Comgrow camera not working with Lightburn

[madswede (S Nils)]

Mid 2010 Macbook pro
MacOS High Sierra 10.13.6
LightBurn 1.6.03, built Tue 2024-04-30 @ 02:35
No security conflicts related to a USB camera being added
No USB HUB, laser and camera are plugged into the laptop directly.

Plugged in a newly purchased and installed Comgrow Z1 USB camera however lightburn doesn’t appear to recognize the camera as there is no image captured but it is showing up as in the dropdown list as USB 2.0 Camera.

USB 2.0 Camera is selected ( verified correct by unplugging Comgrow camera and restarting lightburn - not seeing USB 2.0, then when plugged back in and restarted again, USB 2.0 is selectable, so it is being detected. )

Update overlay chosen but not able to get image.

Go through lens alignment first, then burn registration marks, still no image. Get to the point where you can’t go any further as you can’t move any image around to align as you have none.

There should be some image from the camera cmos sensor in this screen but it’s blank.

This is as far as I am able to get, note no image.

Any ideas or suggestions on how I could get this working?

[madswede (S Nils)]

I’ve had zero luck with getting the camera to work with the above listed Lightburn version and Mac Pro combination. As a result I have now tried on a newer MacBoo using MacOS Monterey 12.7.4 with the same version of lightburn mentioned above.

This combination results in the laser not being detected and Lightburn continually hanging with a beachball spinning to no avail.

I have a 16,524 line crash dump saved but without knowing what specifically to look for it’s anyones best guess.

Is Lightburn just not compatible with MacOS or did I just get lucky with my first install on High Sierra?

[parsec (FerAS)]

Try connecting trough the cheapest USB2.0 hub you can find, I don´t know if the same applies for the camera.
Sorry.

[madswede (S Nils)]

Not sure I follow: I am connecting the camera with the provided USB cable for it, directly to the mac pro. The cable that was provided with the camera is a USB-A to a small 4 pin Molex style connector. The molex connector goes to the camera and the usb-a connects to the computer.

Should I be using something else instead? Seems like a no brainer, plug it in, and go but lightburn won’t show an image from it.

[parsec (FerAS)]

For the newer MacBook.
Lightburn is compatible wit MACs, but newer Macs are a bit picky with USB2.0 connections.

[madswede (S Nils)]

Gotcha, yeah the 2010 MacPro I have with High Sierra is USB 2.0, and that works with my laser no problem. Just not the camera.

I tried a newer 2012 MacPro with Monterey and USB 3.0 and that won’t work with either the laser or the camera.

Not sure why it won’t work or why lightburn won’t return an image from it, despite it being recognized.

There’s been a few folks who posted about this a year or so back but no real resolution or follow up from lightburn official.

[parsec (FerAS)]

There are several posts about this problem. Macs default to USB3.0, only trough a USB2.0 hub, they connect with 2.0 protocol.

[madswede (S Nils)]

Could you provide some of these links you mentioned, as the ones I found searching for “comgrow camera no image” did not yield any solution.

I listed in the initial post I am not using a hub, each device is connected directly to the macbook.

The first Mac is USB 2.0
https://support.apple.com/en-us/111341

The second Mac is USB 3.0
https://support.apple.com/en-us/118463

[parsec (FerAS)]

I don´t have a Mac.
For the camera I don´t know if the hub is the solution.
Also I don´t know if you have to give permissions to access the camera.
.
Jus a few:

Comgrow Camera on Mac Ventura Doesn't Load in Lightburn

I purchased the ComGrow camera arm kit (SALE Comgrow Aluminum Lightburn Camera with Mounting Arm - Comgrow Official Store) and installed it. I am using an M1 Mac Mini running Ventura 13.4.1 and Lightburn version 1.4.01. I have given permission in Settings for Lightburn to access cameras. When I go look at the System Report it says that I have a USB 3 port with a USB 2 camera installed. When I disconnect the camera, that report of having a camera installed goes away. I have also tried connecti…

