as the positioning in LightBurn, they simply need to exist so they can be
mode, otherwise the output will not match the position of selected.
the print. The accuracy of the result will be affected by the
accuracy of your red-dot pointer, so using one that is either The sticker image shown above has a very sharp corner at
a cross-hair beam pointer or a red-dot marker that is in the the tip of the tail, and one on the lower jaw - These would be
same beam path as your laser is ideal. acceptable locations to use as alignment targets as well,
which would allow you to register to a job even without
After running the job on the laser, this is the result: visible registration marks:

When finished, you can turn Print & Cut off by un-
highlighting the 'Align Output to Targets' option:

By putting the markers on the green layer, then setting that

not to output, they're available in LightBurn to select, but
wouldn't be part of the actual cutting job sent to the laser.
When aligning to the first target, you'd point the red dot at
the tip of the tail, and in LightBurn select that marker. Then
That will turn off the Print & Cut mode. repeat the process by pointing your red dot at the tip of the
lower jaw, and select the marker in that location in
USING SHARP CORNERS IN YOUR FILE INSTEAD OF TARGETS
LightBurn.
The Print & Cut feature measures the difference in position,
orientation, and scale between the two positions you mark

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 5.6.4 Rotary Setup (DSP)

DSP Gantry Rotary UI

5.6.4 Rotary Setup (DSP)

Info

This will walk you through setting up and using your rotary
attachment with LightBurn for gantry (non galvo) lasers. To
set up a rotary with a galvo laser, please see Rotaries for
Galvo Lasers.

In the top menu bar, click the Laser Tools menu (or just Tools
in older versions of LightBurn), then Rotary Setup, and it will
open the rotary setup window, shown here:

Rotary Setup

Rotary Setup (with roller)

The window may look different depending on the type of

controller you have, and in fact, you may not be able to
access this menu item at all - most Trocen controllers, for
example, require setting rotary parameters through a menu
on the controller panel itself.

General Rotary

• Choose whether you have a chuck style or roller

attachment.
• Click the enable rotary check box (it will turn green when
enabled).
• In the steps per revolution box, enter the number of steps
it takes your attachment to make one full revolution. For a
chuck rotary, this will be one rotation of the chuck, and for
Rotary Setup (with chuck) a roller, it will be one full rotation of the roller, NOT the
item. For GCode devices with a dedicated rotary axis, this
number should just be "360 degrees". If not using a
dedicated rotary axis, you'll have to use trial and error to
dial in the correct travel distance using the Test button.
• Click the Test button to verify that the roller or chuck
makes one full rotation, pauses, then returns.
• Enter either the diameter of the object to be engraved or
it's circumference, the other value will be automatically
calculated.
• Align your object under the laser head in a position where
the X axis will start and rotate the object in the rotary
attachment to the point where you want the Y axis to start
engraving.
• When using the rotary, it's generally a good idea to use
"current position" as the "Start From" setting.
• Click Start to run your job, or if you have a DSP controller,
you can use Send to send it to the controller to run it from
there.

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 5.6.4 Rotary Setup (DSP)

• Remember to uncheck the use rotary attachment

check box once you are finished so that you do not
DSP Specific Setup
impact your next regular project.
If using a Ruida controller, disconnect the Y axis stepper
Notes connection and connect the rotary attachment to the Y axis.
If using Smoothie or GRBL, C3D, or Smoothieware
controllers, click the "A" axis selection. (See below on how to
• If the object slips on the rollers of a roller type
configure your controller steps before you proceed).
attachment, wrap the rollers with some sort of non-slip
material or even rubber bands.
• You can also try placing some weights inside the object Note
such as ball bearings or other small round objects, this will
help press the object against the rollers. If you are using a DSP controller (Ruida, etc), when you
change the rotary setting you need to power-cycle the
• If you end up with a flat part at the 'bottom' of the
controller, as the internal logic isn't adjusted for the rotary
engraving, it means your rotary gear mechanism has
setting unless you do this. Change the setting, close the
backlash. In general, tightening any belts in the rotary
Rotary Setup window to write the change to the controller,
device will fix this, but if not, you can place a small line a
then power off the control board and power it back on. You
few mm below the bottom of your design, set to very low will likely need to press the Esc (or stop) button on the
power, like 0.1%, and set it as the first layer to run. The controller to prevent it from trying to home itself, as the Y
rotary will spin to this position, then back up over that few axis will not home properly.
millimeters of gap, and will take up the backlash with that
movement.

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 5.6.5 Scanning Offset Adjustment

5.6.5 Scanning Offset Adjustment

Modern lasers are capable of moving very fast, and with

remarkable precision, however firing the beam still takes
time. Some power supplies and tubes may respond in
microseconds, but others take longer. At higher speeds,
belts will pull slightly as well, and all of these things can
cause the output of the laser to shift slightly when
engraving.

At 100 mm/second, 254 dots per inch means your dots are
0.1 mm in length, fitting 1000 of them in 100 mm. At 100
mm/sec, if your power supply and tube take 1 millisecond to
fire, your engraving will be offset by a full dot width.

At 500 mm/second, that 1 millisecond delay means you'll be

off by 5 dots, or ½ a millimeter. Still not very much, but
visible. Adding a bit of mechanical stretch to this will
increase the offset.

The result often looks like ghosted edges. The image below
is a 20 mm square at 1000 mm/sec, with a 1ms delay,
resulting in a full mm of skew between scans:

To use this feature, you need to measure the response of

your machine at a couple of different speeds. Create a small
rectangle in LightBurn, 50 mm wide and 10 mm high, set it
to scan, and set the interval to 0.5 mm. If you are on a
GCode based device, enable overscan, and set it to 5% or
greater to be sure the machine is not slowing down before
reaching the ends. (Ruida devices overscan automatically).
Note that in the image below I have power set to 0 - Don't
do this. You will need to set the power high enough to mark
your material.

LightBurn has a setting to counter this, called Scanning

Offset Adjustment, in the Device Settings. Other software
may refer to it as 'Reverse Interval' or 'Reverse
Compensation':

Run this rectangle at multiple speeds, like 100 mm/sec, 200

mm/sec, 300 mm/sec, and so on. Depending on your

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 5.6.6 Line Wobble

hardware you may not even need to use these settings,

however here is example output from a machine that does:

To compensate for this, measure the distance between the 5.6.6 Line Wobble
ends of the lines at each speed, and enter the speed and
distance values into the scanning offset adjustment table. A different, but equally common problem, is line wobble,
LightBurn will use this information to compute the correct often caused by too high an acceleration setting. When
adjustments for other speeds as well. A minimum of two doing the test cuts above, you may notice lines that look like
measurements are needed for it to work. Note you will need this:
enter half the measured value - The software moves each
line by the amount you specify, so each pair of lines only
needs to move half the distance.

There is an excellent tutorial online at Cartonus.com here:

http://cartonus.com/how-to-improve-engraving-quality-of-
laser-machine/

You may need to do this multiple times, making minor

adjustments to get clean results at each speed. After
entering the measurements for the above speeds, the
resulting corrected output looks like this:

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 5.6.6 Line Wobble

If so, your machine is moving too quickly between the rows,

and you're seeing physical "bounce" in the gantry because
of it. Lowering the acceleration setting for your Y axis can
correct this.

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 5.6.7 Using a Camera

5.6.7 Using a Camera

This page is no longer in use, and should redirect you to the

updated camera guides. If that fails, please see the updated
guides here

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 5.6.8 Fusion 360 DXF Export

5.6.8 Fusion 360 DXF Export

When designing laser cut projects in Autodesk's Fusion 360

the easiest file format to export is DXF. To make sure all the
design details we want are present, we'll make a special
sketch and export it to get it all into LightBurn.

Start file

Finish your part and save your file.

Project Features

When we select the top surface of the part you'll notice that
all the connected features highlight. These are automatically
projected and their outlines will automatically get added to
the sketch.

We will need to add the eye of the dragon and the inner
features of the "g" and "B" from the part. To do this start the
Project tool from the Create menu.

New Sketch for export

Start new sketch

Select the islands in the part and hit ok on the project menu
and Finish Sketch.

and select the top surface of the part

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 5.6.8 Fusion 360 DXF Export

Check the sketch

Once you finish the sketch it will be active so you can see
the contents.

Tip

Turning off the rendered body enables you to ensure that all
of the design geometry is selected & ready to be used.

Check Drawing in LightBurn

Open up LightBurn with a new file and Click Import.

Save as DXF

To export the the sketch, Right Click on the sketch you

created in the model tree and click "Save as DXF"

This will bring the .DXF file into LightBurn and the contents
will be fully selected automatically.

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 5.6.8 Fusion 360 DXF Export

Checking for Errors or Duplicates

Occasionally you can create duplicate lines using the Project

tool in Fusion 360. To remove any stray or duplicate lines,
select the entire design, ungroup the drawing, and use the
Delete Duplicates tool in the Edit Menu.

All Finished!

Your drawing is ready to use!

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 5.6.9 Layer Colors

Advanced

09 rgb( 0, 0, 160) #0000A0

5.6.9 Layer Colors 10 rgb( 160, 0, 0) #A00000

LightBurn assigns operations to layers and objects based on 11 rgb( 0, 160, 0) #00A000
their colors.
12 rgb( 160, 160, #A0A000
When importing graphics, LightBurn will attempt to match 0)
the colors used to the default LightBurn color palette. Using
13 rgb( 192, 128, #C08000
exact matches for the colors used by LightBurn will ensure
0)
layers are created correctly. We have downloadable color
palettes available to make this easier. 14 rgb( 0, 160, #00A0FF
255)

Importing Graphics 15 rgb( 160, 0, #A000A0

160)
We have color palettes available for Inkscape, CorelDRAW,
Affinity Designer, and Adobe Illustrator. The .ase file 16 rgb( 128, 128, #808080
provided for Adobe and Affinity products can be imported 128)
into many other programs as well.
17 rgb( 125, 135, #7D87B9
185)
Download .gpl for Inkscape/GIMP
18 rgb( 187, 119, #BB7784
132)
Download .xml for Corel Products
19 rgb( 74, 111, #4A6FE3
227)

Download .ase for Adobe and Affinity 20 rgb( 211, 63, #D33F6A
106)
Please see your preferred program's help for directions on
21 rgb( 140, 215, #8CD78C
installing color palettes.
140)

22 rgb( 240, 185, #F0B98D

RGB and Hex Colors
141)
The table below contains RGB and hex values for each of 23 rgb( 246, 196, #F6C4E1
LightBurn's layer colors. 225)

Layer RGB Values Hex Values 24 rgb( 250, 158, #FA9ED4

212)
00 rgb( 0, 0, 0) #000000
25 rgb( 80, 10, #500A78
01 rgb( 0, 0, 255) #0000FF 120)

02 rgb( 255, 0, 0) #FF0000 26 rgb( 180, 90, 0) #B45A00

03 rgb( 0, 224, 0) #00E000 27 rgb( 0, 71, 84) #004754

04 rgb( 208, 208, #D0D000 28 rgb( 134, 250, #86FA88

0) 136)

05 rgb( 255, 128, #FF8000 29 rgb( 255, 219, #FFDB66

0) 102)

06 rgb( 0, 224, #00E0E0 T1 rgb(243, 105, #F36926

224) 38)

07 rgb( 255, 0, #FF00FF T2 rgb(12,150, #0C96D9

255) 217)

08 rgb( 180, 180, #B4B4B4

180)

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 5.6.10 Open vs. Closed Shapes

5.6.10 Open vs. Closed Shapes

What Makes a Shape Open or Closed

All shapes in LightBurn are made up of lines, curves, and

nodes. Sometimes those nodes are connecting points
between lines or curves, and sometimes they represent the
start or end point of a segment or sequence of segments.

A shape is closed when it is a complete, continuous loop

whose start and end points are the same. When a shape's
start and end points are different, it is open.

You can view a shape's nodes by selecting it and enabling

the Edit Nodes tool. Start and end nodes are green, and
somewhat larger than connecting nodes. Some other functions that require the use of closed shapes
are:

• Offset Fill mode

• Weld
• Boolean Modifiers
• Cut Shapes
• Slot and Tab Resizer
• Kerf Offset
• Cut Inner Shapes First

Identifying Open Shapes

In some cases, as with simple line segments or shapes with

large gaps, it's easy to see that a shape is open, but in
others it may not be as obvious.

At times, the gaps can be very small, often so small that

they are not visible without zooming in very close. Be aware:
When and Why Shapes Must be Closed it is even possible for a start and end point to be directly on
top of one another, but not connected, making a shape
Some functions require LightBurn to determine the inside
open.
and outside of a shape, and in order to make that
determination, the shape must be closed. LightBurn provides several methods for identifying whether
a shape is open or closed.
The most commonly used function that requires closed
shapes is Fill mode, which commands your laser to engrave EDIT NODES
or mark an area that falls within the outline of a single
specified shape, or between the outlines of two shapes. As mentioned above, it is always possible to select a shape
Without knowing what area is inside a shape, LightBurn can't and the Edit Nodes tool to identify where its start and end
determine what to fill. nodes are, and whether they are the same, making a closed
shape, or different, making an open shape.
This is most obvious to the human eye when looking at line
segments. If you draw a simple line segment with a node on In some cases, you may need to zoom in to see gaps.
each end, it makes no sense to say there is an inside and an
outside to it. Following from that, if you assign that line
segment to a layer set to Fill mode, it will not be possible for
LightBurn to determine an area to be filled.

In other cases, as with shapes that have only small gaps, it

may be relatively clear to a human what is meant to be the
inside and outside, but software must interpret things
literally, based on formal rules. That means if there is any
gap at all, any open shape is the same to LightBurn as a line
segment, for the purpose of determining an inside and
outside.

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 5.6.10 Open vs. Closed Shapes

MEASURE TOOL SELECT OPEN SHAPES

Select the Measure tool from the Creation Tools toolbar From the Edit menu, you can click the Select open shapes
(or press Alt / ⌥ + M ) and hover over a segment of any option to automatically select any open shapes in your
shape to see a readout of its attributes. In the bottom right, workspace.
you'll see the Closed/Open descriptor, and a value telling
SELECT OPEN SHAPES SET TO FILL
you whether that shape is closed or open.
Also found in the Edit menu, this option works the same as
the Show Me button from the pop up warning, automatically
selecting only those shapes in your workspace that are set
to a Fill or Offset Fill layer.

POP UP WARNING

If you have open shapes set to a Fill or Offset Fill layer,

and attempt to Preview or Start a job, LightBurn will warn
you, and give you the option to click Continue and proceed
with the job, removing the open shapes, or Show Me to
Correcting Open Shapes
automatically select them.
CHANGE LAYER OR MODE

Before attempting to close an open shape, it's important to

decide whether that is the best step to take to get the result
you're looking for.

In some cases, especially when working with a project you

did not design yourself that has shapes with start and end
points that are very far apart, the best course of action is to
assign those shapes to a layer set to Line mode. Open
shapes like these are often meant to be set to a speed and
power appropriate to score a material along outlines defined
by those shapes, and not to be filled at all.

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 5.6.10 Open vs. Closed Shapes

To see how your result will look, you can set the open shapes You can also choose whether you would like to join the start
to a Line layer, and use the Preview window to check and end nodes by bringing the existing lines together with
whether the simulation matches your desired output. Move Ends Together, or by creating a new line segment
between them using Join with Line.
EDIT NODES

At the very bottom of the window, you'll see a readout of

The Edit Nodes tool is not just an option for identifying
how many open shapes were found, how many shapes have
open shapes, it can also be used to close them. To join open
been closed, and how many open shapes remain in your
shapes with the Edit Nodes tool, select and drag a start
workspace.
point onto an end point (or vice versa).
Click OK to confirm the changes and close the selected
shapes, or Cancel to discard them and leave the shapes
open.

