Hi ,
i am a long time cad user so the layer concept is clear in my mind
in lightburn i am having a hard time because the layer are showing up in the layer’s tab only when the layer are not empty, if there are no entities inside the payer i am not able to see them showing up on the side list to the right in my case
is there a way to see all of them shown such as for example in rhino where all existing layers are there no matter if they are empty or not?
thanks, regards
I doubt that’s possible. But Why would you ever show unnecessary information? I think it absolutely makes no sense to show layers that aren’t used. Changing settings on those layers won’t affect anything. And it’s much harder to find the layer you are actually using.
Additionally, the layer window has a concept of layer order, if you only have two layers and want to sort them, you have to scroll through the complete list. That also doesn’t make sense.
What’s the workflow you are searching for?
HI Melvin,
the workflow is very simple , i use the laser for cuttting and thats it…
i have created a given template file where i import the shapes to cut …the template contain set of different layers with different parameters for different materials
i import the shapes , i arrange them and than i need to choose the proper layer depending on the material and i end trying to guess most of the time which one is the layer to be used…all i see are just the number on the bottom left bar…i fly the cursor over each of the layer trying to geuss which one is what
i end most of the time seeking for which one is the layer to be used…and this is time consuming and annoying
meanwhile i have a very nice empty layer window on the side that is there , empty and useless.
having a chance to display all layers and dinamically jump from one another , showing , hiding , moving stuff just like i do in rhino or with most other cads would make me feel much more comfortable and efficient.
if you can help me to make it happens that would be very appreciated
thanks
There is a materials library that you can build with all the different materials and setting from which you can assign to the artwork layer. This will copy set all the fields in the new layer to the default values.
You can also set the defaults for the layer color, which are copied into that layer on creation as default.
A bit different workflow… Generally for a 2d laser, Lightburn does about all you need to do… If not, ask, we can at least make suggestions.
Good luck
thanks for you veruy useful suggestion , i really appreciate !!
that said i keep thinking that some user such as me would appreciate the possibility to display all layers in the layer tab , this would make layer management easier in my opinion…maybe you can add a flag to give user the possibility if to choose if display all layers or only active layers.
thanks , regards
All the layers should be displayed at the bottom. They only appear in the cut/layer window when there is something on them.
I don’t know what you would want as they don’t have any data (art) associated with them.
You’re used to a different work flow… sorry about that…
Hi Jack ,
i see you what you mean…maybe it’s different to change habits and as i said in my cad i have all layers there showing at all time, empty and not …maybe i just need to get used but as i said having them there makes layers management much easier in my opinion
just a point of view maybe but i think that if you could add a chance for the user to hide empty layers or shown them it could be appreciated alco by others.
thanks anyway for the always prompt replies
regards
There are lots of changes and additions that Lightburn is working on, including milling machine type of software.
The simple change you suggest, may require a rewrite of the complete program to implement this type of operation. If that’s the case, it will probably never happen…
I worked on some software projects that would be considered huge, > 1 million lines and found the way some of the parts work actually limit how much it can be modified without major problems requiring the rewrite of existing software the currently is debugged and working. Considering the output of 10 lines of debugged code a day, that’s a lot of programmers time to build this stuff…
I actually don’t see any advantage to your work flow other than complicating what layer you’re actually outputting and/or displaying… Not having worked with that piece of software I don’t know, I’m sure it makes perfect sense to you.
Personally I’d rather them proceed to develop new tools. Not take the time to rewrite a good functional piece of software. That piece of code wouldn’t be used by anyone I’m aware of … but you.
We are here to help you with Lightburn and your lasers. So if you have issues that come from a change in workflow, please sing out so we can assist. I think you’ll find Lightburn many steps above any other laser control software.
Good luck
Hi Jack
the upcoming feautures are very promising and i could not immagine that to apply the sort of change i have required was so complicated so forget it !!!
I didn’t mean to critic your job , i am a happy LB owner and user and so far , despite my very limited experiene i think that LB is a great great piece of software!!
As a user i was just asking if it was possible to set the layers as per my request and if not i was asking if there was a chance to implement it.
I will keep using it as it is and i would rebuy it again an 100 times , not to mention i have suggested it to other freinds.
many thnaks again and kindest regards
Ivan
I don’t know how the internal parts of Lightburn are coded. I do know from my own experiences that sometime we think it would be a simple change to do this.
The problem is we, as users don’t know. We can only ask as you did.
I’ve been in the same boat so I’ll move over… 
I don’t think I do too bad in the field of being retired. I do not work for Lightburn… but spent many years in computer systems.
There is always Feature Suggestions, where you can post a request and if there are enough votes for it along with it’s not a major issue with the software architecture, they do it…
There are a number of videos out there and the actual documentation is online.
Good luck — have fun
I too initially struggled with LB layers. Once you get warmed up, you will find this system is extremely fast and easy to use. Assign a layer to a drawing section by clicking on a color. Then you can re-order the laser sequence by moving the layers up and down. Group and/or Ungroup drawing sections to get finer control of the burn operations. Each layer can be assigned speed, power, repeats, etc. as needed.
Make a drawing with several boxes and circles and play with the layers. That will help you get comfortable with the Lightburn way.
It turns out you can change the layer names to make the flyover text more meaningful: C02 could become Cut 3mm Acrylic.
However …
That’s exactly the problem solved by the Material Library.
Because I have trouble distinguishing all those colors, I generally use reddish colors for cutting, bluish colors for marking, and blackish colors for engraving, rarely using more than half a dozen layers in any project.
So my “workflow” goes like this:
C02 layerAcrylic → 3 mm → Cut from the Material LibraryC01 layerAcrylic → Mark → SlightIf the project involves a cork base, those cuts will be on the orange C05 layer with the appropriate settings from the Material Library.
It’s not your familiar workflow, but it might be close enough to get to where you want to go.
many thanks Ed
very useful practical example
regards
This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.