Lightburn Crashes with Comgrow USB Camera runnng MacOS Ventura

I am trying to configure my Comgrow USB Camera and when I attempt to save the camera in LB or Calibrate and Save my settings, LB crashes. I grabbed the error log - Translated Report (Full Report Below) Process: LightBurn [635] Path: /Applications/LightBurn.app/Contents/MacOS/LightBurn Identifier: com.LightBurnSoftware.LightBurn Version: ??? Code Type: X86-64 (Native) Parent Process: launchd [1] User ID: …

Mac OS, Camera/Port issues

I’m about an inch from loosing my mind here, but every time I try to run the camera wizard (comgrow camera plus arm kit) Lightburn crashes. Also, every time it runs into a snag it forgets the port my laser is on so I have to utterly restart my computer to make it find the port again. (MacOSVentura, iMac, M1 chip) What is happening here and how do I fix it?

[madswede (S Nils)]

Thanks for the links, those were the ones I have come across prior as well.

It’s not a permissions issue as High Sierra doesn’t have that option like Mojave would, and even with Mojave when I tried there was no camera option for light burn in privacy and security under settings.

At this point it looks like lightburn isn’t able to work with this camera on the Mac platform, despite it being “light burn compatible” and having Mac specific instructions for installation. Possibly a bug with Light burn that hasn’t been resolved yet on the Mac side?

I tried to message one of the developers directly to send my crash log as well but they are not accepting any PM’s which is unfortunate.

I have a PC workstation I will try next to see if that works after I install the PC drivers.

[jkwilborn (Jack Wilborn)]

Apple/Mac has always been on the bleeding edge of technology.

Part of that cost is when they do some kind of upgrade to something and it breaks something else… such as the usb 2 and usb 3 headache.

[madswede (S Nils)]

Apple may be on the “bleeding edge” these two MacBooks are from 2010 and 2012 and any perceived “issue” with protocol related to USB-A should have been long worked out especially when regarding a USB camera.

I could see this being an issue on a recent Apple silicon variant but for older Intel based Mac’s with less restrictive OS’s this certainly seems to be a but with light burn’s Mac OSX release.

[jkwilborn (Jack Wilborn)]

I don’t know, but I see it over and over again… I think most of it boils down to software… usually does.

[madswede (S Nils)]

I did yet another install of Lightburn this time on a:
13" M1 2020 Macbook Pro
Sonoma 14.4

Lightburn refuses to recognize both my Comgrow Z1 Laser and the Comgrow Lightburn Camera. * ( Note it works on my old 2010 Intel based Macpro running High sierra)

I’ve connected these devices via their supplied USB-A cables to a certified Apple compliant Belkin USB-C hub which is needed for this Macbook since they omitted the USB-A connectors, driver installed for the laser, yet no camera image and Lightburn hangs then crashes.

I’d hasten to say that a native Mac Silicone variant of Lightburn is a heavy lift at this point but was worth a shot to see if even the camera would work on the modern Mac and OS but the same results apply.

I’m gonna switch over to the workstation PC I have and see how that works, now that I’ve established that Lightburn won’t work/run this laser on any other Mac I own after 2010 and won’t work with the camera period.

[madswede (S Nils)]

I’ve now setup a Windows 10 machine with 32gb ram and a i7 3.70 ghz cpu to connect to my comgrow z1 and comgrow camera.

Both the laser and camera were recognized and connected.

The Camera is a USB 2.0 cable and connected directly to a USB 2.0 port on the PC and the Comgrow laser has a USB 3.0 cable connected directly to a USB 3.0 port. No hubs are used.

After calibration and initialization the camera image refuses to update in Lightburn.

I can take an initial update but any subsequent updates are not displayed in the camera control window.

This is a brand new fresh install of Lightburn and Windows 10, so right out of the gate again there is issues with lightburn’s camera control not updating for PC and not even working for Mac.

Windows 10 shows camera access as on and app access is allowed and lightburn shows currently in use.