Because this option requires you to close open shapes

manually, in cases where you have many shapes to close it
is often easier to use a tool that does so automatically.
AUTO-JOIN SELECTED SHAPES
CLOSE PATH

Auto-Join selected shapes ( Alt / ⌥ + J ) is also found

Found in the Edit menu, the Close Path option will connect
in the Edit menu, and is able to join many disconnected
a shape with one start and one end node by creating a new
segments at once. In order for Auto-Join to work, the start
line between them. The start and end nodes must be within .
and end points of two segments must be very close
5 mm of one another, so this option is only for shapes with
together, within .05 mm of one another.
very small gaps. It cannot be used to closed shapes made
up of more than one disconnected line segment. In some cases where Auto-Join fails to join segments with
CLOSE SELECTED PATHS WITH TOLERANCE
start and end points within the necessary .05 mm tolerance,
it can help to first go to the Arrange menu and select
Close selected paths with tolerance is also found in the Break Apart ( Alt / ⌥ + B ), before again trying Auto-
Edit menu, and, like Close Path, can connect a shape with Join.
one start and one end node.

Unlike Close Path, this option opens a pop up menu that Related Videos
allows you to specify the Distance Threshold, or tolerance,
between start and end nodes you'd like to close.

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 5.7 Camera

5.7 Camera

Advanced Camera DSP GRBL Galvo Tools

Help! I can't find the camera info I'm looking for.

We've split the camera guide up into multiple pages. If you followed a link to a specific section of the older guide, you may need to go
to one of those additional pages.

5.7.1 Camera Camera Setup

You can use LightBurn's camera features to:

Info
• Position artwork on material/objects
• Trace designs from the camera image LightBurn only supports the use of UVC-compatible
cameras. Because of differences in how cameras work
• Monitor your laser
between operating systems, some software cameras (such
To use the camera, enable the Camera Control window by as OBS Studio's "Virtual Camera") may not present as a
camera at all to LightBurn, or may render incorrectly.
going to the Window menu and selecting it. You'll see a
window like the one below, and you can select a camera
from the dropdown.
If you don't have a camera installed, or if your camera's
view is distorted, our guides can help you with selecting,
installing, and calibrating a camera.

• Selecting a camera
• Installing a camera
• Calibrating a camera
• Aligning a camera

Screenshot of the camera control window.

Using a Camera

If you've already got a camera installed and calibrated, and

it shows a clear, undistorted view of your laser's bed when
you select it, you can use your camera to position designs
with the camera overlay and to trace artwork using the
camera.

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 5.7.2 Camera Selection

Camera DSP GRBL Galvo Tools

about 2" less than the distance from the laser bed to your
mounting location to leave a little room for adjustment.
5.7.2 Camera Selection

LightBurn's camera features require the use of a USB

camera. A wide range of cameras have been used
successfully, but if you don't currently have a camera and
want one known to work well with LightBurn, we sell several
different cameras along with a suitable mount. LightBurn
also includes calibration presets for these cameras, which
simplifies the setup process. You'll need to choose an
appropriate camera for your laser based on the size of your
laser and the height you'll mount the camera at.

LightBurn's camera selection tool, showing minimum mounting

heights for each camera given the size of the laser

Can I use a camera I already have?

Aim to select a camera with a minimum mounting height
about 2" more than the distance from your intended mounting Interactions between cameras and computers are,
point to the surface of the work area unfortunately, a complex topic. LightBurn currently only
works with USB cameras, and only some cameras will work
If you're planning to buy one of LightBurn's cameras, we correctly. For proper calibration and alignment, make sure
have a built in tool to help you select an appropriate you have a fixed zoom camera. Additionally, some
camera. Open the "Help" menu in LightBurn and choose computers may cause complications with the use of
"Camera Selection Help". LightBurn will use the laser size cameras. In some cases (especially with newer computers
shown at the top to create a list of the minimum mounting such as M1 Macs), this comes from incompatibilities
heights for each of our cameras. Select a camera that needs between USB 3.0 ports and older USB 2.0 cameras.

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 5.7.3 Camera Installation and Focusing

Camera DSP GRBL Galvo Tools

• Focus the camera so as much of the bed is in focus as

possible. Some cameras, like the 5mp-60, have a narrow
5.7.3 Camera Installation and Focusing focus depth, and if mounted high, can be tricky to focus. If
this happens, focus on a circle that is roughly half-way
The best place to mount the camera is directly above the
from the center of the bed to the edge of the image, like
center of the bed of the laser, with the bed completely
this:
visible. The best way to accomplish this is usually to mount
the camera on the inside of the lid, so the placement is
correct when the lid is open.

Diagram showing ideal placement

If you can't get the entire area in focus, try to focus

approximately where the green circle is

Warning

The camera system depends on the camera being in the

same position relative to the work area of your laser and the
same distance from the top of the material. If your laser
uses a variable focus distance instead of a variable height
work table, you will need to align for the material height you
are using.

Info
Camera installed in a laser

Mounting tips: Cameras used with LightBurn should plug in to your

computer as directly as possible. An active USB 2.0
• The camera should be focused as well as possible. Most amplifier to extend the distance may work, but is not
LightBurn cameras are manually focused by twisting the guaranteed. Do not connect your USB camera to any USB
lens. port on your laser. USB 2.0 has a native max length of
• The camera must be solidly mounted to be in exactly the approximately 16 feet. (5 meters).
same position when using it. If you mount to the lid of
your laser, make sure the lid opens to the same place
every time. You can use a cord or rod to ensure the lid is Info
always at the same position when opened.
• If your camera is in a mount, make sure it doesn't move To use LightBurn's camera functionality, you must use
within the mount. A small piece of EVA foam or even Absolute Coords mode, so LightBurn can accurately position
tissue can hold the camera securely in the mount. the work. If you use an older Trocen controller, they do not
allow setting this mode from software, so you must change
• Mount your camera so it isn't in the path of the laser
the working mode through the controller menu.
head, and run the cable so it is not in the path of the
beam. Ramming the laser head into your shiny new
camera is a great way to increase your blood pressure.

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 5.7.4 Camera Calibration

Camera DSP GRBL Galvo Tools

CAMERA LENS CALIBRATION WALKTHROUGH

5.7.4 Camera Calibration
Note on camera placement
Don't forget about alignment!
This process only depends on the camera's lens, not on its
placement in your machine - as long as the camera and
Calibration and alignment are both essential to proper
calibration pattern are perfectly still, you do not need to
camera setup. Please don't forget to go through the
mount the camera in the machine to perform the lens
alignment process after completing calibration.
calibration.

Camera Lens Calibration walks you through capturing

Camera lenses are not perfectly flat, and distort the image multiple images of the calibration image you've printed out.
they capture. This effect is stronger on the fisheye lenses The software analyzes how the pattern appears in the
needed to capture the viewing area of larger lasers. To use images, and compares that against its internal knowledge of
your camera effectively, you'll need to calibrate the camera. how the pattern should look. It determines the amount and
This takes a little effort, but once your camera is calibrated shape of distortion produced by the lens of the camera, and
well, it's not a process you'll need to repeat often. computes a lens correction that is accurate for your camera.

If you're using an official LightBurn camera you can use one After following the steps from the overview above, you
of the presets instead of calibrating manually. Select the should be ready for the calibration process and looking at a
preset using the dropdown on the first page of the screen like this one:
Calibration Wizard.

Overview

Calibration Image Details

In order to work properly, the calibration image must be:

• undistorted
• perfectly flat
• surrounded by a 6 mm (¼") or larger margin
• About ⅓ of the size of the camera's viewing area, when
viewed through the camera

Older versions of this guide gave a specific size for the

calibration image, but that will vary based on the size of
your work area and the height of your camera. You want the
image to take up about ⅓ of your camera view. You can Lens calibration window. The honeycomb bed in the
scale the image up or down when printing it, as well as background will cause problems later if it isn't covered.
raising or lowering the image to adjust how much of the
camera view it takes up. Choose your camera in the list, and you'll see the view from
the camera in the area to the left. With the correct camera
selected, click Next.
• Download and print the following image: Calibration-
Circles.png. The view will change to include a capture button, and a
diagram to show you how to position the printed pattern. For
• If your laser has a honeycomb bed or other surface with a
the first capture, place the pattern in the center of the field
lot of visible circles, you should cover it with something to
of view of the camera, with the printed face of the card
block that pattern.
pointed directly at the camera, as shown in the small view
• Make sure the bed of your laser has good, consistent
up top. If you cannot easily match your capture image with
lighting and the camera is in focus.
the suggested image, you may need to adjust the scale of
• In the "Laser Tools" menu, open the "Camera Lens your printed card, or leave the camera out of the machine
Calibration" wizard. for lens calibration.
• Mount the calibration image to something stiff and flat,
such as cardboard, foam board, wood, or a clipboard.
• Follow the directions in the Camera Lens Calibration
wizard. For more help, continue below.

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single calibration image to work with. As you continue, your

computer will collect more information about your camera's
lens distortion and the rest of the image will clear up.

If the calibration pattern is not found, LightBurn will tell you

so. Make sure the calibration image faces directly toward the
camera and occupies roughly the same amount of view area
shown in the "suggestion" image. It is okay if the calibration
image is rotated within the view if that makes it easier to
place.

Preparing for the first image capture. I've covered the

honeycomb bed with sheets of newsprint.

Click the Capture button and you should see something like
this:

Example of calibration image rotated within camera view

As you advance through the captures, the suggestion image

will update. The first five images are the center of view,
followed by bottom, left, right, then top. If your camera has
a very strong fisheye effect, it may be necessary for you to
move the non-center images inward a little to get a
successful capture. This is ok.

The final four images are the corners, and these can be
difficult to capture with high-distortion cameras. If your first
5 images score very well (below 0.3) you are allowed to skip
the final four images (the 'Next' button will shows as 'Skip' in
First capture complete. I've attached the calibration pattern to
this case). If you are having trouble capturing the last four
a piece of cardboard to keep it flat and smooth.
images and don't have the option to skip, you can place the
Above the image on the right you see: card anywhere within the view and capture that instead - We
don't verify that your placement matches what we're
Image 1 (2592 x 1944) : Pattern found - Score: 0.31 - Not suggesting.
bad! Click Next
Even after only a few good captures, the image on the right
This tells you: should appear to be free of lens distortion, as shown here:

• The image was successfully captured

• The resolution of the captured image is 2592 x 1944
(higher is better)
• The calibration pattern was found in this image
• This image scored reasonably well - Lower scores are
better. In this image, after distortion removal, the
positions of the dots in the image align with the positions
of the real dots with an average error of only 0.31 pixels -
That's pretty good, and just barely outside our target A poorly calibrated result will still show lens distortion, and
score of 0.3 pixels of error. may have other artifacts, like the "wobble" seen in the
lower-left of the gray image below:
You may find that although the circles themselves are clear
and undistorted, the background around them is noticeably
worse. This is temporary and is the result of only having a

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 5.7.4 Camera Calibration

If you aren't getting good results, you can re-capture the

current image, or just go back to the beginning and try
again. It can take a few tries to get a feel for how to align
the card with the camera to get the lowest score.

When you have advanced through all the steps, and you are
satisfied that you have a good calibration result with a nicely
undistorted image, click Finish to save the results. You can
also click the "Align Camera" button in the final page to take
you to the next wizard automatically.

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 5.7.5 Camera Alignment

Camera DSP GRBL Galvo Tools

5.7.5 Camera Alignment

Now that the camera is calibrated, you can move on to the

next step, camera alignment. This process tells LightBurn
where your camera is in relation to the workspace of your
machine.

Before you start, make sure the camera is firmly mounted in

the position it will be when using it. You can mount the
camera to a movable piece of your laser, like the lid, as long
as the position of the camera is the same when you use it as
it is when you go through the alignment process.

Preparation

• Make sure your camera is securely mounted and correctly

positioned, as described above
Camera Alignment Wizard window
• Make sure you have a piece of material you can burn the
calibration pattern onto. This should be at least 200 mm x
200 mm (roughly 8" square), but you may want larger Important Preparation
materials for large lasers.
• Focus your laser based on the material you're using. Before starting the alignment process, please make sure
your camera is securely mounted in the position you'll be
• In the "Tools" menu, choose "Calibrate Camera Alignment"
using it in.
to start the alignment wizard. Choose the same camera
you did for the Lens Calibration wizard.
• After verifying that you see an image from the camera, STEP 1
click "Next" to enter the alignment wizard.
Place your material in the center of your workplace. The
material thickness setting can be ignored if you don't usually
use it.

STEP 2

Enter appropriate speed and power settings to get a

moderately dark mark without burning through. This will
vary based on your laser and the material you're using, so
we can't provide these for you.

On a large laser, it may help to scale the pattern up in this

step to increase accuracy. Make sure you use large enough
material. On a 900x600 mm laser, I used a little over 200%
scale.

STEP 3

Frame the pattern to make sure it's positioned on the

material you're using.

STEP 4
You should see something similar to this.
Run the cut. If it's not dark enough, you can adjust the
settings and run it again. When the pattern is clearly visible
Cutting the Alignment Pattern
and easy to see, click "Next".
The rest of this process will be completed within the Camera
Alignment Wizard. This tool uses your laser to cut a target
pattern onto a piece of material, such as card stock, paper,
cardboard, or thin wood and asks you to indicate the center
of the targets.

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 5.7.5 Camera Alignment

Camera alignment capture completed. The image should be

Your target pattern should look like something like this
clean and undistorted. If not, please use the lens calibration
wizard to calibrate the camera.
Warning
Click "Next" when complete

Don't move the target marker image after cutting it! The
location within the laser is important to make sure the Marking the Targets
process works correctly.
On this page you 'tag' each of the targets by double-clicking
If your camera is mounted to a moving part of the laser, in the center of each one in order. You can pan and zoom
such as the lid, make sure that before you begin capturing
around the image using the same controls as the LightBurn
the target marker image, you have the camera in the same
edit and preview windows. When you double-click, a red '+'
position it will be in when you're using it.
mark will appear. Place a marker in the center of each of the
four targets, in the order they are numbered (1, 2, 3, 4). If
you place one incorrectly, you can double click near it to
Capturing the Target Marker Image shift it around, or click "Undo Last" to remove it and try
again.
From this screen, you'll capture the alignment image. Use
the jog or "send to corner" buttonsto move the laser out of
the view of the camera. When the camera has a clear view
of all four targets, click the Capture button. You should see
an undistorted version of the camera view appear in the
right side of the window, with all four corner targets visible,
as shown below:

Marking the targets.

Place each marker as accurately as you can. Zooming in can

help.

Camera alignment capture window

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 5.7.5 Camera Alignment

Zooming in on the target Final placement of all four markers.

Here's an example of a correctly placed marker. Click Next to finish the marker placement screen and click
Finish to complete the process and store the results. You're
done!

Now that everything is aligned, open the Camera Control

window again, and click "Update Overlay" or use ⎇ Alt
+ C to capture and project whatever happens to be in the
camera view onto your workspace, as shown:

Marking the target

When you have placed all four markers in order, zoom back
out and verify that all four are visible and clearly centered
on the targets, like this: Click the "Fade" button to dim the background image, or the
"Show" button to toggle it off and on.

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 5.7.6 Using the Camera

Camera DSP GRBL Galvo Tools

You can also right-click on the window to open the camera

5.7.6 Using the Camera selection tool, calibrate and align your camera, and import/
export your camera calibration and alignment settings. As of
You can use the camera in LightBurn to display an overlay in
version 1.4, you can import and export head-mounted
the workspace, allowing placement of designs directly on
camera settings in addition to fixed cameras.
objects or oddly shaped materials. You can also trace
artwork from the camera.
Tracing from the camera
To begin, you'll want to make sure the Camera Control
window is visible. It can be turned on from the Window Tracing an image using the camera works in the same way
menu if not currently active. as the regular image trace function, and you can find more
detail on the trace settings on that page.

To begin tracing, click the Trace button in the Camera

Control window. This will bring up a preview of what will be
traced.

Tracing artwork from the camera

The camera control window.

Camera Control Window

Camera Select the appropriate camera

Update Capture a new image to use as the

Overlay camera overlay

Trace Open the camera trace dialog

Save Save the Shift and Scale

Settings adjustments
Camera trace preview
Fade Toggle whether or not the camera
overlay is dimmed It's likely that the artwork you're tracing won't take up the
camera's entire view. In the image above, you can see that
Show Toggle whether or not the camera the edge of the paper and the honeycomb bed are both
capture is visible as an overlay being caught in the trace, when all I really want is the
LightBurn logo. You can draw a boundary around the artwork
Width/ Scale settings for the camera
you want to trace to tell LightBurn to ignore everything
Height capture
outside that boundary.
X Shift/Y Shift the camera capture
Shift

Preview A preview image of what the

camera sees

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 5.7.6 Using the Camera

Only the area inside the rectangle will be traced. Using the camera overlay to place the traced logo on an object

After pressing the OK button, the artwork is processed.

