Hi there, I wonder if someone can help me here, I’m getting on with Lightburn fine but I’ve previously used AutoCAD and used to drawing shapes and lines with co-ordinates, so for example I’d click on the drawing to start a line and then type in a distance and angle for the next point and repeat until I have completed the shape or line, so let’s say a 10mm line at a vector of 90 degrees, then a 25mm line at a vector of 45 degrees and then 30mm at 30 degrees and so on. Is it possible to do this in Lightburn? It’s no big deal if it isn’t I’m just used to doing it that way. Thanks
Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, Lightburn is not a CAD program. You can line draw using X/Y coordinates, but you have to watch the readouts at the bottom. Obviously this limits accuracy.
If you still have Autocad, draw your lines there and export / import as a DXF file. That way you still have the power of a CAD program for designing.
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Hi Poul, welcome.
If you come from the CAD world, you should “forget” the way you construct. LB has many options and I use it as my only construction/design software, but it is not a CAD program.
It is more like Lego, you build shapes and move them and change their properties and weld them together or from each other… You can certainly use the coordinate system to write/change directly in the field also with mathematical functions, but you have to get used to it. There is the option to use the angle function, but not continuously as you know it from CAD.
Give LB a chance, if you find all the options stored in the program, you will also construct everything and after a while you will be happy that it is so different and simple compared to a CAD program.
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Just for the fun of it, I created the drawing you annotated in the post. It’s easy enough to get the first 10 mm at ninety degrees, just hold shift while clicking once and then dragging. No need to be careful with the length, as you can enter it on the tool bar.
Click for a new line at the end point of the last one, which will create a second object, important for the angle aspect. Drag out in the same direction by holding shift as before.
Adjust the length on the toolbar as before, but also check the nine dot icon. It should be to one side or the other. Left dot if you ended on the right side of the first line, right dot if you ended on the left side of the first line.
Enter the degrees you desire in the box on the toolbar. You may have to perform some math, as I didn’t check if the result was relative or absolute.
There’s other ways, using the Control-2 feature, but that remains as an exercise for the readers.
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Many thanks guys for the replies, don’t get me wrong I love using Lightburn and yes it will take a bit of getting used to but apart from a few really specific details I’ve found it easy to learn and work with. Yes the replied solutions will help. Thanks once again. Paul
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