Setting up the the usb camera in lightburn and when running through the various calibration steps, the captured images are always low resolution, 620x480. The camera I’m using can capture 1920x1080 images, so I am unsure why the images captured through lightburn are such low resolution. Is there something I’m missing? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Regards,
Jake
Explained here:
This is why LightBurn sells their own camera, it is made to work properly with LightBurn.
Hey Ray, thanks for the snappy response! Damnit! I should have done my research first!
I’m probably slow on the uptake, but I did a search on my camera, and supposedly it has about half a dozen or so resolutions it can function with, but nowhere can I find any information on setting the resolution when using LightBrun.
(No, it is not the Lightburn Camera).
Fred
One of the reasons LightBurn sells their particular camera model is that it defaults to its highest resolution. It is capable of lower resolution but the key is that it has to default to the highest resolution. Most USB camera do not. From what I remember reading, this is a problem because the software framework for LB doesn’t allow for changing the resolution. Oz will chime in at some point and correct me/give a better response.
Luckily the camera defaults to the highest resolution on my macbook. So I have been using that for the time being. I have redone calibration and alignment MANY times, and oddly enough it seems to get progressively worse. Is it a thing that previous calibrations could affect newer calibrations? If so, is there a way to delete calibration history? Thanks guys!
I’ll double check to make sure that I’m not doing something silly, but there’s no history of calibration data intended, certainly, and there wouldn’t be between runs of the program - if I had a mistake and happened to be keeping anything it would only be for that execution of the app.
Hey Oz,
Thanks for writing back. Yes it seems weird. I went through 4 different 3d printed enclosures to mount to my laser life when opened. Basically each variation was an effort to get the camera sensor parallel to the laser bed. Each time I redid the calibration and alignment. I assumed (we know where assumptions can lead) each progressive calibrate would get better, but alas they got worse! Perhaps a uninstall and reinstall of the software is worth a shot.
I’m only suspicious because when I plugged it in to my windows pc with the latest mount, and redid the calibration tests (with the terrible 620x420 sized captures) it came out far better aligned than on the Mac with 2420x1800 (or whatever the resolution was, there abouts).
It may just be a quirk, but I’ll see how a fresh install on the Mac goes. Thanks Oz!
Regards,
Jake
Make sure it’s in focus - some of these are manual. Also, you’ve mentioned no details about the camera, specifically field of view or mounting distance, and those play a role in how well this all works too. If it’s a 170 or 180 degree with a strong fisheye, it’s going to be harder to dial in.
Hey Oz,
Thanks for the feedback. Yeah it’s a pretty strong fisheye. Mounted on the lid of a red and black clone so it’s pretty far from the bed. I’ve ensured it is in focus prior to every calibration. Basically it’s just a set screw and a helical lens so twist to focus and lock it in place with the set screw.
Most curiously as I improve the angle and position, the calibration has gotten worse each successive time. I feel like it would just be best to get a camera from your store. What’s shipping times like to Australia? Thanks bud!
I honestly have no idea what shipping time to Australia would be - my first order to go there happened this morning, so presumably I’ll know before long. 
If the camera is capturing at high-res on the Mac, you should be able to get it to work. You might need to capture images closer to the center than shown in the calibration video, and angled slightly toward the camera if it’s a strong fish-eye. In the video it says the image should be parallel to the camera lens, but if the lens is a really strong fisheye, breaking this rule sometimes helps.
Take a bunch of captures in succession, moving the calibration card a little bit each time, and take notice of which things you do improve the capture score and which make it worse. I’ve been able to use a 170 degree myself - it was a little harder to get good scores, but was still possible.
Hey Oz,
Legend. Thanks for the tips. At the end of the day I’ll get one of your cameras. I totally think I know who that camera is going to. A friend of mine is getting in to laser and I gave him a list of ‘essential upgrades’. One minute later he messaged me back saying he purchased all of them!
I’ll persevere with the current camera and the Mac, and like you said take note of the successive captures and their angles and distance to the cameras plane. It’s really great to not only have this awesome software, but an incredibly helpful forum as a resource too.
Got mine working pretty good but wondering if during 2nd phase can you reuse the targets or is engraving them part of the calibration process?
They have to be in exactly the right place - you can re-use them if you can be sure you’ve placed them exactly where the machine would have engraved them.
Thanks. I wondered as there are 3 parts that I can see, Engraving the pattern, zooming in to locate each target, and placing a crosshair in each target in order. I was wondering if all of the steps were part.
My motive was to see if I could skip the fist step.
I will just redo it all.
fred
You can use the same markers multiple times as long as they haven’t moved, and you remember to enter the same scale value on the settings page (if you changed it). Once they’ve been moved it has to be re-done.
The reason for engraving them in the first place is so that I know exactly where on the machine bed they are - this is how the math maps between the image and the machine workspace.
In the end I ended up purchasing the 140 degree camera from your store OZ. The other one from ebay worked well to get me started and learn the process. The one from your store should provide the perfect solution, and I am happy to support your awesome work you do for the small business laser cutting community!
Regards,
Jake