The traced logo is visible on top of the camera overlay

Using the Overlay

The camera overlay can make placing designs easier. When

using it, LightBurn will automatically switch the Start From
setting to Absolute Coords. This is necessary so the Final result, showing the LightBurn logo engraved on a tag as
artwork placement on the screen matches the output on the shown in the overlay
laser. Also remember to update the overlay when you move
things around on the laser bed.

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 5.8 Machine Guides

5.8 Machine Guides

Machine Guides Ruida Thunder Laser

5.8.1 Connecting via Ethernet to Ruida

Controllers

To avoid using long USB cables, you may want to send jobs
to the Ruida controller in your laser via Ethernet networking.
This is a guide on how to do so. The line that says IPv4 Address is what you're looking for.
Make a note of this address and move on to choosing a
unique IP address.
Networking
Mac
Ruida controllers operate over IPv4, or Internet Protocol
Version 4, which consists of unique external and unique Open Spotlight with ⌘ Cmd + Space and type "IPv4" into the
"local" addresses within a network. Ruida controllers need a search bar to bring up your IP address in system settings.
"static" IP, or one that's unchanging. Most modern
networking involves DHCP, where addresses are "loaned"
temporarily to devices, like laptops and phones. More in-
depth networking information can be found at Google
Support, Simple Wikipedia's explanation, or other technical
resources like Cisco or Meraki's websites. This is a complex
topic with a wide range of possible setups, so we are unable
to cover every situation.

In order to connect a Ruida controller over Ethernet, you'll

need to select a static IP address that doesn't interfere with
other devices on your network. If you're comfortable doing
that on your own, select an IP address appropriate for your
network and jump ahead to setting the IP address on the
controller. Otherwise, keep reading for help.

Choose an IP address

Choosing a static IP address that doesn't interfere with other

devices on your network can be a little tricky if you aren't
already comfortable with computer networking, but home
networks are usually small enough that we can get by with Make a note of this address and move on to choosing a
picking an address that's unlikely to be used already. unique IP address.

For more complex network situations, such as a school or 2. CHOOSE A UNIQUE IP ADDRESS FOR YOUR LASER
work network, we recommend working with your IT/
networking team to select an IP address and connect your Start with the IP address you found in the previous step. The
laser to ensure that you don't cause problems for your first three segments need to stay the same, but the last
network infrastructure. segment needs to be a value from 1 to 255 that isn't already
used on your network. An easy trick that usually works is to
1. FIND YOUR COMPUTER'S IP ADDRESS add or subtract 100 from your computer's address. This
makes it less likely that another device connecting to your
To start, you'll want to find your computer's local IP address.
network will automatically be given the same IP address you
It will be four sets of numbers separated by periods, similar
choose.
to 192.168.1.19 . See below for tips on how to do that on
Windows and Mac.
Starting IP Try this IP address
Windows address

Open the command prompt (type "cmd" in the start menu or 10.10.1.154 10.10.1.54 (subtracted 100)

in the ⊞ Win + R search box). At the command prompt,

192.168.2.201 192.168.2.101 (subtracted
type ipconfig , and press Enter ⏎ . Your results will look 100)
similar to this:
10.100.50.14 10.100.50.114 (added 100)

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 5.8.1 Connecting via Ethernet to Ruida Controllers

This trick doesn't guarantee a unique address, so if it's not

working, try a few different IP addresses by varying the last
segment.

Set the IP address on the controller

Note

Some Ruida controllers have different menu and button

configurations. This is a guideline, not a hard and fast rule.

On the Ruida controller, use the Z/U or Menu buttons to

enter the menu, navigate to "IP config+" , and press enter to
access that menu setting. On the right side of the screen,
the IP address field and gateway will be visible. Use the left/
right arrows to move through the octets (sections), and the
up/down arrows to change the value. Press and hold the up/
down arrows to quickly change the value.

Select the Ruida controller from the list of compatible

controllers.

When done, press the "Enter" button.

Add the laser in LightBurn

Ruida controllers accessed over a network are their own

type of connection for a device, so in the "Devices" menu,
click "Create Manually".

Select "Ethernet/UDP" as the communication method.

Warning

In the event this communication method proves unreliable,

you may want to consider using a LightBurn Bridge,
especially if you're using macOS. The Bridge provides a
much more stable network connection than the Ruida
controller's UDP connection.

Enter the IP that you assigned to your laser.

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 5.8.1 Connecting via Ethernet to Ruida Controllers

And now you're ready to go!

Note

Steps below this point are likely to mirror the setup of any
prior USB connections set up for the same hardware.

Enter the size of your laser's bed and name the device as it'll
show up in your menus.

Verifying

In LightBurn, the status bar on the bottom of the main

window will show connection status to the device. In the
event LightBurn cannot find your laser, it's likely to show like
below.

Enter the origin (0,0) position of your machine.

In the event your networking is spotty, you can right-click

the "Devices" button to restart the currently selected device
connection.

Source

This guide was originally made for our Forums on October

20th, 2019. You can find the original guide here.

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 5.8.2 Connecting via Ethernet to Trocen Controllers

Machine Guides Trocen

More in-depth networking information can be found at

5.8.2 Connecting via Ethernet to Trocen sources like Google Support, Simple Wikipedia's explanation,
Controllers or other technical resources like Cisco or Meraki's websites.
This is a complex topic with a wide range of possibile setups,
To avoid using long USB cables, you may want to send jobs so we are unable to cover every situation.
to the Trocen controller in your laser via Ethernet
ON CONTROLLER
networking. This is a guide on how to do so.

Note
Attention

Some Trocen controllers have different menuing and button

This section is new, and is a work in progress. Be sure to let configurations. This is a guideline, not a hard and fast rule.
us know on the forums or via support if we need to change
something. Thank you!
On the Trocen controller, use the Menu button to enter the
menu, navigate to "Network Settings , and press enter / the
Networking mouse pointer button to access that menu setting.

Trocen controllers operate over IPv4, or Internet Protocol

Version 4, which consists of unique external and unique
"local" addresses within a network. Trocen controllers need a
"static" IP, or one that's unchanging. More modern
networking involves DHCP, where addresses are "loaned"
temporarily to devices, like laptops and phones.

In Windows, if you open the command prompt ("cmd" in the

start menu or in the Win+R "Run" box) and type "ipconfig",
it'll look something like this.

CHOOSING AN IP

Each octet of the IP will be editable, enter the menu, exit

IP Address Example For Home Networks that subsection, and continue to enter your IP for the laser.

1. Look for the line in ipconfig giving your IP address

IPv4 . . . 192.168.1.225

2. Remove the last section 192.168.1.225

3. Replace it with a number between 230 and 250 192.168.1.
235

This will probably be safe to use on a home network, but it

isn't guaranteed. See links to the left for help.

Unfortunately, choosing a static IP address can be a little

tricky. Home networks are usually small and pretty simple,
so the steps in the blue box to the right will usually be
enough to help you choose an unused IP address. If you run
into problems with the first number you try, it may be worth
trying one or two others to see if there's a conflict.

In more complex network situations, such as a school or When done, exit the menu.
shop network, we recommend working with your IT/
networking team to select an IP address and ensure that you
don't cause problems for your network infrastructure.

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 5.8.2 Connecting via Ethernet to Trocen Controllers

In LightBurn

Trocen controllers accessed over a network are their own

type of connection for a device, so in the "Devices" menu,
click "Create Manually".

Note

Steps below this point are likely to mirror the setup of any
prior USB connections set up for the same hardware.

Enter the size of your laser's bed and name the device as it'll
show up in your menus.
Select the Trocen controller from the list of compatible
controllers.

Enter the origin (0,0) position of your machine.

Select "Ethernet/UDP" as the communication method.

Enter the IP that was assigned or arrived at for use given the
information above.

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 5.8.2 Connecting via Ethernet to Trocen Controllers

And you're ready to go, assuming all is good!

Verifying

In LightBurn, the status bar on the bottom of the main

window will show connection status to the device. In the
event LightBurn cannot find your laser, it's likely to show like
below.

In the event your networking is spotty, you can right-click

the "Devices" button to re-connect to any laser; not just your
Trocen controller.

Source

This guide was originally made for our Forums on October

20th, 2019. You can find the original guide here.

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 5.8.3 WiFi Connection (GRBL)

GRBL Network WiFi

5.8.3 WiFi Connection (GRBL) Part 2: Find Network Info in Console

This tutorial explains how to set up a GRBL laser over a local Immediately after you connect to your laser, you should see
network (e.g. your home router). a series of messages in the console describing your laser's
status.
The Sculpfun iCube is used as an example, but the process
should be similar for any GRBL device capable of network
connections.

We’ve attempted to point out anything that is device-

specific throughout, but GRBL network configuration is not
fully standardized. If your device's network settings don't
match this guide, please email support or visit our forum,
where we can help you with your device and gather the
information we need to update this page to help other users.

Part 1: Connect Over USB

Why do I need USB? Isn't this about WiFi?

You'll need to connect with USB to update a few settings on

your laser. If your laser is already connected with USB, you
can skip to Part 2.

If your laser is already connected to WiFi and you just want

Network status as part of the status messages shown when
to connect a second computer to it, you can skip to Part 4.
connecting to a GRBL laser

You need information about your laser's network status,

1. Turn on the device and connect to the computer with a USB
shown in the line starting with Radio Mode :
cable.
2. Use the USB connection to add the device as described in Find [Radio Mode: AP, Sculpfun iCube44285, 192.168.4.1, Not connected]
My Laser.
3. Select the device in the Laser window: Your laser won't send the exact same message, but you
should see something similar. Here's what each part of the
• If you see Ready right below the title bar of the window, your
message means, based on the example above:
laser is connected and ready to use.
• If you see Busy and a green progress bar, your device is busy Message Meaning Explanation
doing something. Many GRBL devices will home themselves
when first connected, so you'll see the Busy message until Radio Mode: Network If you see AP
homing is complete. AP type, here, your laser
typically is in Access Point
• If you see Disconnected, your device is not connected. Make either AP mode, allowing
sure you have the correct serial port selected (the dropdown or STA you to connect
that says COM4 in the above screenshot). If your laser still directly to the
isn't connecting, select (Choose) in the same dropdown and laser over WiFi. If
then reselect the serial port to reset the connection. If you're you haven't
still unable to connect, please see Troubleshooting: Connection changed your
Problems. laser's network
settings, it will
4. Open up the Console window:
likely be in this
• By default, the Console window is in the same section of the mode. If you see
screen as the Cuts / Layers and Move windows. STA here, your

• If you don't see the Console window, go to the Window menu laser is in Station
and make sure Console is checked. mode and will
attempt to
• In the next two sections of this guide, you'll use the Console connect to an
window to configure your network connection. existing WiFi
network. This is
not universal,
and some
devices are

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 5.8.3 WiFi Connection (GRBL)

Message Meaning Explanation to connect, check your laser's user manual for the default
password. For the Sculpfun used as an example here, the
configured
default password is "12345678".
differently.

Sculpfun WiFi The name of the

If your laser uses a web interface, enter the IP Address from
iCube44285 network WiFi network the Part 2 where you would usually type in a website's URL to
name, or laser is either access it.
SSID broadcasting (in
Here are the settings you will need to configure, although
Access Point
mode) or they may be displayed differently for your laser:
attempting to
connect to (in Name Value Notes
Station mode).
Network Typically STA You want to
192.168.4.1 Laser's IP This is the IP type or Station connect to an
address Address of the existing network.
machine — it's You don't want AP
how a computer or Access Point
knows where to
SSID Your WiFi Newer routers
find it on a
network's may have 2.4GHz
network.
name, or and 5GHz
Not Connection This tells you SSID connections
Connected Status whether your available. If you
laser is see both, choose
connected with 2.4GHz
any devices over
Password Your WiFi Enter this
the network
network's carefully to avoid
connection.
password entering it
incorrectly
Your specific device may not match this exactly. Please email
support or visit our forum if you need help with your specific CONFIGURATION IN LIGHTBURN
device.
To configure your laser's network settings, you will need to
use the Console window.
Part 3: Configure Network Connection
Network configuration varies between devices, so check
This process varies between devices. If you're not sure how your laser's user manual for more information. The Sculpfun
to change WiFi settings and the directions below don't work used as an example here came with a sheet of paper listing
for you, try checking your laser's user manual or seeking the appropriate parameters. Regardless of what laser you're
support from your laser's manufacturer. These settings are using, you will need to change the settings listed below, but
stored on the laser, so once your laser connects to the the number after $ may be different for your specific laser:
network, you shouldn't need to repeat this process until your
WiFi network changes. Name Parameter Value

Your laser may come with a mobile app or web interface that Network $50 Typically STA
allows you to configure network settings. If you aren't able type
(or don't want) to use these, skip ahead to Configuration in
SSID $53 The name of the
LightBurn.
WiFi network to
CONFIGURATION WITH APP OR WEB INTERFACE connect to

Password $54 The password to

Tip connect to the
WiFi network

Many devices will automatically disconnect from a WiFi

network without an internet connection. You may need to Each command given is entered into the text box at the
modify your device's network settings to connect directly to bottom of the Console Window and followed by pressing
your laser. See the support resources for your phone or Enter ⏎ .
computer for help with your network settings.
To check the value for any of these parameters before
changing it, you can use the parameter without assigning a
If your laser is in Access Point mode, you may be able to value. To change the value, add =YOURVALUE after the
configure the network connection using a mobile app parameter. As an example, $53 will show the name of the
provided by the manufacturer or a web interface. This isn't WiFi network to connect to. $53=MyWifiNetwork will configure
always possible and the process varies between lasers, but the laser to connect to a network called "MyWifiNetwork".
in general you will need to start by connecting a phone or
computer to the laser's WiFi network. If you need a password

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 5.8.3 WiFi Connection (GRBL)

Each of the following steps will use the parameters shown

above. If your laser's manufacturer provides different
parameters, use those parameters.

Known Exceptions

The Spider X1 requires that $50 be set to 2 to enable WiFi.

As we identify additional devices that differ from the
settings shown above, we will add them here.

Set Network Type

Use $54=Password1234 to set the WiFi password, replacing

"Password1234" with your actual password. The screenshot
above also shows how to use $54 to check the saved
password.

Make sure you type in your password accurately, including

capitalization. This should be the password to connect to
WiFi, not the login info for your computer or any accounts
you may have.

CHECK CONNECTION

Use $50=STA to set your laser to Station mode. This tells it to

connect to an existing network.

Don't worry for now if you see [MSG: No SSID] or a similar

message in the Console window. This is your laser's way of
telling you that it doesn't know what network to connect to
yet.

Set Network Name

Status message showing successful network connection

After configuring network settings, you may need to restart

your laser to get it to connect. The Radio Mode status
message now shows updated network settings and ends
with Connected :

[Radio Mode: STA, ExampleNetwork, 192.168.9.173, Connected]

Make sure you write down the IP Address ( 192.168.9.173 in

the example above) for easy access in Part 4.

Use $53=ExampleNetwork , to set the SSID, replacing Part 4: Network Connection in LightBurn
"ExampleNetwork" with the actual name of your WiFi
network. Once you have an IP address, you can set up a network
connection in LightBurn.
Make sure you type accurately, including capitalization.
1. In the Laser Window, click the Devices button and choose
Set Password Create Manually. Click Next to continue.
2. Select GRBL to create a new GRBL device and click Next.
3. Select Ethernet/TCP as your connection type and click Next.

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 5.8.3 WiFi Connection (GRBL)

4. Enter your device's IP address from Part 3 and click Next. • Check that the SSID and password are correct.
5. Give the device a name that makes sense to you and set the • If you are using a 5GHz WiFi network, try using a 2.4GHz
size of the work area. Click Next. network instead. Most routers that have 5GHz WiFi will
6. Check that the origin and homing settings are correct and click also have a second SSID for 2.4GHz.
Next. • Ensure your computer is connected to the same network
7. Make sure the summary looks correct and click Finish. as your laser.
• If you have trouble connecting, you may need to change
At this point, you should be able to connect to your laser
the network port LightBurn is using to communicate with
through the network connection by selecting the device
your laser.
you've just added in LightBurn.
• If you can connect but the laser is stuttering, stopping, or
restarting mid-job, you may need to switch to
Troubleshooting Synchronous Transfer Mode.

