Multiple libraries open in a single instance of Lightburn open?

Is there anyway to have multiple libraries opens in in a single open instance of Lightburn? Or, can you import the materials and settings from one library into another?

If you are asking about Art Libraries, yes. You can load many at the same time. In this example, I underline just one, the tool tip showing this Zipper art library, but as you will note, there are many other art libraries loaded in this instance of LightBurn.

If you are asking about ‘Material Libraries’, no. Each Material Library is intended to be used with a specific profile. You can associate a unique Material Library for each profile you build. As an example, you can have one library with settings for a diode and a different library setup for a CO2 system, and another for a Galvo. When you change the profile you are currently using, the library associated with that profile is swapped in, and you are ready to go. :slight_smile:

Thanks for the quick reply.
If I might be so bold as to suggest that like the Art libraries, that a future enhancement might be the capability to load multiple material libraries. As you suggest for different profiles of lasers, there exist, like the Emblaser, different power heads and it would be helpful to have both 5W and 10W material libraries in the same profile.
Just a suggestion.

There’s nothing keeping you from sharing a material library on multiple device profiles. Simply overload the material library with settings from both.

In fact, you could have a single material library for every laser in your arsenal that way.

1 Like

Maybe I’m missing something here. What I want is a single library. How do you merge libraries without tediously hand entering every single material and parameter into a “main” library that I could use any platform?

I was addressing the relationship of the library to the device, not about how an actual merge would work.

The point being that there’s nothing keeping you from using a single material library across all your devices. But that basically means you’re the one who’s managing which library entries are relevant for each device.

As far as merging two libraries the strategy will depend on a few factors but the primary one being how divergent the libraries are. If there’s little relationship between the two then I’d look at merging the XML content of the files. If you only have a handful to do then might be better to load the more robust of the libraries to use as a base and add the other entries that you want. Another strategy could be to create a project with layers defined with material library entries from one library. Then use those layers to create new entries in the other material library. You’d still have to add description information, however, with that approach.

1 Like

This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.