I placed a tape measure and clicked update but the image will not show the tape measure.

Restarting Lightburn results in being unable to get an update overlay though I was able to get one previously.

This camera feature in lightburn exhibits inconsistent behavior on both Mac and PC. On OSX it will get recognized, but lightburn refuses to display any image from it. On PC, lightburn displays an image however it won’t update after the first attempt requiring a restart to try again.

When it is dialed in on a particular material thickness, it works ok, but then looses it’s accuracy when a new piece is added of different thickness or placement, requiring again, new testing and adjustment.

This feature really seems to be bug ridden for both Mac and PC.

[AlabamaBumblebee (Neal West)]

I had the comgrow camera with a Legion 5 windows laptop and it would constant drop contact with the laptop; black screens, etc. I ditched it and got an Acmer A500 instead.

[madswede (S Nils)]

It’s concerning that nobody from LightBurn official has chimed in on this considering the amount of client side testing that has gone on, but with no real resolution.

The camera was tested to be working 100%, could connect to each computer and be recognized on both Mac OSX HighSierra and on Windows 10 yet only Lightburn for Windows was able to display an image but it was only once and would not update afterwards or would not update after a period of time.

Lightburn
Mac OSX HighSierra - Intel Macbook 2020
Fails to display an image from the camera - ( BUG )

Lightburn
Mac OSX Mojave - Intel Macbook 2012
Fails to display an image from the camera - ( BUG )
Lightburn crashes repeatably - ( BUG )

Lightburn
Mac OSX Sonoma - Apple Silicon - M1 Macbook 2020
Fails to display an image from the camera - ( BUG )
Lightburn crashes repeatably - ( BUG )

Lightburn
Windows 10
Displays an image from the camera but will not update when clicked again, behavior is intermittent. - ( BUG )

I did stumble across the following statement below here taken from this page:

Camera Selection - LightBurn Documentation

“Interactions between cameras and computers are, unfortunately, a complex topic. LightBurn currently only works with USB cameras, and only some cameras will work correctly. For proper calibration and alignment, make sure you have a fixed zoom camera. Additionally, some computers may cause complications with the use of cameras. In some cases (especially with newer computers such as M1 Macs), this comes from incompatibilities between USB 3.0 ports and older USB 2.0 cameras.”

The above should give anyone pause if you opt to use LightBurn in any capacity with a camera as it is part truth and part vague non-answer and does not specifically show any effort put forth on which cameras, if any, were ever tested with Lightburn on either Windows or Mac OS.

I’m hoping someone from Lightburn can give some better insight on this or to a different replacment camera as the one provided by Comgrow, while built like a tank, the actual CMOS USB 2.0 camera won’t work with Mac OSX and is intermittent with Windows.

[parsec (FerAS)]

For windows you could switch between Default Capture and Custom Camera, restart LightBurn and check.

[madswede (S Nils)]

Thanks, I’ll give that a shot today while burning and see if that can “kick” the camera video feed back to working.

I’ve got to source a smaller PC laptop now if I want to continue to use Lightburn since my primary Mac / Lightburn software won’t work with the camera I have.

The camera was a gift given to me and I’d rather press on and use it with a different OS, than say no and not use it and let it collect dust.

There are a handful of these inexpensive “chinese” cameras on Amazon I’ve found that use the same mounting holes and I may try a few more with the Mac to see if I ever get success, if not then a dedicated PC laptop of good quality will need to be sourced.

[parsec (FerAS)]

Also read along:

Unknown LightBurn Crashes

Hi there. I’m new to the lasers and this is day 1 for me. So far I’ve set up my machine, connected it to LightBurn and ran a few tests. All the tests have ran successfully but I have encountered a few issues which all end up with program crashing. Every time I try and use the camera on my laser—a Roly LaserMatic MK2 XW—LightBurn crashes. I’ve imported the camera and can see it and I can even select it but the buttons below are grayed out. There is no preview and if I try and calibrate the progra…