• If your laser isn't able to connect to the WiFi network in

Part 4:

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 5.8.4 Adding Limit Switches to Sculpfun S9 Diode Lasers

LIMIT SWITCHES
5.8.4 Adding Limit Switches to Sculpfun S9 Diode
Limit switches are small, electro-mechanical devices that
Lasers when depressed, create a pathway for a signal to pass
through. We can use them to tell the laser's controller that
This guide shows the steps to install limit switches on a
we've reached the end of their motion.
Sculpfun S9 diode laser using off the shelf components, and
some laser cut parts. This enables reliable, consistent
alignment within the engraving or cutting area with less
work for the operator. This guide will be applicable to other
diode lasers (such as an AtomStack), especially those using
a MKS DLC 2.0 control board and similar.

This enables the use of LightBurn features on these

machines, including:

• Print and Cut

• Center Finder Tool
• Using A Camera

Danger In this guide, we'll be using a 3 wire style limit switch,

mounted to a printed circuit board to make installing it on
This guide assumes electrical and mechanical know-how to your machine easier.
safely install and enable these features. Please take care to LIMIT SWITCH CABLING
avoid damaging the machine and those around it, including
you! These cables are responsible for passing the signal back to
your laser, and through checks are required to connect them
Proceed with caution!
correctly. If the cable is too short, it can damage the
connector, damage your diode laser, or other components.

What You'll Need

Before Disassembly
Some of the materials you'd need (but not neccesarily all)
include: If you intend to use the laser cut brackets for the limit
switches, you'll want to cut those before disassembling your
• A compatible diode laser laser for installation.
• 3 Pin Limit Switches
CUTTING OUT BRACKETS
• servo extension cables
Same as with standard use of your laser, you'll want to focus
• If your cables don't comfortably reach, you may need to
the head relative to the cutting material, in our case, some
purchase or assemble an extension cable yourself.
thin 3 mm wood.
• Brackets to hold limit switches to your frame (one per limit
switch on your frame)
• LBRN File for Laser Cutting (cut from 3 mm wood or
acrylic)
• STL File for 3D Printing
• M3 2020 T-nuts
• M3 Screws
• M3 Hex Driver
• 2020 Extrusion Cover
• Scissors (to cut said extrusion cover)
• Zip Ties (to fasten the limit switch cables)

If you'd like to create custom cables rather than use a servo

extension cable, here are the ones we used.

• Engineer PA-09 Crimper

• Wire
• JST Connectors

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 5.8.4 Adding Limit Switches to Sculpfun S9 Diode Lasers

DOCUMENT SETUP

Use the LightBurn preview window to ensure that your

document as set up looks good. The default settings for the
S9 should be adequate. We used:

250mm/m
100% Power Max (%)
Pass Count: 2

This process should be repeated such that a limit switch is

positioned for both the X and Y axes of the machine.

You may want to use the "Square Frame" command within

LightBurn to ensure the material you're engraving has the
sufficient area to cut out the brackets.
Wiring
Mechanical Installation
Our limit switches are labeled as having three pins for use:
To install the limit switches, you'll need to insert an M3 2020
• G - Ground
t-nut into the frame sideways, and then rotate it 90° in the
frame slot to align correctly for retention. You may need • V - Voltage
other tools to insert & rotate them appropriately; we found • S - Signal
that a small flat-bladed screwdriver may be helpful.
This labeling also applies to the printed circuit board that
has the control electronics of the laser. Be sure to match
each axis' limit switch to the correct connector and direction,
for X or Y axis as is correct.

When mounting the limit switch, place the cut or printed

spacer underneath the limit switch board, and oriented it
such that the "arm" of the limit switch faces the head of the
laser.
Notes on Extensions
Here we use a M3 x 8 mm screw to fasten the board to the
frame. The cables we're using, while they technically fit, aren't
what's intended on these connectors. We suggest you use a
crimper and make a custom cable, but we understand this
isn't possible for everyone and opted to include this as a
more accessible option.

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 5.8.4 Adding Limit Switches to Sculpfun S9 Diode Lasers

The preferred way would have the user crimp JST

connections on a single length of cable per axis and make it
exactly to length, but we recognize this isn't always an
option.

Danger

Please be aware that use of "PWM" style connectors in a JST

housing permits the inversion of the connection, potentially
damaging your laser. Ensure the pins are connected with
the correct labels (i.e. ground to ground, signal to signal,
etc.) before turning on your laser on.

Next you'll need to test the machine while opened up. This
allows you to resolve those issues you might encounter
more easily. Carefully reconnect power and USB to the
device, and turn it back on.

The diode laser won't immediately understand how to use

the limit switches, and as such, we'll need to do software
configuration within LightBurn.

Software

The first major check is to ensure that upon re-powering the

device, LightBurn can still see your laser; confirm this
through the Console dock. If so, you'll need to use the
following codes to enable limit switch homing.
When continuing to hook up the wiring, you'll likely want to
route the extensions or connections through the pre-existing
hole in the housing, or through the vent holes on the side.
This ensures you can re-close the housing and protect your
electronics.

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 5.8.4 Adding Limit Switches to Sculpfun S9 Diode Lasers

Taking these values, go back to the "Console" tab and enter

the following GCode command:

G10 L2 P1 X-409 Y-399

These values directly use the data observed just prior, with
the L2 P1 portion indicating to the device the specific offset
mode (corrent workspace offsets to the specified values) and
P1 to the "tool number" (value of 1, the first and only
$22=1
present on this machine).

We'll also need to tell the machine's status reporting to be

relative to the workspace origin, and we can do that with:
Danger
$10=0
Be ready to power off the machine in the event it does
something unintended and dangerous. STOCK FIRMWARE WARNING

Many devices don't actually have GRBL firmware that by

This GRBL command enables limit-switch based homing. To default stores these values in the memory of the laser's
test your homing behavior, click the "Home" button in controller. As such, rebooting would wipe these values out,
LightBurn in the "Laser" window. reverting the work you've done.

If your device attempts to home in the wrong direction, you The correct fix would be to re-flash the firmware, of which
may need to change the "homing location" via more GRBL we'll have a guide for soon. However, in the interim you can
commands. use the "Macros" button under the "Console" window.

For ours, we needed to do $23=3 to chose the near, left side By right-clicking the button, we can re-name it, and combine
as our 'home' location. If your device has the limit switches all of our commands together for use, which might look
in another location, you'll want to reference this guide as to something like this:
what the different values mean with respect to limit switch
"bitmasks".

HOMING SPEED

By default, our device was rather slow during the homing

process, and we changed the following to allow it to home
more quickly.

$25=8000 (homing speed)

$24=100 (re-seek speed)

The final configuration information needed are for the

workspace offset, which we can find by looking in the
"Move" window when clicking "Get Position".

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 5.8.4 Adding Limit Switches to Sculpfun S9 Diode Lasers

If you'd like to copy this behavior and simply use it as-is, still
verify your G10 command has the correct offsets.

$22=1
$23=3
$25=8000
$24=100
G10 L2 P1 X-409 Y-399
$10=0

Reassembly

Once we've confirmed that this configuration works

correctly, we can begin to reassemble our housing and more
permanently install the wires for the limit switches. Turn the
You can use 2020 extrusion covers cut to size to protect and
machine off to do so, to avoid any errant connections of the
hide the wires inside the grooves of the extrusion frame, and
case to the electronics resulting in a short.
zip-tie the limit switch cable for the gantry to the pre-
existing cable to the diode head itself.

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 5.8.5 Flashing Guide

Machine Guides Sculpfun S9

5.8.5 Flashing Guide

If your Sculpfun S9 (or similar laser) doesn't have the ability

to permanently save changes made to the firmware, you
may need to re-flash the microcontroller inside of it. This lets
the brain running the diode use newer features of GRBL (the
software controlling your laser inside it's electronics)
effectively, and helps you avoid the possibility of forgetting
to click the homing button.

Prerequisites

While this guide requires no additional physical components,

several downloads are needed.

• Arduino IDE
• GRBL (with tweaks to disable Z axis)

Info

This guide was written for older versions of the Arduino IDE
released before 2.0. Major changes were made when that
version was released, and as such, this guide may not work
with them. Please revert to use these steps, or find a newer
guide to update your laser. Thank you!

Warning BACKUP VIA CONSOLE

To successfully flash your laser, high attention to detail is Using the Console, you can enter "$$" to get the GRBL
needed. Flashing your firmware incorrectly can damage values of the machine to supplement those from the
your machine. Read the whole guide, start to finish, before Machine Settings window. This gives you a further
trying to flash your machine. verification step to make sure the laser's behavior is as
intended after flashing. Copy those to a text editor like
Notepad or TextEdit and save for safekeeping.
Prep

Plug in your laser's power and USB, connect it to your Attention

computer, and open LightBurn.
At this point, please close LightBurn. Not doing so will cause
In LightBurn, use the macro created in the Limit Switch flashing errors later in this process.
Guide to apply the needed limit switch firmware changes,
and afterwards use the Edit -> Machine Settings dialog. In
this window, you'll want to click "Save to file". This allows Arduino IDE
you to save a backup of the laser's configuration that's know
to work before we flash firmware and reset all of those To flash a newer version of GRBL to your laser, you'll need to
settings. download Arduino IDE. As a toolkit to enable microcontroller
development in a friendly bundle, it allows you to make any
changes we might need to make, connect to the laser, and
send the new version of GRBL to your device.

You'l need to install Arduino IDE through the appropriate

installer for your system, but the specifics will vary
computer to computer.

GRBL

To actually have something to flash to the laser, you'll need

GRBL. An off-the-shelf version of GRBL however, assumes
we have three axes, not two. As a result, when it goes to

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 5.8.5 Flashing Guide

home the "Z" axis, it never proceeds to the next step as it

PORT & BOARD CONFIGURATION
physically cannot trigger a limit switch that doesn't exist.
We're working with a board resembling the MKS DLC 2.0,
To make this step easier, we already made the necessary
running an Atmel 328p. To the Arduino IDE, this is an
modifications to the last current (1.1h) GRBL version for you,
Arduino Uno, as that's the chip the Uno is based on. Under
disabling the third axis. Download the file linked and extract
Tools, Board, select "Arduino Uno" near the top of the list.
it.
You'll also need to select the correct port to send the
Setting Up Arduino IDE firmware on, so open Tools, Port, and take note of the ports
listed.
In Arduino IDE, we'll need to open the Sketch Menu, click
"Include Library", and then "Add .ZIP Library". This allows us Connect your laser via USB and check the Ports menu again
to tell The Arduino IDE that the code you've downloaded is to look for any new devices. Unplug and replug your laser
something you need it to use. once more to confirm the port the laser is on, and select it.

Warning

Make sure that "Makefile", "COPYING" and "README.md" are

visible in the folder you select; the folder inside of that one
labeled grbl is not the correct folder for Arduino IDE to
recognize it.

In other words, select the grbl folder in the root of the ZIP
you extracted.

Flashing

Use the checkmark at the top left to verify that you've

set the project up correctly, and note on the bottom of the
screen above the black terminal area says "Done compiling."
when you do so. If it does, we're ready to upload!

You'll then need to go back to the menu by going to Sketch,

Include Library and ensure that "grbl" is listed under
"Contributed Libraries".

To get ready to flash your board, open the "File" menu,

Examples, "grbl" and "grblUpload". It will open a new
window containing the sketch mostly ready to go. You'll need
to select your board and port still, and tell Arduino how and
where to upload the new firmware.
Click the arrow button to the right of the checkmark,
and it'll begin to flash to your laser! When "Done uploading."
is shown, you can continue!

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 5.8.5 Flashing Guide

Once more and verify that the settings match that of the
Note macro made originally, and/or the backup file we made
when backing up via Console.
If there's an error shown that it can't access the port in
some way, make sure that you closed LightBurn. Only one
device can "have control" of certain peripherals, and
Arduino IDE needs full control of that device for a moment
to send the new firmware.

Restoring Settings

In LightBurn, open the Machine Settings menu again, and

click "Load from file", selecting the "lbset" or "LightBurn
Settings" file we'd made at the start of the guide. At this
point, click "Write" to apply these settings to our machine's
firmware. This transfers the configuration back to the
machine, and writes them to EEPROM, or programmable
memory. This means our homing behavior will be consistent
through machine reboots.

When this has finished, the window will show "controller

settings written successfully".

Verifying

In the console, enter

$$ Finished!

If these settings hold, you'll be able to click the "Home"

button in LightBurn and have it home automatically, without
any additional use of macros.

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 6. Galvo Docs

6. Galvo Docs

Galvo LightBurn 1.2

6.1 LightBurn & Galvos

If this is your first time using LightBurn, you'll definitely want to take a look at the user interface guide first and maybe some
hotkeys first before diving in.

6.1.1 Getting Started 6.1.5 Frequently Asked Questions

• Glossary Can I import an EZCAD project/parameter/file?

• Galvo Installation - This is Windows-only and covers the LightBurn as of 1.2.00, does not have the ability to import or
driver changes needed to control your galvo laser. If open EZCAD project files or parameters. Due to the file
you're not using Windows, you can skip ahead to Galvo format not being documented, and the sheer volume of
Setup effort to produce a useful, cohesive importer, it simply isn't
• Galvo Setup (importing configs, getting them from your possible at the moment. The exception to this is lens
correction files, as outlined here.
manufacturer)
• Lens Correction (Bulge, Skew, Trapezoid, Stretch)
LightBurn on Linux doesn't recognize fiber laser
• Framing Mode
plugged in with USB
• Focusing
• Cylinder Correction This is an issue we haven't generally encountered in our own
testing in Ubuntu and Fedora, the two distros we support.
• Galvo Settings
The laser is treated as a libusb device and should just work.
• Sub-Layers However, this is occasionally an issue with USB permissions.
• Rotaries Please try the following, as discussed on our forum.

• Unplug your laser from the computer.

6.1.2 Intermediate Mechanics
• Run sudo gedit /etc/udev/rules.d/usb.rules (you can use
any text editor you prefer) and enter the following
• Changing A Lens
contents:
• 3D Sliced Engravings
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", MODE="0666"
• Anatomy of a Galvo
• Save the file and close.
• Run: sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
6.1.3 Involved Topics & Diagnostics
• Now plug your galvo USB connection back into the
• Laser Timings (for dealing with the physical limitations of machine.
galvo heads)
• Run LightBurn without sudo and you should be able to
• IO Port Control (external event triggering) automatically find and connect to the device.

Where are the hatch settings?

6.1.4 Galvo Crash Course from Laser Everything Hatch in EZCAD is the equivalent of "Fill" in LightBurn;
looking at the different modes for Cut Settings Editor is
Our friends at Laser Everything have put together some
highly suggested to make the best use of LightBurn with
fantastic videos on using LightBurn for Galvo. We encourage
your galvo. We also have a page comparing EZCAD hatch
you to check out their YouTube Channel for additional
settings with LightBurn fill settings to help you match the
resources.
settings you're used to.

It won't connect to LightBurn after moving USB ports!

Some lasers require you to fully reboot the device after

moving USB ports. The suggested workflow is:

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 6.1.5 Frequently Asked Questions

temporarily, LightBurn can trace screenshots of Ezcad easily

1. Turn the laser fully off. to import placement in many situations.
2. Move the USB cable to the correct port.
3. Turn the laser back on. My galvo is trying to engrave my rotary, what's wrong?

LightBurn allows you to offset your rotary's "center" when

Can I convert from EZCAD2 to LightBurn files?
engraving with a rotary, to compensate for the rotary being
As of 1.2.01, you cannot import an Ezcad2 project file to aligned physically to the frame on a different pattern than
LightBurn directly. If the grid in Ezcad is turned off your lens. Please see the section on output centers for more
information.

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 6.2 Glossary (Galvo)

6.2 Glossary (Galvo)

Attention

This section is new, and is a work in progress. Be sure to let us know on the forums or via support if we need to change something.
Thank you!

