We do not do the range of materials that a lot of you do and I would like to have one template file I can use to create small jobs. I get that I can save a file with all the settings filled out but there is no way to pin that file to the recent files list and hitting the “new” just uses whatever the last file had.
I’m basically only ever cutting foam or acrylic, and engraving acrylic or anodized aluminium so I would just like to have one colour for each process. 3mm acrylic cutting as red, 4.5mm acrylic cutting as blue, anodize ally engraving as green, and so on.
I’ve had a bit of a look for this info but not much success finding what I’m looking for so if this has been done already, please point me in the right direction.
Can we either have a default template file that we can set so that any new file uses that template to import colour settings, or add the option to pin files in recents? I imagine most users are doing a large range of materials and operations so the template is probably too cumbersome to do but pinning files would be very handy.
That materials library I didn’t know about and I will have a look at that today. It could be at least partly what I’m after. Thanks.
The comment about saving a blank file with all the settings I did know about but comes back to that not being able to pin the file. Personally, I would prefer that I didn’t have to go searching for a file every time I need to start a new project. While that can be done with a shortcut, it is still having to find and open an existing file. The “new” file icon is then defunct. If there was a template that has all the necessary options, the program would ideally use that template to create the new file when you hit the “new” button on the menu. Much like you would do with a corel file, or cad file etc… then you could have different templates for different materials or whatever, rather than just loading whatever was in the previous file you had open.
All that may well just be done in the materials library so I need to have a good look at the library. I can’t say I’ve got any programming knowledge so I’ve got no idea how difficult it is to add a pin or template option to the program.
If I understand, you are looking to change the current feature of presenting a rolling list of ‘Recent Projects’, and instead present a combined list of ‘pinned files’ and ‘Recent Projects’ which might be confusing. I might suggest a separate list of template files presented under an ‘Open Template’ choice on the ‘File’ menu, but I am not sure this is needed if one plans out where you place these template files.
I personally have a separate folder called LightBurn Templates and store and access them there making them easy to find. New is new and a template is not. Having the behavior you suggest, a ‘Set to default template’ would be limited to a single template or would require presenting a list, which is no different than opening a saved template in an easy-to-find folder.
Your first paragraph is what I meant… kind of… I’ll use solidworks as an example. There is a list of recent files there which shows say 20 of the last files I used. Next to each of those, there is a pin icon which simply pins that particular file to the top of that recent files list. You still get all of the other recent files, it is simply that the pinned file stays there at the top opposed to being pushed off the list as I use other files. Office does the same thing. If you are working on something that you constantly go back to, it can just be sitting there at the top of the list and only takes 2 clicks to open.
I may be confusing things by saying project or file - I mean the same thing. That particular job that I am working on at the time. I’m fairly new to Lightburn (it’s awesome by the way) so it may well be that there are such separate things as a project and files but I am referring to one thing.
When saving a blank file, the only option I can see is to save it as an *.lbrn file. There is no option to save it as a “template” so to speak. But you are right, having all those different blank lbrn files in one place makes them easy enough to find, it just means that you would use “open” instead of “new” to create a new job. I come from a CAD background where it is all about reducing the number of clicks you have to do to create a part so I’m just trying to streamline the process.
In corel, to create a new file from a specific template, I would just click on the “create file from template” icon which automatically take you straight to the template folder that is set in the options and you can choose the template to use. That’s basically what I meant but I may well be in the minority here so maybe it’s not worth the trouble trying to add that sort of thing in…
Rick, looking at the materials library github page you suggested, there is a broken link there for the Video Tutorial #1. It says there is nothing on that vimeo page. I can’t see anywhere on there to report it, so just noting it here.
We are in the process of a rewrite of our documentation and training materials so, yes, this video link has changed. The following is a video produced by a reseller of LightBurn covering the Materials Library. The video was produced a while ago so may not cover everything, nor be as up to date as we’d like, but we are working to provide these updated learning resources as fast as possible.
I also suggest you take a look at the LightBurn YouTube channel where we offer additional training and demonstration materials.
You can drag the template file into LightBurn, or double-click it in Explorer to launch or open it in LightBurn - That would let you make shortcuts to them on your desktop.
From the sound of it, you really only need a couple of preset layers though, so the easier way would be to just use this button in the Cut Settings edit window for each layer you use:
Thanks guys. I had a look at the materials library late yesterday and I think that suits my workload quite well but I will have to use it a bit and get used to it. I had most of the settings I use saved in there in about 20 mins. I just have to work out how to use those settings when I do the next job. I think that takes care of what I was asking for the most part. The pin option would still be handy I think but minor at the end of the day.
I didn’t realize there was a youtube channel - I will jump on there and have a look. Cheers.
OZ, when you say drag a template in, are you literally talking about a different file type that is just a template or just a blank .lbrn file? As I mentioned before, I have only seen the one file type used in lightburn so far, so not sure if I am missing something.
That’s what I meant, yes. Normally when you save a LightBurn file that contains shapes, the output contains only the layer settings that were used by the design. If you save a LightBurn file with no shapes in it, the system saves every layer, and this is what we call a settings template file. Same file type, it just lets you quickly reset the settings to something known, and is meant as a way to have multiple settings banks that you switch between.
