I have a place holder I use for the Laser cutter for holding that I use to place up to 24 Coasters. I have a Lightburn project that I have setup using tools as guides, so I can place my graphics and everything is all aligned for my coasters. Ive run into an issue thought.
Suddenly when I send to the laser, everything is off by about a 3rd of an inch. It took me forever to realize the obvious issue. I was using an image, but I had to rotate it. Even though I used a layer to mask and apply, the image bounding box is still the original dimensions, poking way being the template. So the start point is thus a 3rd of an inch from the template corner.
Is there a way to tell Lightburn to reset the bounding box (like in Adobe Illustrator) so that the project recognizes the images new dimensions, rather than the images original dimensions/orientation. I use Illustrator and Photo shop, so making adjustment would normally be… relatively easy. But I use Imag-R too… so everytime Im using an Imag-R processed image, Id have to go through Imag-R to reprocess it, which is someone of a pain, time wise. I cannot (so far as I understand) run an Imag-R image through Photoshop/Illustrator as they don’t have the Algorithms needed.
Ive already cropped image. The circumstances Im having issue with is when you have to rotate image.
I have a guide/template.
I import image, but need to rotate it. Image goes outside guide/template, so I need to crop everything outside of it…
I crop image by creating shape as T1, Apply mask to image, then flatten.
No more excess outside of guide/template, but the bound box for retains original rotating position, exceeding guide/template.
The issue is that the work area(?) is no longer defined by template, but is effected by bounding box, throwing everything off.
Ah, now I understand. I think you found a bug. I can reproduce the problem with version 1.4.04.
@LightBurn@Rick Flatten an image mask only works if the image has not been rotated before. Once you rotate the image, then applying the mask lets the frame stay as the original image. I think that shouldn’t be the case. I can understand why it happened, but I think it’s counterintuitive. The flatten function should take the masking shape as base, not the original image.
Sorry to be pushy about this…
Ive run into this issue before, and I took kind of a passive approach before and just nudged my physical placement template in the Laser machine to compensate of the offset.
But I really need to get a number of projects done this weekend and I need to be able to freely rotate?mask?flatten images without worrying about the bounding box.
Does anyone know of a work around in Lightburn until this issue is addressed? Try just masking without flattening, but the issue persists
Create a rectangle around the bound of the post-masked image and place on a tool layer. Group the rectangle with the image. Use the tool rectangle to position your work.
I’m confused:
Creating a rectangle “around” the bounding box still creates a shape extending the work area outside the desire template space. Grouping and moving them just moves the image out of place.
Can you take a screenshot of the problem you’re solving for?
My solution would allow you to move both the image and the manual bounding rectangle as a unit. The bounding rectangle would allow you to position against a template.
However, it sounds like you’re dealing with a problem that this doesn’t address.
See images above in OP and in Misken response
I do on not want to move the image. When I create a shape that extends to the outter dimensions of the bounding box, I am still left with a shape the same size as the outter edges of the bounding bax, whether its a shape or a tool.
My needs are to eliminate anything beyond the post flattened visible image.
1st) My physical place holder
2nd) My Lightburn Template
3rd) Sample Image Rotated
4th) Mask applied to fit inner square
skipped image as its results are still conveyed in image 5
5th) Mask flatted. Following your suggestion: Created shape that covers the full dimensions of bounding box. Included shape and image into group. Moved. Just to be sure: I also made a shape the size of the image just like I did for making the initial mask. Neith option reduces the bounding box. All I have is another shape the same size as the outer points of the bounding box.
The only thing I get from your suggestion is… move the image so it’s Boundary box is now inside the Template. Until I am about to get a proper work around, this is infact what Im being forced to do. But this is by no means a solution. There has to be a way of resetting the Bounding box to match the dimensions of the visible image.
Is the actual issue that the invisible portions of the masked image are outside the boundary of the workspace and preventing you from sending the image to the laser?
Sry for late reply.
Its not that it won’t let me send it to the laser. Its that its including the excess of the image, what Ive been referring to as a Bounding Box, as part of the project (Bounding Box is the term used in Adobe Illustrator), throwing the alignment of the project off.