6.2.1 Galvo 6.2.5 Framing

A type of laser apparatus that uses a series of actuated Framing allows you to accurately position work. It's an
mirrors to reflect the beam of a laser source around at high operation that outlines the job in real life on the object/
speeds. This contrasts to "gantry" style lasers, that move a material, but using a lower power, so it doesn't cut/engrave
series of mirrors along the gantry itself with a "lens" at the it. It usually requires you to be accurately focused.
end to focus it, or diode lasers that move the laser souce
itself, (usually using a gantry).

6.2.6 Frame/Base
6.2.2 Source
This is the portion of a galvo laser that holds up the tower
and ensures it's rigid and won't tip over. It usually has a
This is the portion of a galvo laser responsible for producing
work table larger than the tower above it for stability.
the beam itself used for operation. While not a laser tube
inherently, laser sources are similar in purpose to the tubes
found in CO2 gantry lasers. 6.2.7 Cleanup Pass

A final pass, usually at a tighter line width, higher frequency,

6.2.3 MOPA and a lower power. Done to to clean up soot and debris from
more ablative processing.
Master Oscillator Power Amplifier lasers are a specific class
of fiber laser sources that enable pulse duration to be varied
(not just pulse energy and frequency as in other sources). 6.2.8 Focal Point (Waist)
This variability enables use cases such as durable colored
marking of stainless steels and titanium by pulsing the beam The thinnest part of the (focused) beam, the point at which
in such a way it anneals the metal. it is the most in focus. See the Focusing page for more info.

6.2.4 Tower 6.2.9 Focal Length

This is the portion of galvo lasers responsible for moving the The distance from the optical centre of the lens to the focal
galvo head up and down, vertically. The tower connects the point. See the Focusing page for more info.
head to the fiber cable (that carries the beam from the
source), and any other apparatus that need to move with
the lens to focus and effectively work on the job.
6.2.10 Depth of Field (Focal Range)

The useable range of the (focused) beam. It appears either

side of the focal point, and varies based on various factors

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 6.2.11 Field Size (Build Volume, Window Size)

including; the focal length of the lense, the material being

cut, the power of the laser source, etc. See the Focusing
page for more info.

6.2.11 Field Size (Build Volume, Window Size)

These fields describe the maximum area that the lens

installed in the galvo can physically cover when focused.
See the Focusing page for more info.

6.2.12 Wobble
This feature can be enabled in the Cut Settings Editor on
Wobble refers to the ability of the beam to rotate about a
galvo devices.
particular area, imparting more heat to the workpiece and
allowing for more material removal.

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 6.3 Installing Drivers (Windows only)

Galvo LightBurn 1.2

6.3 Installing Drivers (Windows only)

If you haven't already installed LightBurn, please start by installing it on your computer.

6.3.1 Installing The Driver

When installing LightBurn, the last screen of the installer has

a set of tickboxes to install additional drivers needed for
certain types of machines. We'll need to add the "EzCad2
driver" used by galvos before LightBurn can see the galvo
you're trying to set up.

If during initial installation you didn't tick this box, you can
simply run the installer again, and select this box to ensure
the driver is installed for use. Windows will prompt you for
permissions escalation to install it, and quickly replace the
driver provided by default with one LightBurn can use to
communicate with your galvo-based laser.

Alternately, the installer for the driver is in the LightBurn

files at "C:\Program Files\LightBurn\EzCad2Driver\" and can
be run again via the "dpinst-x64.exe" file directly.

Next, find the USBLMC device in the list - it should be near

Info the bottom, under 'Universal Serial Bus devices', shown
below:
This installed driver may not work correctly with Windows 7.
Please see the Zadig method below.

Right-Click the device and choose 'Uninstall Device' from the

pop-up menu.

6.3.2 Restoring the Driver

In the event you want to use EZCAD it's a simple task to

revert to the original driver.

Open your Windows Device Manager - You can do this by

clicking 'Start' and typing 'Device' and letting it auto-
complete.

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 6.3.3 Zadig-based Driver Swap

In the next window, check the box to delete the driver. (this
doesn't actually delete anything from your system, it just Legacy Zadig-based Driver Swap
completely dis-associates the driver from this device)
Download Zadig, the driver replacement tool from https://
zadig.akeo.ie/ and run it. (it doesn't require installation)

You'll see a window that looks like this:

Open the 'Options' menu and enable 'List All Devices'

Click the 'Uninstall' button. The process should finish quickly.

If you power off the laser and power it back on, Windows will
reconnect, realize that it already has a driver for this device
(the old LMC driver) and it'll appear in the Devices list again,
near the top, as a BJJCZ device. That's it - You can use
EZCAD again.

6.3.3 Zadig-based Driver Swap

If your EZCAD laser is powered up and connected with the
In the event the driver swap (performed by running the USB cable, you should see USBLMCV2 (or very similar) in
installer) isn't working, it may be suggested to try and use the device list, like this:
Zadig (a driver tool) to replace the manufacturer's with a
generic driver so LightBurn can communicate with it. Below
are those steps.

Select that device, and choose 'WinUSB' as the target

driver, like this:

Double check that it says LMCV2U in the 'Driver' box, and

that the USB ID under it matches what you see above. If you
haven't used the laser with this computer before, the
'Driver' box may be empty instead.

Click 'Replace Driver' and wait for the process to complete.

Make sure that you are not running EZCAD when you do this
- if anything is actually using the hardware, the driver swap
will likely not complete, and time-out after five minutes. If

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 6.3.3 Zadig-based Driver Swap

everything goes as expected, it takes about a minute, often

less.

You'll see some different messages cycle through while it

does the install. When it's done, it might ask you to reboot,
but that's rarely required.

On the rare occasion that Zadig fails, just try it again - it

almost always works, and sometimes reports a failed
installation erroneously, when it actually succeeded. You
should see this:

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 6.4 Adding & Setting Up Your Galvo

Galvo LightBurn 1.2

6.4 Adding & Setting Up Your Galvo

To set up and configure your galvo laser, you'll need to create a new device, and import or manually enter settings provided by
your laser manufacturer.

It's also a good idea to set up a new device profile for each lens you have for your galvo, because changing lenses will affect many
parameters. You can duplicate a device after setting it up by right clicking on it in the 'Devices' window and choosing 'Duplicate'.
This is the easiest way to add a new profile while keeping the settings, so you only have to update parameters that change with
the lens.

To add a new device LightBurn, click the 'Devices' button. From here you have two options: the importer or manual entry.

6.4.1 Importer

Click 'Find my Laser' and LightBurn should detect the JCZ

controller and add it for you. You will need to specify your
field size (the size of your workspace), but this can be
changed later too.

As with any other laser device, you'll need to enter your

window size. (110 mm x 110 mm is common).

Select JCZFiber, click Next, and choose 'USB'. It's the only
supported connection type for now.

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 6.4.2 Manual Entry

Before Import

You'll need to enter the specific work area dimensions as

selected by your manufacturer. While 110 mm by 110 mm is
very common, the different models offered & their
respective dimensions are usually listed on the
manufacturer's website.

After Import

Select your configuration file from your EZCAD setup (or if

you received a card, email, etc. with that information in it,
please click "Next" anyways) It's likely to be on the USB
drive you recieved from the manufacturer. Ours was in the
"PLUG" folder of the "Ezcad2" install folder.

Info Just like that, you're all finished, and ready to start
calibrating!
If your markcfg7 file includes information about Lens
Correction, LightBurn will attempt to automatically import
6.4.2 Manual Entry
this for you. If your configuration doesn't, you'll need to
manually enter it in Device Settings after finishing the New
If your laser did not come with the settings on a USB drive or
Setup Wizard.
if you don't have the USB drive available, you may need to
contact the manufacturer for settings. Galvo settings can't
be found through trial and error, due to the complexity and
variety of machine configuration. Settings that work on one
laser may destroy another.

If your settings were provided on a card, in an email, or in

any other way that doesn't work with the automatic

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 6.4.2 Manual Entry

importer, clicking "Next" when asked to Import EZCAD

Config will allow you to skip this step. The settings can now be manually entered to match what
was provided by the manufacturer.
When in the main window, please open the "Edit" menu
item, and select "Device Settings". Please note that when entering these settings manually, the
Additional Settings tab needs to be updated with the correct
information for the simulation in Preview to function
correctly.

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 6.5 Configuring Galvo Settings

Advanced Galvo LightBurn 1.2

6.5 Configuring Galvo Settings

Note

If you did the EZCAD parameter import as part of setting up the device, you can likely skip this part, though we do recommend
verifying that everything came across correctly. If you didn't import your EZCAD settings, continue reading.

LightBurn needs to know more about your galvo laser before you can use it effectively. Below is an explanation of every currently

listed item in the Device Settings for Galvo devices.

To expedite manual entry, you can either run EZCAD and just flip through the Param (F3) pages for this, or take screenshots and
use them for reference when setting up LightBurn. All of these settings are taken directly from EZCAD.

Run LightBurn, choose the JCZFiber laser, then click Edit > Device Settings (or click Device Settings on the toolbar.)

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 6.5 Configuring Galvo Settings

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 6.5.1 Basic Settings

Device Settings for galvo lasers

OFFSET (V1.4+)
6.5.1 Basic Settings
You can fine tune the position of the field using x and y
Field offset

These fields describe the area that the lens installed in the
galvo can physically cover when focused. Changing the
lenses always requires going through the setup and Red Dot
calibration to adequately tune and dial in galvos.
The red dot laser is a separate mechanism that is in line with
SIZE the optics of your galvo laser souce. It may require fine
adjustment to get it aligned with those optics, and this is
The maximum area the lens installed in the laser can cover. where those settings come from. While generally provided in
This value is also used to set up the work area in LightBurn. the EZCAD Config during Setup, they may also be found in
ANGLE
your installation media as a screenshot or other text file.

Rotational correction for the field - if you're correcting for a

rotated galvo head relative to the physical fixturing pattern,
you can rotate it to behave as if it were square with this Galvo configuration
value. LOAD COR FILE

A COR file is an EZCAD lens correction file. LightBurn has the

ability to import COR files and automatically apply the lens

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 6.5.1 Basic Settings

correction values they contain. If your EZCad folder contains

OTHER OPTIONS
a COR file, and you used the markcfg7 import during Setup,
it will be loaded automatically. If you did not, or you create a Play sound on job finished
new COR file, you can load it here.
This feature mirrors that of EZCAD, causing the computer to
Otherwise, this field can be left blank, and the scale, bulge, play a sound when your current run is done, in leiu of all
skew, and trapezoid settings can be imported directly from galvos having a window.
the markcfg7 file, or entered manually in Per Galvo Settings.
Require framing before start
PER GALVO SETTINGS (GALVO 1/GALVO 2)
This option forces the user to use framing mode and align
Each galvo head is responsible for an axis, and has fine- their workpiece before engraving directly. It makes the Start
tuning that can be performed to get it operating optimally. Button in the Laser Window open the Framing Dialog
instead.

Enable Job Checklist

When this option is enabled, LightBurn will display a textbox

with a list of items before running the laser. The user will
need to press "OK" to confirm they're ready before the laser
will start.

The Edit button allows you to create or edit this list.

Laser Source Configuration

Danger

All of these settings should be imported from EZCAD,

manually changing them to "guess and check" settings is
not the correct course of action. Doing so may damage your
laser, proceed with caution!

Galvo (N) is X Axis

This toggle is linked for both galvo mirrors, allowing you to

specify which mirror is used for the X-motion of LightBurn.

Reverse Direction (Negate)

This flips the output behavior of an axis in the event the

control signal is linked backwards to the motion of the
mirror.

Scale, Bulge, Skew, and Trapezoid

A more in-depth explanation of the below settings can be

found in the Lens Correction section.

Scale

Perentage to scale the output axis by.

Bulge

Distortion near or at the center of the engraving field.

Skew

Distortion at the edges (corners) of the fields, pulling them

towards a cardinal direction.

Trapezoid

Corner tapering adjustment, to fix keystoning.

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FRAME SPEED

This is the maximum speed of the red dot framing tool in

your galvo.

LASER TYPE

This refers to the specific type of galvo laser in use. Fiber or

CO2 are the current options.

FIBER TYPE

The specific manufacturer, or granular type of laser. This

may reveal other settings depending on what type and
category of laser is in use.

ENABLE Q-PULSE WIDTH SETTING (MOPA) RED 0 THROUGH 15

This is a MOPA specific laser setting to adjust the fine length These red/green rectangles represent the pin state of the
timing of the pulses from the laser. The larger the timing, Ezcad board inside your galvo laser at any given time, and
the less dense the pulse impact is. the port number on the controller. This is useful for
diagnosing floating electrical connections, loose wires, and a
OPEN MO DELAY (MS)
potential default setting dependent on a foot pedal.
MOPA permits a wider frequency range comparatively to Q
switch laser types, and this delay allows you to adjust this
Info
fine control.

ENABLE PWM Within LightBurn, a red indicator means the port is "LOW",
or off, and green means the port is "HIGH", or on. Some
This permits adjustment of the valid range of PWM timings manufactured boards are active LOW as opposed to active
on CO2 galvo lasers. "HIGH". If all ports are green by default, you'll likely need to
change your trigger type to "LOW" from HIGH.
TICKLE

CO2 lasers require constant low power to be able to fire at READY LIGHT
lower power densities consistently and reliably. Use of a
tickle permits adjusting the controlled location of that This is the selector to toggle LEDs on the galvo head, aimed
threshold to produce better lower power engravings. at the workpiece.

RED DOT
These will be provided by your manufacturer.

FIRST PULSE KILLER (FPK) This is the selector for the external Red Dot enable.

START MARKING
This setting is also CO2 specific. To enable the initial power-
on of a CO2 tube, there's a higher power draw needed to This is the selector for starting an engraving job as set up,
energize it. FPK lets you choose and tune that first pulse to typically triggered with a foot switch of some kind on the
get to the normal operation energy. laser. Like mentioned in IO Ports, a user can change the pin
assignment to match that of the board's foot pedal or start
This setting can be found via trial and error if needed. signal, the signal trigger type, or disable it entirely. The
former is useful to use a foot pedal; the latter for safety.

IO Ports Danger

These are external switches or features attached to the

Prevent accidental laser activation when using galvo lasers
controller on the board.
without a foot pedal switch by explicitly setting the "Start
Marking" pin to "Disabled". Some galvo controllers do not
The High / Low toggle indicates whether the device is
adequately electrically protect the circuit from stray voltage
normally high, or normally low electrically, and determines
and static that may generate readable signals that will be
what signal to interpret as being toggled.
sent to LightBurn.
Not all of these may exist, or be enabled on all galvos. If not,
LightBurn has debouncing in software to mitigate this as
the port number will be shown as "None". much as possible in 1.2.02. Please update to 1.2.02 or later
to ensure you have this functionality automatically in place.

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 6.5.2 Additional Settings

RED DOT ALWAYS ON POLYGON TC (ΜS)

This setting forces the external red dot alignment spot to This setting adjusts how long the laser "waits" at the end of
always be on, permitting constant use or disabling it if each segment of a polygon, permitting the laser to settle
desired. appropriately, compensating for the same lag as outlined in
End TC. This adjustment will only apply to polygonal
ENABLE BLANKING
execution.
This option allows you to attempt to turn off the red dot
internal to your galvo between drawing shapes and is not
supported on all devices.

Jump Setting Defaults

These settings control the speeds by which to toggle, offset,

delay, or fudge the source enable and galvo head motion.

6.5.2 Additional Settings

Delay Defaults

LASER ON TC (ΜS)

When attempting to mark, the physical mirrors of the galvo

head must reach the desired speed before they begin
marking. This fine-tuning allows the user to reduce the burn-
in potential during that initial acceleration by adjusting the
source timing.

LASER OFF TC (ΜS)

Similarly to the above, when the mirrors of the galvo head

must slow down as they attempt to end a marking move,
there may be a burn-in effect while slowing down. This
setting allows the end timing to be adjusted finely.
This settings tab consists of specific timing adjustments for
END TC (ΜS) simulation and preview, entirely for the Preview Window.
The galvo can function even if these are set incorrectly, so
This setting adjusts how long the laser waits at the end of a
long as the other timings and adjustments are correct.
series of vectors. Due to the fact the laser will physically lag
behind the commanded state as decided by any software, If the estimate is significantly off from the timings in
this delay permits adjustment similarly to the Laser Off TC. practice, we recommend editing these settings to match the

This setting applies to any marking move where the laser is

turned off after execution. main device settings .

