Hello,
Until now I have tried to draw outlines only. But as the pen and the laser are directed by the same signal (laser on = pen down, laser off = pen up) and as the laser is able to engrave surfaces, it should also be possible to fill surfaces by the pen, but how?
It should even be possible, by distributing the details of a job over several layers, to realize a multi-color drawing with one color per layer.
Did someone experience that, respectively how do you do to engrave surfaces with the laser?
Kind regards
Aloha
Not sure I am understanding what you are asking but each layer has a mode you can set for the type of cut you’d like for those objects that sit on that layer. We explain it here: Redirecting...
And please, let us know if I got this completely wrong.
Hi,
Yes, it is that what I mean.
So, in the drawing I have first to fill, in Inkscape f.i., the surfaces that I want to be filled by Lightburn, if they are not filled already!?
An other, probably bigger problem is: how to distribute the elements of an existing drawing on the different layers by dissecting it. But that problem may not be resolved in Lightburn, I presume!
Is there a tutorial treating this subject?
Kind regards
Aloha
No, this is what the ‘Offset Fill’ does for you based on the settings as described in the documentation I shared. Any shape you set to ‘Offset Fill’ or the ‘Fill’, and ‘Fill+Line’ layer settings will fill the shape for you based on the ‘Line Interval’ / ‘DPI’ / ‘Lines per inch’ settings when you ‘Preview’ or run the job.
You do not need to pre-fill your art to have the shape cut using a fill pattern of your choosing.
Are these shapes in a group by chance? When the shape is selected, you can tell by the look of the marquee marching ants, if you will. When you see a ‘dot-dot-dash’ pattern, that indicates the shape is a member of a group. Just dashes means it is not part of a group.
You should be able to ‘Group’ and ‘Ungroup’ within LightBurn using the icons at the top-center or by using the hotkeys ‘Ctrl + G’ to group the selection and ‘Ctrl + U’ to ungroup the selection.
Is this what you are asking?
You should be able to select a shape, multiple shapes and / or groups of shapes and assign them to a different layer. Is this not working for you?
The first few pages of this cover basics like what Rick is describing above with the selection pattern, grouping, and other fundamental concepts in LightBurn. If you haven’t gone through it, you should - it will get you productive much faster than just poking around on your own (though we highly encourage that too).
Hi, @Rick:
Yes, it is that what I mean.
In fact, I have succeeded in filling the surfaces .
In GIMP I have dissected the elements of a branch (there are no groups) with leaves and flowers into the branch itself, the leaves and the flowers and saved in separate files.
Then I have imported the file with the branches in Lightburn, I have transformed the image, selected “offset fill” and Lightburn has drawn the branches as I wanted them.
At the end of the job the head returned back to its starting position, I have not moved the paper, I have fixed a green pen at the penholder, I have imported the file with the leaves, I have transformed the image, selected “offset fill” and started the job from exactly the same position as the branches, but the result is not good: the pen doesn’t start drawing at the same position as the branches.
Here attached a scan of the result.
How?
No, and I don’t understand how it would be possible in the case of a JPG picture.
If your source is a JPG picture and you want to use offset fill, you need to convert the JPG into shapes (outlines) that can be used to generate the offset paths. You can do this in LigthtBurn, yes:
I have watched this very useful video. But I don’t see how to select complicated and tiny shapes as in my picture. With the elephant it is easier because a more simple structure.
That is my first problem.
The other one:
I still don’t understand why the different parts that I separated in Gimp and saved without changing anything at the dimensions are not drawn at the exact position.
In LightBurn, or only when sent to the machine? If it’s only when sent to the machine, you likely have something loose, like a belt, the pen mount, etc.
Not in Lightburn, where I position all the parts of the drawing exactly at the same position.
There is nothing loose at the machine.
I will make some tries with an easier structure.
Do you think it’s possible to separate the different parts in a drawing like that above in Lightburn? Or is the structure to complex?
If you’re trying to take that image and convert it to outlines that you can run with your pen, you would likely want to do the drawing in another package. LightBurn doesn’t do “freehand” work as well as a package like CorelDraw or Illustrator, and you’ll have a harder time splitting out the different colors in LightBurn.
It is not the complexity as much as the lightness of some colors. Here I am showing your image imported into LightBurn and using the ‘Trace Image’. This will require tracing a few times to adjust and get the details you’d like. It can be done, but you have not picked a simple project to accomplish here, but it can be done.
I did not try beyond what you see in my post. I wanted to show that you can try to do this within LightBurn as well. It may take a couple tries using different settings to get all you want. Editing will be required either way so whatever tools you are most comfortable using. Good luck, please do keep us posted on how you get on. Show us your results when you can.
Hello,
I have tried once more preparing the parts of a drawing with GIMP and have encountered an other problem:
So I have “dissected” the drawing in its parts, I have imported them into Lightburn, and traced the images.
However, when I make a preview, in some images there is a frame and the whole background is filled, and in others only the parts I want, and I don’t understand what makes the difference!
Here attached 2 JPG files and 2 Lightburn files resulting from them:
The file Leaves is without the frame, the file flowers with a frame, although they have been treated, in GIMP as in Lightburn, in the same way!
So, these are ok: Leaves|256x256 . Leaves.lbrn (28.3 KB)
