Hi,
I want to cange the order of the colour palette.
I only use laser for cutting.
In CAD (Software is QCAD) I use
black for outer lines, red for inner lines,blue for text and some others.
I would like to have the order red, black, blue, …
I changed hex-codes in file palette.json, but the has no effect.
Is the any chance to avoid order in cut/layers?
Thanks, adebar
You have to restart LightBurn for the changes to have any effect.
Your ‘palette.json’ would need to look like this (but without the comments in brackets);
[
“ff0000”, (red)
“000000”, (black)
“0000ff” (blue)
]
As long as you are aware that the price of breaking with convention is that your project file will only be good for your LightBurn - because if somebody else opened your project file your red (by virtue of the index number it was saved with ,not the colour) would get put in the black layer, your black to blue layer, your blue to red layer etc.
I am aware of the complication that you mentioned.
Restart of LB does not have the effect of changing order of layer/colours.
BTW: Something is strange, because the original palette,json looks like this:
[
“ff000000”,
“ff0000ff”,
“ffff0000”,
“ff00e000”,
“ffd0d000”,
“ffff8000”,
“ff00e0e0”,
“ffff00ff”,
“ffb4b4b4”,
“ff0000a0”,
“ffa00000”,
…
Every entry starts witrh ‘’“ff”.
Any idea?
Alpha channel perhaps?
I’m not sure why you would need to include alpha channel - where did you come by that file?
Have you tried using an import template?, a saved project project file with the layers already setup with your defaults and re-arranged layers, and then ‘Import’ your artwork into that template.
Something like this:
Template(red-black-blue).lbrn2 (7.2 KB)
Immediately after importing your artwork, use ‘Save As’ to resave the project, and also delete the group of small shapes that were used to save the layer settings and order into the project file.
To go a step further, you could directly edit your template project file and delete the <Shape> group to remove the shapes but retain the layer order and settings (as I’ve done here).
red-black-blue.lbrn2 (6.6 KB)
Thanks for the info.
I thought the layers were stored in the ‘palette.json’ file in the installation folder and read from there at startup. The colors are specified there in 8-digit hex code, beginning with ‘ff’. I’m not aware of any connection to alpha channel.
I’ll try working with a template now.
In german, my native language:
Danke für die Info.
Ich dachte, die Layer werden in im File ‘palette.json’ im Intstallationsordner gespeichert und beim Start dort ausgelesen. Dort sind die Farben in 8-stelligen Hex-Code angegeben, mit ‘ff’ am Beginn. Ein Zusammenhang mit alpha-channel ist mir nicht bekannt.
Ich werde nun versuche,n mit einem Template zu arbeiten.
I don’t think that works with my workflow.
It works like this: I create a DXF file with my CAD software, import it into Lightburn, arrange the layer order, assign values from the material database, and start the laser. The job is complete. Then the next DXF comes along, and so on. According to your suggestion, I would have to load the template every time before importing the DXF. That doesn’t make sense.
What I would like is that when I start Lightburn, the order of the layer list/color palette at the bottom of the workspace is already set with red, black, blue, etc., so that it also appears that way in the Cut/Layers window.
If that doesn’t work, then that’s just how it is.
Ich glaube, das funktioniert mit meiner Arbeitsweise nicht.
Das geht so: Ich erstelle ein dxf File mit meiner CAD.Software, importiere es in Lightburn, arrangiere die Layerreihenfolge, weise Werte aus der Materialdatenbank zu, und starte den Laser. Job fertig. Dann kommt das nächste dxf, und so weiter.
Laut deinem Vorschlag müsste ich jedesmal vor dem importieren des dxf das tamplate laden. Das ergibt keinen Sinn.
Was ich möchte, ist, dass beim Start von Lightburn die Reihenfolge der Layerliste/Farbpalette am untern Rand des Arbeitsbereiches schon mit Rot, Schwarz, Blau, usw. schon gegeben ist, sodass sie auch im Fenster Schnmitte/Ebenen so aufscheint.
Wenn das nicht gehen sollte, dann ist es eben so.
If you are intent on sticking with a certain colour convention in your CAD and if rearranging layer order, or ordering with ‘Optimization Settings’, or using a saved template will not work for you… then changing the colour palette is an option but not ideal for most* people due to the caveat mentioned earlier in this topic.
Rather than change layer colours, what you ideally need is the ability to rearrange the default layer order, this has been requested before so I would encourage you to read this Fider request for more information, and upvote it:
Remember layer order between invocations · LightBurn
Back to your problem, make sure the palette.json is in the correct folder (File>Preferences>Open Prefs Folder), and also ensure the quotation marks are like this " (not “ or ”), and the last member of the array should not have a , comma.
Restart LightBurn after adding or changing this file.
For example this should work,
[
"ffff0000",
"ff0000ff",
"ff000000",
"ff00e000",
"ffd0d000",
"ffff8000",
"ff00e0e0",
"ffff00ff",
"ffb4b4b4",
"ff0000a0",
"ffa00000"
]
**Useful if you use LightBurn for preparing artwork to export to .SVG with colours that need to match a different palette e.g. Trotec/Ruby.
... sticking with a certain colour convention in your CAD .
Yes, I design model airplanes together with friends. We exchange DXF files, but I’m the one who cuts them out with the laser. We don’t exchange .lbrn2 files.
palette.json is in the Lightburn installation folder, but there’s no entry for this path in the prefs.ini file. I can send it to you if you want.
Changing the color settings in palette.json has no visible effect upon restart. I’m also familiar with handling .json/.xml files.
I now understand that I would need to change the default layer order, but that doesn’t seem to be possible.
Thanks for your help and patience!
Oh I didn’t actually realise a palette.json file was present in the “C:\Program Files\LightBurn” folder …sorry… now I know what you mean by “Lightburn installation folder”!
You will need to copy that to the same folder as your prefs.ini:
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\LightBurn\palette.json
You’re a good friend 
YES!!! That’s it!
Exactly what I want. Strange thing, thas .json file only appeared in Install folder.
You’re a good friend
That’s called teamwork! 
Thank you very much!