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 6.6 Lens Correction

Advanced Galvo LightBurn 1.2

6.6 Lens Correction

Much in the same way that cameras used in LightBurn need to have a calibration routine run for best performance, so do galvo
lasers. Many manufacturers ship lasers with these types of settings already present, and when using the importer these should be
automatically imported for you.

If the LightBurn Importer does not detect the lens correction setup when following the wizard, these specific settings may be
copied from EZCAD's Configuration Parameters tool, or found by the user manually. Device Settings otherwise must come from the
manufacturer for safety, as outlined in Setup.

6.6.1 Field Size

While not strictly part of the lens correction, the intended 6.6.4 Skew Adjustment
field area affects all of the correction and calibration settings
described below. The field size describes the maximum area The skew factor allows you to adjust the tension on the
the lens can reach at it's focal length. When correcting a corners of your design, pulling the bottom portion of the
new lens, be sure to follow the steps suggested here. design left or right relative to the top.

6.6.2 Scale Adjustment

This setting scales the overall size of your intended laser

output on X & Y axes. If adjustment of this is needed, please
also verify that your [Machine Setup] was finished and your
field size was imported. Otherwise, you may be
compensating for the field size in the wrong area,
complicating further adjustments.

6.6.5 Trapezoid Adjustment

6.6.3 Bulge Adjustment
The trapezoid tool works similarly to the Skew adjustment
The bulge factor allows you to change by how much (if at all)
tool, where it permits the distortion of your design by
the center of shapes are distorted and stretched.
stretching or pinching the "corners" of your design.
Trapezoid adjustment allows you to pinch one portion
relative to another This is where the name of the tool comes
from, as it allows you to make trapezoids into squares, and
vice versa.

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 6.7 Framing

Galvo UI

6.7 Framing
Framing mode is a function of Galvo lasers that permit you to preview the outline of your design on your physical object before
engraving it. Clicking the 'Frame' button in the Laser window, or pressing 'F1' brings up the Framing Mode window.

6.7.1 Framing Styles

The different options allow you to choose how accurately the

red-light frame represents your shapes, and which shapes
are shown.

Bounds

This mode is a simple rectangle, drawn just big to enclose

your shapes. It is extremely fast, but doesn't represent
complex shapes well.

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 6.7.2 Nudging

Hull 6.7.3 Additional Options

The 'hull' is what you'd get if you stretched a rubber-band Frame Individually
around your shapes. It is nearly as fast to draw as the
rectangle bounds, but gives a much closer fit for rounded or This toggle switch indicates whether you would like to draw
smooth shapes. a single bounding box or hull around everything together, or
around each shape in turn (this only affects Bounds and
Hull modes).

Image Bounds

Enabling this toggle switch attempts to quickly trace the

outlines of any images you have in your design, rather than
simply showing the rectangular boundary of the entire
image.

Outside Shapes Only

This toggle switch tells the software not to trace inner

shapes, like the insides of letters - Typically this doesn't
affect placement, but allows a faster update of the frame
(this only affects Contour mode).

Contour
Tool Layers Only
Contour follows the exact contours of your shapes - it takes
the longest to draw, but it's the most accurate. Enabling this toggle will tell LightBurn to only frame shapes
that are on one of the tool layers.

6.7.4 Job Counter and Multiple Runs

Count

This value is incremented at the end of each successful run

of your file. You can use this to keep track of how many parts
you have marked, or how many passes of a single job you've
run. Press the Reset button to reset the count back to zero.

Run Continuously

Turning on this switch will make LightBurn re-start the job

automatically after it finishes, and will update the run
counter after each run. This is useful when you are doing
very deep engraving, and are unsure how many passes a job
6.7.2 Nudging will need. If you turn off the switch while a job is running, it
will stop when the current run completes.
While framing, the arrow keys can be used to nudge the
position of your graphics by 1 mm. Holding Shift will
increase the movement distance to 5 mm, and holding Ctrl Warning
will decrease it to 0.2 mm.
Please ensure your laser is properly supervised, even during
Starting from version 1.4, you can also nudge the scale of long jobs with multiple passes.
your design. Page Up will scale up, and Page Down will scale
down. If your keyboard doesn't have those keys, try the
Function key along with up and down arrows.
Repeat

Turn on this switch and set the repeat count value to run the
entire job a specific number of times. This is similar to 'Run
Continuously', except it will stop when it reaches the repeat
count. If you turn off this switch while a job is running, it will
stop when the current run completes.

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 6.8 Lens Focusing & Calibration Tools

Calibration Galvo LightBurn 1.2

6.8 Lens Focusing & Calibration Tools

Danger

Any use of a laser, as outlined in this section, requires effective and useful laser safety glasses calibrated to your galvo's output
wavelength range.

Laser safety glasses should come with the wavelengths they protect against permanently marked on the glasses themselves.

To be able to use your galvo laser effectively, you'll need to have it in-focus, well tuned, and well calibrated. This enables best use
of features like Cylinder Correction, 3D Sliced Engravings, and more.

6.8.1 Finding Your Focal Point

Each lens should be labeled with a focal length, such as

F330 for 330 mm lenses or F160 for 160 mm lenses. This is
a good starting point for focusing, but manufacturing
differences result in differences between lenses so you
should still fine-tune the focus. You can fine-tune the focus
by looking for crisp outlines in framing or listening for audio
cues.

To use "crisp outlines" to find the focal length, you'll need to

frame a design and raise/lower the galvo until the edges are
as crisp as possible. This requires your galvo to have an in-
line red dot. With audio cues, you'll instead listen for louder
burning or sizzling noises while the job is running. The
correct focal length will generally make the loudest sounds.

While the depth of field is a range that produces engraved

results, finding the optimal focal point within that field is A Step-By-Step for Focusing Flat Objects
important, to ensure the best results, and is best found
through trial and error. 1. Raise your galvo head as high as it reasonably can go.
2. Start a repeat engraving.
3. Lower the head until it starts making noise.
4. Continue further down slowly until the engraving noise is as
loud as it gets.
5. if the noise tapers off, raise it back up and fine tune based on
that.
6. Your flat surface is now focused!
7. If your laser has two-diode red-points that are manually
moved, re-adjust those at this point. See your laser's user
manual for help.

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 6.8.2 Measuring Focal Length

To make it quicker and easier to focus the laser when

6.8.2 Measuring Focal Length working with objects of different sizes, it's a good idea to
make a tool that you can place between the lip of your lens
and your object, so you can easily raise/lower your galvo
Tip head to it. This can be as simple as a dowel of the right
length marked to indicate which lens it goes with (if you
Make sure you keep track of what part of the laser your have multiple lenses). Another popular option is to laser cut
focal length is measured to! You might find it convenient to an acrylic focusing tool for the size you need.
measure to a point other than the bottom of the lens, and
that's fine as long as you keep measuring to the same
height. Video Guide For Focus Sticks

Accurately measuring the focal length above is a useful

process to speed up swaps of different and diverse jobs,
given the lens. Use an acrylic ruler (preferably one with the
6.8.3 Focusing For Cylinder Correction
edge of the ruler starting from 0"/0 mm), to measure up to
Cylinder correction within LightBurn maximizes the depth of
the point the ruler meets outside lip of your lens.
field usable for engraving by intentionally defocusing your
If your acrylic ruler has a lip, you can measure the offset laser. See here for more information.
with calipers to produce the formula needed to measure the
focal length accurately.

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 6.9 Cylinder Correction Marking

Advanced Galvo LightBurn 1.2

6.9 Cylinder Correction Marking

Cylinder Correction (called ProjectMark in EZCAD) warps the output of your design to correct for the expansion that happens when
you mark on a cylindrical object, like a cup or tumbler, without using a rotary.

Note

This feature is currently only avalible on galvo machines. While it is on the roadmap to enable this functionality for DSP and GRBL, this
will not present itself on DSP or GCode machines until that change is made.

Theory

In the image below, the blue shapes represent a rectangle. If you were to project a rectangle directly onto a cylinder, the sides of
the rectangle would hit the cylinder at a lower point than the middle. Since the laser is projected from a single point above your
object, the extra distance means the sides of the rectangle will widen and curve, like the rectangle below labeled "Uncorrected".

With Cylinder Correction mode enabled, LightBurn will alter the data sent to the laser to compensate for this. LightBurn sends
something similar to the "Corrected" image, and when engraving your object, the effects negate each other. This produces crisp,
significantly less distorted results, like the "Result" shape shown below.

Lens Selection

Using this feature is dependent on being able to make a mark on your target object across a potentially wide focal range. For
example, if you have a 75 mm diameter tumbler and are engraving a 50 mm wide graphic, there will be a roughly 10 mm
difference in focal distance from the center to the edge of that graphic.

Due to this, you will want to select a lens that has a wider "field" (working area) for your galvo laser. For example, a 110 mm field
lens (f=160 mm) may only have a workable focal range of around 1.5-2 mm. However, a 300 mm field lens (f=430 mm) should be
able to handle a 10 mm range relatively easily.

You will also want to focus your lense partway into the surface of your cylinder, to take advantage of the full depth of field of your
lens, as described in the image below.

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 6.9 Cylinder Correction Marking

Design Placement

LightBurn will always assume that the center of the provided shapes are at the center of the object you are engraving on. This
includes if you are using Cut Selected Shapes - where it will base the center calculation on only those shapes. It is done this way so
that you do not have to always place your object exactly at the center of your machine working area. If, for example, your
placement jig has to be 20 mm off center due to the threaded grid holes being off center, you can simply adjust your design to be
20 mm off center to match. You can, of course, verify the correct placement using the framing option in the Laser panel.

This assumption is made because if the object is off center from the actual galvo center, the laser can physically reach more of one
side of that curved surface than the other. LightBurn will actually warp each side of your design more or less according to this
offset.

It also affects the valid boundary in which your design can be placed for a given mirror distance and object diameter.

Setup

To enable it, go to Tools > Cylinder Correction Setup, and you'll be shown this screen:

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 6.9 Cylinder Correction Marking

Start by toggling the "Enable Cylinder Correction" option at the top. Note: this is not preserved across LightBurn sessions like it is
for some rotaries. You will have to re-enable it any time you restart LightBurn and would like to use this feature.

Next, set your mirror distance from the surface of your object. Note: this is not the focus distance from the lens, but actually to the
mirrors. It is relatively easy to find this distance however. There is typically a tube connecting the galvo head to the laser source
and the mirrors are generally centered along that tube.

In the image below, you can see the center plane of that tube marked along with the distance from the bottom of the lens to that
center plane marked. Assuming you measure your focus distance from the bottom of the lens to the surface of the object, simply
measure the distance from the bottom of the lens to the center plane of the tube and add that to your focus distance. Use that
value for the mirror distance.

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 6.9 Cylinder Correction Marking

Finally enter your object diameter and choose the axis along which your target object curves.

Valid Boundary

Given that the laser is being projected from a fixed point onto a curved surface, there are limits to where on your engraved object
your laser can actually reach.

In the Cylinder Correction Setup dialog, shown above, there is a Show Valid Boundary button at the bottom. Click on this and it will
insert a rectangle, on the T0 tool layer, into your design, showing you the area in which your design can be placed.

This valid boundary area is also affected by how far from center your object is.

If you attempt to run an cylinder corrected engrave or even show the preview while your design is outside of this boundary, you
will be presented with the following dialog:

If you choose to continue anyways, the areas outside of the valid boundary will be automatically cut off from the output. In the
image below you can see it has actually removed the portions outside of the valid boundary area, shown in orange at the left.

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 6.9 Cylinder Correction Marking

You can also, from that dialog choose to have it show you the boundary just as you would in the setup dialog.

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 6.10 Cut Settings Editor

6.10 Cut Settings Editor

The Cut Settings window in LightBurn is accessed by double-clicking an entry in either the Cuts / Layers window or the Material
Library list. The window you see may vary from the screenshot, as different laser features, LightBurn modes (Beginner) or updates
can change its appearance and settings.

In the Cut Settings Editor (CSE) you can create, edit, adjust, and clone layers and sub-layers for your projects. This gives you finer
control when operating your laser. Line mode follows the vector lines in your design, fill mode scans back and forth to remove

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 6.10.1 Operating Modes

material from the "inside" of a shape, and offset fill removes material on the "inside" of a shape following a spiraling pattern based
on the outside shape. You can create sub-layers to combine these modes, which replaces LightBurn's older "Fill + Line" option
while also opening up many more options.

For a comparison of Line (left) versus Fill (right) modes, see below.

6.10.1 Operating Modes 6.10.2 Defaults and Changing Between Files

There are four different 'modes' in LightBurn that choose Colors normally start with their last used settings, but if you
how the laser will render your design: wish you can set LightBurn to load default settings for each
layer when you create a new file. If this option is enabled, a
• Line mode - traces along the outlines new drawing will have a clean slate with default color
• Fill mode - fills the design with parallel lines settings for all layers.
• Offset Fill mode - fills the design with lines that follow the
original shape Working With Defaults
• Image mode - Works similar to fill, but with specific
settings for images At the bottom of the Cut Settings Editor, there are three
buttons to manage layer default settings.
In all variations of the Cut Settings Editor, the most basic
settings are displayed at the top of the window (speed, Make Default: Remember the settings for this palette color.
power, output toggle, air assist, and mode). The lesser used, Whatever your current settings are will become the default
more specialized options follow below, and are split into two for this color.
panes - Common and Advanced.
Reset to Default: Reset the layer to the default settings.
We'll go through the different settings used in each mode,
Make Default for All: Your current layer settings will
and explain their use.
become the default for all palette colors.

Layer defaults are separate from material libraries, and you

Shared / Basic Settings
will likely find it useful to use the two together. A common
All layers have a few settings that are the same, regardless use for layer defaults is to set up layers with common cut
of the type of layer. settings for your own projects, and then use material
libraries to apply settings for different materials and
Speed: how fast the laser will (ideally) move when tracing processes.
your design. Depending on your laser, its firmware settings
and limits, and the design, it may or may not actually reach
this speed. 6.10.3 Sub-Layers

The next two require a bit of explanation: Sub-Layers allow you to set multiple cut/engraving settings
on the same layer & geometry. This can enable the use of
Max Power: The power level to run the laser at single-setup etching & cleanup passes for galvo lasers, as
well as staggered engraving, cutting, and other operations
Min Power (DSP Only): The min power is used when the
for more complex jobs regardless of machine type. You may
laser moves slowly, such as at the ends of lines and
have up to 11 sub-layers per layer.
direction changes/ corners.

Some DSP controllers refer to this as the corner power for

this reason.

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 6.10.4 Comparison of Sub-Layers vs Single Layer

With the Sub-layer feature, you can configure count, type of

6.10.4 Comparison of Sub-Layers vs Single Layer pass, speed, frequency, and more, without duplicating
geometry in your design.

To make a new Sub-layer, you can either click the plus icon
or the duplicate icon (two overlapping pages) in the tabs
area of the Cut Settings Editor. The plus sign will create a
new sub-layer with default settings, and the duplicate icon
will create a copy of the current sub-layer. The minus sign
icon on the far right will delete the currently open sub-layer,
so long as it's not the only sub-layer.

LightBurn 1.2+:

When using sub-layers, your Cuts / Layers window will show

the mode as "Multi", as seen below. You can quickly
reorganize and edit the tabs as you can within the full Cut
Settings Editor in the quick settings, at your convenience.

Sub-Layers In Use

6.10.5 Additional Settings/Information

6.10.6 Global Passes

Starting with LightBurn 1.5, galvo users will have the new
Global Passes setting. This setting will repeat all sub-layers
in the layer the specified number of times.

Single Layer View

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 6.10.6 Global Passes

Global Passes in the Cut Settings Editor

Constant Power Mode

This setting is only available on GRBL devices. By default,

LightBurn uses Variable Power mode (M4), which ramps
the power level of the laser up and down with the speed,
producng a more consistent burn. However, if you ask the
laser to move faster than it's able, it will never reach the
requested speed or the requested power level. It's generally
best to stick with the default of Variable Power mode and
adjust the speed to be within the range your machine can
achieve, but if you want the same behavior as LaserGRBL,
whch defaults to Constant Power (M3), you can enable this
option. We have more info on this in our troubleshooting
section.