I made a template (Guide? Work area?) in light burn that represents my physical coaster template place holder.
The most outer blue line in lightburn represents the outer edges of the place holder
The large inner squares represent the slots for the coasters.
The smaller inner squares represent where my designs go if Im working with slate.
The grid-like intersect lines represent guides for centering.
Everything is set to T2 (Blue) because I have T1 (Orange) reserved for something else.
I broke all that down because I feel there might still be confusion despite all the photos. If this didn’t help, I guess I’ll wait for the patch. @misken seems to have understood the issue pretty quick, so maybe I just confused things more. idk. Either way, @misken identified the problem, and hopefully a solution will be in the works soon.
In any case… hopefully you understand now, that I need the work area to be limited to the most outer blue line. It doesn’t represent the max cutting are of my laser, just of my template/place-holder. So when I clip an image using a mask (apply mask > Flatten) and the outer dotted line is still beyond the template work area, it throws the whole alignment off when I go to laser it. Again, @misken identified this as a lightburn issue. Lightburn is recognizing the excess space of the image as actual image or a shape. Its including the excess, which should no longer exist, as part of the project.
I had hoped there was a setting/method/tool that could force the project to be cut off at the most outer blue line. Probably wouldn’t help in most other projects, but it’d be helpful in this specific instance.
I understand the original problem that’s being stated. What’s not clear now is why the offered remedy is not addressing the issue. The issue of image orientation not matching mask orientation shouldn’t continue to pose a problem during alignment with the remedy applied.
I wanted to confirm the core issue since it’s possible that the stated problem is different than the core issue that’s trying to be resolved.
Take a look at this sample. The grouped frame around the photo allows for precise placement of the masked image in the template.
This issue isn’t with how to move an image with a mask. You are correct, you need to group them to move them. The issue is how the bounding box of a flattened image is having an negative effect on the dimensions/alignment of the project. The project bounds, work area, and start point is becoming determined by the bounding box, rather than the desired template/guide.
Please watch this. It’s 9mins but It explains it thoroughly.
To Admins: Is there any explanation as to why there aren’t more tool layers? It doesn’t fix this glitch, but it would certainly give alternate work arounds.
I recommend you watch the video as well. Might help elaborate the issue.
Th
This is what I was trying to get to earlier. I wanted to understand in what way this was affecting what you were trying to do.
Is there a reason you can’t use Absolute Coords as your Start From mode? This way you’ll have consistent job origin.
Failing that, can you elaborate in what way this is affecting what you want to do? Or rather, what are you trying to achieve? There may be a different way to get there.
@berainlb Actually I was curious if such a feature exists. Is this something I can adjust per project? or will it change defaults and need to be reset?
@JohnJohn John These were the images I used in the video. The “Coaster one” Represents a traditional image that does not need to be masked.
The “test for Demo…” would be an example of an image that I would need to rotatte and then mask/flatten.
I’ll get you the project file asap.
I’m not sure what feature you’re referring to? Do you mean “Absolute Coords”? If so, you can change per project and actually on-demand. However, it will affect how you need to think about your job alignment.
Start from mode is saved with the project. Additionally, LightBurn defaults to last used Start from mode for new projects.
I replicated what you saw and attempted to apply a square mask at 45 degrees and then flatten and rotate that result. I couldn’t get it either.
I asked the Dev team if there was a way through. Oz explained that there’s no way within LightBurn at present.
It does reduce, but the problem is the rotation. The crop is rendered into the original bitmap in its original orientation. The user has cropped a rotated image, and the result, in the space of the original image, is a diamond shape, so it keeps “out to the tips” of that diamond.
If you use Absolute Coordinates for your project, the origin remains in bounds as needed because no cutting/engraving moves are outside the workspace.
This isn’t technically a bug - the mask is applied to the original image, in the orientation of that original image.
What you’re looking for is the masking process to also rotate the image into an arbitrary new orientation. If you had used a different shape, what would the correct orientation be? For example, this one?
I can reproduce the problem with version 1.4.04.
