I’m in the process of purchasing an OMTech 50w laser, and was hoping to jump in the software and start learning it, but don’t want to burn the 30 day trial since I have no idea how long it will take the laser to ship and get setup and situated.
Back when I was learning MasterCam for work, I noticed they had a home learning edition that you could use, it just had a few critical features removed(that only prevented exporting programs and importing tool libraries). I was wondering if Lightburn had a similar option.
No. Nothing like that although a request for such a thing is in the feature request site.
The LightBurn folks have been known to extend trial licenses under extenuating circumstances… especially when dealing with hardware setup issues.
If you’re planning to get LightBurn anyway I wouldn’t sweat the timing too much. As you say, there’s a bunch of stuff to acclimate to. And if you’re new to design software or lasers generally you’ll have more than 30 days worth of ramping up to do.
Thanks for the info, currently a Sr CNC Machinist in aerospace communications manufacturing so design, cad/cam, gcode etc is no big deal. Definitely new to the laser scene though.
You’ll have a leg up for sure. There may be some “unlearning” but that’s an easier hill to climb. I’m sure you’ll have some frustrations but may also find some things refreshing.