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 6.11 LightBurn Fill & EZCAD Hatch Quick Translation

Galvo UI

6.11 LightBurn Fill & EZCAD Hatch Quick Translation

If you're coming from EZCAD and having trouble finding hatch settings you're used to, please see below for a guide to matching
your usual hatch settings to LightBurn's fill settings.

If you're not sure how to adjust cut & engraving settings, please see the Cut Settings Editor page.

6.11.1 Mark Contour 6.11.2 Hatch 1, Hatch 2, Hatch 3

EZCAD2's "Mark Contour" option can be replicated with EZCAD2 allows for three different hatches on the same
LightBurn's sub-layers. By creating a line sub-layer and a fill geometry. This is equivalent to LightBurn's sub-layers.
sub-layer, you can achieve the same effect. To cut the Please see the relevant page for help.
contour first, have the line sub-layer as the first sub-layer. To
fill first, have the fill sub-layer as the first sub-layer.

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 6.11.3 Cross-Hatch

6.11.3 Cross-Hatch Ring-like hatch / Pyramid Hatch

This functionality is the same between the two programs, EZCAD2's ring-like hatch is equivalent to
and is a checkbox in both. LightBurn's Offset Fill.

6.11.4 Hatch Patterns Snake Hatch

Snake hatch is equivalent to a regular fill in LightBurn with

Unidirectional hatch & Bidirectional hatch
Flood Fill enabled.

Auto Rotate Hatch Angle

EZCAD2's bidirectional hatch and
unidirectional hatch are the same as the default hatch in In LightBurn, the EZCAD2 feature of "auto rotate hatch
LightBurn, with the bi-directional fill toggle either on or angle" is labeled as "Angle Increment" in your layer / sub-
off. layer settings. While not a fill mode, it's still relevant to
replicating EZCAD2 fill styles.

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 6.12 Rotary Setup (Galvo)

Advanced Galvo LightBurn 1.2 Rotary

6.12 Rotary Setup (Galvo)

The Rotary Setup can be found on the toolbar with the rotary icon, in the "Laser Tools" menu near the bottom, or brought up by
using ⌃ Ctrl + ⇧ Shift + R or ⌘ Cmd + ⇧ Shift + R .

Rotary Setup for Galvo (with chuck)

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 6.12 Rotary Setup (Galvo)

Rotary Setup for Galvo (with rollers)

To use the rotary with your marking laser, you first need to set up the rotary parameters.

Note

When rotating about the X axis, you'll want to engrave along the X axis (with a resultant scan angle of 0 or 180). When rotating about
the Y axis, you'll want to engrave along the Y axis (with a resultant scan angle of 90 or 270).

1. First choose whether you have a chuck or roller style rotary.

2. Set the Steps per Rotation value to the number of motor steps required to spin the rotary itself one complete rotation when the
Test button is pressed. (it should rotate a full 360 degrees, pause, then rotate back to the starting point).
3. Set the Min and Max speeds to move the rotary, in pulses per second.
4. Enter the Acceleration time set the ramping speed from Min to Max.
5. Set the Return speed value to adjust how fast to move when returning to the starting point.
6. Choose whether you are rotating around the X or Y axis. If the roller is along the horizontal axis, choose X, if it's along the vertical
axis, choose Y.
7. You may need to enable the Reverse Rotary Direction switch if the output is backwards or sliced in the wrong order.

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 6.12.1 Setup

Note

In most cases, the steps/rotation and other values will be provided by the manufacturer of your machine, either as a screenshot of the
rotary params page in EZCAD or a text document.

If you don't know the correct numbers, the Test button in LightBurn will run a single 360 degree movement of the chuck or roller,
pause, and return to zero, using the current settings, so it is possible to find usable values by trial and error.

The values listed above, minus object diameter/radius, should only need to be set up once. If the rotary unit or orientation are changed
though, performing Rotary Setup again is a good practice.

6.12.1 Setup Run Whole Shapes

Galvo markers will run a portion of the job (a slice), rotate When Run whole shapes, if possible is turned on,
the object, run another slice, and so on. LightBurn will attempt to create splits that keep shapes
intact. This can produce a higher quality finish without gaps
or misalignment within shapes.
Split Size

The size of each slice is called the 'Split Size'. If your object 6.12.2 Running the job
is tapered, irregularly shaped, or not perfectly aligned with
the rotary axis, using a small split size can help reduce gaps When rotary mode is enabled, pressing the Start button on
or misalignment of the splits. the main window will bring up the Rotary Marking window,
shown here:
A larger split size will reduce the time spent running the job,
but can be harder to dial in the settings such that no
overlaps or gaps are visible.

Overlap

To help eliminate visible gaps between slices, you can tell

LightBurn to overlap them — specifying an overlap of zero
means that each slice is run on its own. A non-zero overlap
value will produce that much overlap on the ends of each
slice, like this:

If you are removing paint, anodizing, or other surface

From here you can tune the split size, overlap, and object
coating, using a small overlap is recommended. If you are
diameter, as well as jog the rotary, and run the job. When
annealing or marking the material directly, adding overlaps
running a rotary job, the center of your page is treated as
could produce visible artifacts.
the current rotary position when you clicked Start. The
Sanity Check button will check for some easily overlooked
Object Diameter mistakes, and is a good supplement to previewing and
framing your design as a final check before running the
Measure the diameter carefully for best results. If your laser.
object is tapered, check out our Taper Warp Tool, added in
LightBurn 1.5. Starting in LightBurn 1.5, you can also frame your job from
this window.

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 6.12.3 Rotations

6.12.3 Rotations Focusing

Starting with LightBurn 1.5, you can reset the rotations on See Focusing for more information.
the rotary axis to 0. This will not change the position of your
rotary, but can help you keep track of positioning.

Output Center

This setting allows you to shift the center position of your

rotary output to compensate for the center of the rotary not
lining up precisely with the center of the field. This value
cannot be negative.

Note

This setting is only adjustable in the Rotary Marking "Run"

window, and not the "Framing" window. If you wish to retain
use of the Framing dialog, you can set it here, and then use
"Frame" all the same.

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 6.13 Changing A Lens

Calibration Galvo LightBurn 1.2

6.13 Changing A Lens

To ensure best performance following a lens swap in LightBurn when using a galvo, there are several changes and settings you'll
need to confirm first. Some manufacturers give you the calibration information for your new lens, and it's highly suggested you
check their website before proceeding to find this manually.

6.13.1 Physical Lens Swap

This video guide from Laser Everything covers the physical

installation of the lens, as well as many of the items outlined
below with EZCAD analogues. It's suggested this video by
Laser Everything is reviewed to help ensure the lens swap
doesn't damage your machine or hurt you in the process.

6.13.2 Duplicate Original Laser

In many cases, changing the galvo lens means that you'll

need to adjust many settings and recalibrate it, making it a
"new" machine when doing so. To duplicate a laser device in
LightBurn, click "Devices" in the "Laser" window, and right
click on the given laser to duplicate it.

Be sure to give the duplicate a descriptive and accurate

name to contrast it to the original, and ensure that's the one
you'll be editing.

6.13.4 Focus

After changing lenses physically, you'll need to adjust the

focus of the laser even without other calibration being done
yet to ensure the results are as good as possible.

Spend time and reference the steps outlined in Focusing to

ensure your galvo's output is crisp and in focus; keep in
mind your red dot framing may no longer be in focus due to
6.13.3 Field Size the focal length changes.

When changing lenses, the effective Field Size of your laser

will also change. The Field Size for your lens is usually listed 6.13.5 Scale, Bulge, Skew, Calibration
on the manufacturer's website.
Once your galvo is focused, you'll need to adjust the bulge,
skew, trapezoidal calibration as best you can to match this
new lens. Please see Lens Correction and the specific Device
Settings for Galvo to get more in-depth explanations of the
calibration settings.

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 6.13.5 Scale, Bulge, Skew, Calibration

to see if the line bulges into or past the straight edge, and
adjust your bulge settings accordignly. Repeat this step for
Warning both axes.

While your initial testing may have been done in the center
of your engraving field, it's suggested that you perform one Trapezoidal
or more tests at the edge of your field to fine-tune the
Scale/Trapezoid/Bulge/Stretch to ensure accuracy and Frame a square nearly as large as your field allows (errors
consistency. are amplified at the edges of a galvo). Measure the length of
the top edge and compare it to the length of the bottom
In the event you find the design severely distorted at the edge, and adjust the trapezoidal value until they match
edges but not at the center, it's likely your Field Size was set
incorrectly. You'll need to follow the steps from the
beginning to try and mitigate this. Skew

The fine-tuning of your skew can be done either by lining a

set square along two edges to see if they are 90 degrees, or
Scale
by framing a rectangle nearly as large as your field allows
In order to test scale, it's suggested you attempt to frame a (errors are amplified at the edges of the field). Measure the
square of known size in LightBurn (say, 60 mm), and distance between opposing corners, and compare it to the
measure the corner-to-corner with calipers to adjust your X measurement of the other opposing corners (so that if you
and Y scale as needed. were to trace the lines you measured you'd end up with an X
shape across your framed square). Your goal woudld then be
to adjust the trapeziodal value until both measurements are
Bulge the same.

Following that, you'll want to measure your design bulge;

frame a square nearly as large as your field allows (errors Repeat
are amplified at the edges of a galvo). Put the edge of a flat
surface directly between the two corners of a side and check You may wish to repeat these checks to ensure they are still
correct, following the changes made.

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 6.14 3D Sliced Engravings

Galvo LightBurn 1.2

6.14 3D Sliced Engravings

LightBurn's 3D Sliced Image Mode enables Galvo users to create engravings with both visual and physical depth. This 2.5D
engraving mode does not require a live Z axis and can produce highly detailed engravings, but does not offer precise control over
the engraving's depth.

3D Sliced mode uses multiple passes to engrave a design one layer at a time. This mode is intended for use with depth maps –
sometimes called height maps – which are specially designed greyscale images in which a pixel's brightness represents depth,
rather than shading.

Lighter pixels are engraved with fewer passes than darker pixels, resulting in a deeper engrave in darker areas of the image.
Enabling Negative Image inverts brightness, leading to lighter areas engraving deeper than darker areas.

Depth maps can be created by hand, although tools like STL2PNG can generate raster images from STL files to create more
complex depth maps. Once a depth map is created, it can be imported to LightBurn like any other image.

6.14.1 Using 3D Sliced Mode

Create a Depth Map

Produce a greyscale depth map image in any tool you

choose and import it to LightBurn.

Enable 3D Sliced Mode

Use the Cut Settings Editor to set the Image Mode to 3D

Sliced. This mode is only available when using a Galvo
laser.

Adjust Settings

Most settings are shared with the other Image Modes, but
there are a few details specific to this mode.

NUMBER OF PASSES

In 3D Sliced mode, raising the Number of Passes splits

the depth map into more layers, increasing the effective
resolution of the engraving. The darkest shades in your
depth map will be engraved with the full Number of Passes,
and all lighter shades will be engraved with progressively
fewer passes, down to zero passes for pure white shades.

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 6.14.2 More Examples

Using a large Number of Passes may require decreasing

power to avoid burning deeper than intended. This has a Preview and Run
similar effect to decreasing layer height on a 3D printer.
Check the Preview to confirm your design is outputting as
you're expecting. If you click the Play button, you should
Note see your design render from the bottom to the top, with
black indicating the engraved portion for each layer.
Larger, more intricate designs may take more time to
Enable Show traversal moves and check to make sure
process, due to the complexity of generating each pass. If
you see this dialog, please be patient as your computer may
that the red areas expand with each pass. The red areas are
need some time to prepare your design. made up of lines indicating movements made while the laser
is off, so, as the job progresses, the laser should be passing
over increasingly large areas of lighter shading, while
continuing to engrave increasingly small darker-shaded
areas.

CLEANUP PASSES

Toggling on Enable cleanup pass will automatically add a

Cleanup Sub-Layer in the Cut Settings Editor, where you
can specify how often automatic cleanup passes should run,
and adjust the settings for those passes.

6.14.2 More Examples

Cleanup passes are typically run with a tighter Line

Interval, higher Frequency, and lower Max Power than
the main engraving passes, and are used to clear debris and
produce a better finish.

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 6.14.2 More Examples

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 6.15 About Galvos

Advanced Galvo LightBurn 1.2

6.15 About Galvos

Note

would like to use them, but we can't 100% confirm

behavior just yet.
6.15.1 Supported Types
• QUANTEL_M20HF
The current types & manufacturers of galvo laser sources
• QUANTEL_M20
supported (as of LightBurn 1.2.00) are as follows:
• MANLIGHT_PL
• Raycus (RAYCUS) • VGEN_YPFL
• JPT (JPT) • EO
• IPG (IPG_YLP / IPG_YLPM) • QUANTEL_M20EG
• MAX (MAX / JPT) • QUANTEL_M30EG
• CO2 • IPG_YLP_E
• (as of 1.2.02) UV • HFB
• Orion Laser
6.15.2 Unsupported

These are devices that may work at some point in the

future, have been communicated to our staff that users

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 6.15.3 Sources

6.15.3 Sources 6.15.5 Laser Timing Adjustment

Fiber Galvo lasers sometimes have granular, but adjustable tuning

of when the beam is commanded on, or off, as well as how
Fiber lasers are incredibly common devices, due to their use the mirrors are adjusted. Some of this calibration and
for long-distance & high bandwidth networking; fiber lasers adjustment is in Lens Correction, or provided by your laser
power the internet. manufacturer, but the fine tuning for corner approach and
speed may need adjustment.
They make use of an optical pathway, made of silica glass to
guide the light, resulting in a narrow, straight beam that's
able to carry an incredible amount of energy and data. For
galvo actuated fiber lasers, this means that the beam can
move extremely quickly, making small adjustments via
actuated mirrors, rather than complex gantry systems.

Due to the beam being formed inside of a solid mechanical

apparatus, fiber lasers are considered "solid state" devices,
whereas CO2 laser tubes are generally considered "gas
state".

STEP BY STEP

1. Light is created in a laser diode, a dedicated source that's

"pumped" into the fiber optic cable, resulting in them
occasionally being referred to as a "pump source".
2. Pump light is guided into the fiber optic cable. While the fiber
optic is able to carry the beam, the cladding (or casing) on the
fiber is the reason the beam stays inside of the fiber instead of
dispersing out of it.
3. Light is amplified inside the laser cavity. As the light passes
through this region, the particles rise to a higher energy level,
getting caught and excited / relaxed into a singular
wavelength of operation. A doped portion of fiber, mixed with
certain rare earth elements, makes this possible, reflecting Laser on TC (μs)
back and forth while doing so inside "Bragg gratings". This is
where it becomes a stimulated emission of radiation. When attempting to mark, the physical mirrors of the galvo
head must reach the desired speed before they begin
4. Laser light of a particular wavelength is created. The specific
marking. This fine tuning allows the user to reduce the burn-
element(s) used to dope the fiber effect what wavelength the
in potential during that initial acceleration by adjusting the
beam becomes.
source timing.
5. The beam is released and shaped. The light at this point is
collimated (straight), and to produce a usable shape for
engraving, marking, or more, lenses and/or beam expanders Laser Off TC (μs)
are used to adjust the collimation.
Similarly to the above, when the mirrors of the galvo head
must slow down as they attempt to end a marking move,
6.15.4 Q-Switched vs MOPA there may be a burn-in effect while slowing down. This
setting allows the end timing to be adjusted finely.
These two terms are often used in conjunction, but what
does that even mean? What's being switched? Why is it a
End TC (μs)
MOPA?
This setting adjusts how long the laser waits at the end of a
Master Oscillator Power Amplifier (MOPA) lasers allow more
series of vectors. Due to the fact the laser will physically lag
timing adjustment than Q-Switched lasers. MOPA lasers
behind the commanded state as decided by any software,
allow for separate control of pulse duration and pulse
this delay permits adjustment similarly to the Laser Off TC,
frequency to produce highly accurate and controlled
except only for the end of polygons.
engravings or etchings. The general range of MOPAs can be
as low as 2ns or as high as 500ns, allowing highly accurate This setting applies to any marking move where the laser is
adjustment of the energy dispersed into the material. turned off after execution.
Q-Switched lasers are typically not adjustable in this
manner, and operate at a fixed duration, typically between Polygon TC (μs)
80ns to 140ns.
This setting adjusts how long the laser "waits" at the end of
each segment of a polygon, permitting the laser to settle

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 6.15.5 Laser Timing Adjustment

appropriately, compensating for the same lag as outlined in

End TC.

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 6.16 Repeat Marking Tool

Galvo UI

6.16 Repeat Marking Tool

Starting in version 1.4, galvo laser users have access to the Repeat Marking Tool. This tool enables the use of a rotary table or
linear axis to move parts past the laser while running jobs. This is typically used so you can engrave multiple pieces quickly and
consistently.

You can find the Repeat Marking Tool by going to Laser Tools >> Repeat Marking

Warning

The Repeat Marking tool is separate from, and incompatible with, the Rotary feature. When using Repeat Marking, make sure that
rotary mode is disabled.

Count

The desired number of repetitions.

Increment

The angle to rotate the axis between repetitions.

The Calculate button is only available if the axis type in Setup is set to rotate, and can automatically calculate the rotation
increment based on the number of positions in your rotary table. To use it, set Count to the number of positions in your rotary
table, click Calculate, and then set count to the actual number of repetitions you want.

Pause After Move

If your rotary table wobbles when it stops, adding a pause here gives it time to settle before marking starts again.

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 6.16.1 Position

6.16.1 Position 6.16.3 Setup

This section shows the current position of the rotary table or Click the Setup button to enter the setup window and
linear axis and allows you to manually control it. The top line configure your rotary table.
shows the current position.

The number box allows you to set how far the motor
controlling the axis will turn when manually jogged. Go to
Zero will return you to your starting point.

6.16.2 Controls

Start, pause, stop, and frame all work as they do elsewhere

in LightBurn.

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 7. What's New In LightBurn 1.5

7. What's New In LightBurn 1.5

7.1 Radius Tool Updates

7.1.1 Radius Tool Supports Bézier curves 7.1.2 Radius Drag Handles Added

The Radius Tool now supports adding a radius to corners Starting in LightBurn 1.5, rectangles have an additional
connecting to Bézier segments handle available that acts as a shortcut for the Radius Tool.
Drag the blue handle away from the corner to increase the
radius of all four corners, and drag toward the corner to
decrease the radius. Dragging vertically creates a reversed
radius, with a bite taken out of the corner.

Using the Radius Tool with curved segments

Using the Radius Drag Handle

7.2 Improvements For Galvo Lasers

7.2.1 Global Passes Setting

Starting in version 1.5, the Cut Settings Editor for galvo

lasers has a new Global Passes setting. Increasing this
value will repeat all sub-layers in a layer the number of
times specified.

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 7.2.1 Global Passes Setting

7.2.1 Global Passes Setting

Starting in version 1.5, the Cut Settings Editor for galvo

lasers has a new Global Passes setting. Increasing this
value will repeat all sub-layers in a layer the number of
times specified.

Global Passes in the Cut Settings Editor

7.2.2 Framing Enabled for Galvo Device Rotary

Engraving

LightBurn now supports framing on galvo lasers when doing

rotary engravings.

7.3 New Alignment Features

7.3.1 Alignment Guides

While dragging to draw, move, or scale objects, holding

⎇ Alt will produce alignment guides for edges and

midpoints of existing objects.

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 7.3.2 Draggable Guidelines Added

Using Alignment Guides by holding down ⎇ Alt while

drawing

7.3.2 Draggable Guidelines Added

Horizontal and vertical guidelines can now be created by

dragging from the ruler area of the LightBurn workspace.
Guidelines can be treated like any other line, including
locking them to prevent accidental movement.

7.4 Tool Enhancements & New Taper Warp Tool

7.4.1 Slot & Tab Resizer Improvements 7.4.2 Trace Image Transparency

Starting in version 1.5, the Slot & Tab Resizer has an Apply Image Trace can now trace an image's transparency
button to apply changes without closing the window. This channel.
makes performing multiple operations, such as changing
both slot depth and slot width, more convenient.

Enabling Trace Transparency provides an easy way to trace

the edges of an image with a transparent background
The new Apply button in the Slot & Tab Resizer

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 7.4.3 Measure Tool Axis Snap

7.4.3 Measure Tool Axis Snap 7.4.6 Drag Handle For Polygon Side Count

While using the Measure Tool, hold ⇧ Shift and drag to When using the Polygon Tool, there is now a purple handle
snap to horizontal, vertical, and 45 degree angles. that can be dragged to change the number of sides. This has
the same result as changing the Sides property in the
Shape Properties Window.

Dragging with axis snapping

Using the new Polygon Drag Handle

7.4.4 Outer Border Added To Material Test

The Material Test Generator now automatically generates a

border to cut out the test grid. Use the Edit Border Setting
button to change cut settings.

7.4.5 Taper Warp Tool Added

LightBurn now has a Taper Warp Tool for improved rotary

engravings on tapered objects.

Select which side of the artwork is at the top of the object,

measure the object, and LightBurn will automatically
calculate and apply the warp needed to counteract the
distortion produced by engraving on a tapered object.

The orange tool layers represent the text and its boundaries
before being altered by Taper Warp

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 7.5 New Device Types Added

7.5 New Device Types Added

7.5.1 New Dummy Machine Type 7.5.2 Custom GCode Added

When creating a laser manually, LightBurn now has a No The new Custom GCode device type can be used to
Machine option, simplifying the process of running customize LightBurn's GCode output to control less common
LightBurn without a specific device connected. or custom devices.

7.6 New Shape Property Added For Text

Starting in version 1.5, text objects have a new Shape Property called Squeeze that works with the Max Width property. With
Squeeze enabled, scaling with Max Width will scale the text horizontally to maintain a consistent height. With Squeeze disabled,
text scales proportionally to maintain a consistent appearance.

Using Max Width with Squeeze on and off

7.7 Other UI Improvements

Copy Along Path now automatically starts from the nearest

7.7.1 Copy Along Path Improvements point on the path

Starting in version 1.5, Copy Along Path will use the nearest
point on the path as the start point. 7.7.2 Merge Button Added to Material Library

The Material Library window now has a Merge button. Use

this button to merge a material library on disk with your
active material library.

7.7.3 Zero Out Rotary Axis

When working with a rotary, LightBurn now has the ability to

reset the rotations on the rotary axis to 0.

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 7.8 Warning For Users of 32-bit Windows Computers

7.8 Warning For Users of 32-bit Windows Computers

LightBurn 1.5 will be the last version of LightBurn to support 32-bit versions of Windows.

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 8. Tags

8. Tags

8.1
Advanced

• Advanced LightBurn Bridge Setup

• Cylinder Correction
• Galvo Anatomy
• Galvo Settings
• Index
• Layer Colors
• Lens Correction
• Moving LightBurn To Another Computer
• Multi LB Win
• Optimization Settings
• Rotary for Galvo

8.2
Beginner Docs

• Adding and Configuring a Laser

• Create Manually
• How To use LightBurn
• Installation & Setup
• Laser Types
• What Is LightBurn?
• Your First Project

8.3
Calibration

• Focusing
• New Lens Setup

8.4
Camera

• Camera Alignment
• Camera Calibration
• Camera Installation
• Camera Selection
• Camera Window
• Index

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 8.5 DSP

8.5
DSP

• Camera Alignment
• Camera Calibration
• Camera Installation
• Camera Selection
• Camera Window
• Index
• Rotary Setup

8.6
Editing

• Two-Point Rotate

8.7
First Steps

• Adding and Configuring a Laser

• Find My Laser
• How To use LightBurn
• Laser Types
• What Is LightBurn?
• Your First Project

8.8
GCode

• Custom GCode

8.9
GRBL

• Camera Alignment
• Camera Calibration
• Camera Installation
• Camera Selection
• Camera Window
• Common GRBL/GCode Setups
• Console Window
• Custom GCode
• Index
• Move Window
• Rotary Setup (GRBL)
• WiFi Connection (GRBL)

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 8.10 Galvo

8.10
Galvo

• 3D Sliced Engravings
• Camera Alignment
• Camera Calibration
• Camera Installation
• Camera Selection
• Camera Window
• Cylinder Correction
• EZCAD Hatch & LightBurn Fill
• Focusing
• Framing Mode
• Galvo Anatomy
• Galvo Installation
• Galvo Settings
• Galvo Setup
• Index
• Lens Correction
• LightBurn & Galvos
• New Lens Setup
• Repeat Marking Tool
• Rotary for Galvo

8.11
Gantry

• Rotary Setup
• Rotary Setup (GRBL)

8.12
Guides

• Create Manually
• Laser Guides
• Multi LB Win

8.13
Job Quality

• Troubleshooting: Corners Are Too Dark, Too Light, Or Missing

• Troubleshooting: Dark & Burned Edges
• Troubleshooting: Engraving Shifted Relative To Cut Lines
• Troubleshooting: Fuzzy, Blurry, or Overblown Edges
• Troubleshooting: Inconsistent Engraving Tone or Color
• Troubleshooting: Incorrect Size
• Troubleshooting: Jagged Lines
• Troubleshooting: Job Results & Quality Issues
• Troubleshooting: Laser Keeps Firing During Travel Moves

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 8.14 Libraries

• Troubleshooting: Laser Losing Power At Low Speeds Or Not Reaching Full Power
• Troubleshooting: Layers Shift When Cutting Multiple Objects
• Troubleshooting: Periodic Defects In Engravings
• Troubleshooting: Poor Image Quality
• Troubleshooting: Slanted Or Skewed Job Results
• Troubleshooting: Warped Or Disconnected Lines
• Troubleshooting: Wiggly Lines At Corners
• Troubleshooting: Wobbly Engraving
• Troubleshooting: Wrong Orientation
• Troubleshooting: Wrong Start Location

8.14
Libraries

• Art Library
• Material Library

8.15
LightBurn 1.2

• 3D Sliced Engravings
• Cylinder Correction
• Focusing
• Galvo Anatomy
• Galvo Installation
• Galvo Settings
• Galvo Setup
• Lens Correction
• LightBurn & Galvos
• New Lens Setup
• Rotary for Galvo

8.16
LightBurn Bridge

• Advanced LightBurn Bridge Setup

• LightBurn Bridge

8.17
Machine Guides

• Ethernet Connection (Ruida)

• Ethernet Connection (Trocen)
• Sculpfun S9 Flashing Guide

8.18
Network

• WiFi Connection (GRBL)

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 8.19 Output Issues

8.19
Output Issues

• Troubleshooting: Corners Are Too Dark, Too Light, Or Missing

• Troubleshooting: Dark & Burned Edges
• Troubleshooting: Engraving Shifted Relative To Cut Lines
• Troubleshooting: Fuzzy, Blurry, or Overblown Edges
• Troubleshooting: Inconsistent Engraving Tone or Color
• Troubleshooting: Incorrect Size
• Troubleshooting: Jagged Lines
• Troubleshooting: Job Results & Quality Issues
• Troubleshooting: Laser Keeps Firing During Travel Moves
• Troubleshooting: Laser Losing Power At Low Speeds Or Not Reaching Full Power
• Troubleshooting: Layers Shift When Cutting Multiple Objects
• Troubleshooting: Periodic Defects In Engravings
• Troubleshooting: Poor Image Quality
• Troubleshooting: Slanted Or Skewed Job Results
• Troubleshooting: Warped Or Disconnected Lines
• Troubleshooting: Wiggly Lines At Corners
• Troubleshooting: Wobbly Engraving
• Troubleshooting: Wrong Orientation
• Troubleshooting: Wrong Start Location

8.20
Primary Docs

• Advanced LightBurn Bridge Setup

• Arrangement Toolbar
• Art Library
• Center Finder
• Common GRBL/GCode Setups
• Configuring A Ruida
• Console Window
• Creation Tools
• Cut Shapes Tool
• Cuts and Layers
• Device Settings
• Docking Tool
• File List
• Find My Laser
• Image Adjustment
• Interval Test
• Laser Control
• License Management
• LightBurn Bridge
• LightBurn Settings
• Machine Settings
• Material Library
• Material Test
• Measure Tool

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 8.21 Rotary

• Modifier Tools
• Move Window
• Numeric Edits
• Optimization Settings
• Overview
• Shape Properties
• Text & Fonts
• Trial or License Activation
• Two-Point Rotate
• Variable Text in LightBurn

8.21
Rotary

• Rotary Setup
• Rotary Setup (GRBL)
• Rotary for Galvo

8.22
Ruida

• Configuring A Ruida
• Ethernet Connection (Ruida)
• File List
• Move Window

8.23
Sculpfun S9

• Sculpfun S9 Flashing Guide

8.24
Settings

• Device Settings
• LightBurn Settings
• Machine Settings

8.25
Text & Fonts

• Text & Fonts

• Variable Text in LightBurn

8.26
Thunder Laser

• Ethernet Connection (Ruida)

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 8.27 Tools

8.27
Tools

• Camera Alignment
• Camera Calibration
• Camera Installation
• Camera Selection
• Camera Window
• Center Finder
• Creation Tools
• Cut Shapes Tool
• Docking Tool
• Image Adjustment
• Index
• Measure Tool
• Modifier Tools
• Overview
• Two-Point Rotate
• Variable Text in LightBurn

8.28
Trocen

• Ethernet Connection (Trocen)

8.29
Troubleshooting

• Create Manually
• EZCad Wireshark Data Capture
• GRBL Errors And Alarms
• GRBL: Low or No Power Output
• LightBurn Editor FAQ
• Troubleshooting
• Troubleshooting - Connection Issues
• Troubleshooting - LightBurn
• Troubleshooting - LightBurn Editor
• Troubleshooting - Output Issues
• Troubleshooting - Ruida errors
• Troubleshooting: Connection Problems
• Troubleshooting: Corners Are Too Dark, Too Light, Or Missing
• Troubleshooting: Dark & Burned Edges
• Troubleshooting: Drivers
• Troubleshooting: Electrical Problems
• Troubleshooting: Engraving Shifted Relative To Cut Lines
• Troubleshooting: Fuzzy, Blurry, or Overblown Edges
• Troubleshooting: GRBL Communications
• Troubleshooting: GRBL Errors
• Troubleshooting: Inconsistent Engraving Tone or Color
• Troubleshooting: Incorrect Size

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 8.30 UI

• Troubleshooting: Jagged Lines

• Troubleshooting: Job Results & Quality Issues
• Troubleshooting: Laser Keeps Firing During Travel Moves
• Troubleshooting: Laser Losing Power At Low Speeds Or Not Reaching Full Power
• Troubleshooting: Layers Shift When Cutting Multiple Objects
• Troubleshooting: Linux-Specific Problems
• Troubleshooting: Mechanical Issues
• Troubleshooting: Periodic Defects In Engravings
• Troubleshooting: Poor Image Quality
• Troubleshooting: Serial Port Problems
• Troubleshooting: Setting Up CNC-Based Lasers
• Troubleshooting: Slanted Or Skewed Job Results
• Troubleshooting: USB Cables
• Troubleshooting: Warped Or Disconnected Lines
• Troubleshooting: Wiggly Lines At Corners
• Troubleshooting: Windows-Specific Problems
• Troubleshooting: Wobbly Engraving
• Troubleshooting: Wrong Orientation
• Troubleshooting: Wrong Start Location

8.30
UI

• Arrangement Toolbar
• Art Library
• Console Window
• Creation Tools
• Cuts and Layers
• Device Settings
• EZCAD Hatch & LightBurn Fill
• File List
• Framing Mode
• Interval Test
• Laser Control
• LightBurn Settings
• Machine Settings
• Material Library
• Material Test
• Modifier Tools
• Move Window
• Numeric Edits
• Repeat Marking Tool
• Rotary Setup
• Rotary Setup (GRBL)
• Shape Properties
• Text & Fonts
• Two-Point Rotate

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 8.31 WiFi

8.31
WiFi

• WiFi Connection (GRBL)

8.32
Windows

• Multi LB Win

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