I’m new to LightBurn, but I’m a long-time CorelDraw user, and I’ve been driving a K40 clone with “K40 Whisperer” for about five years now. I’m having the following problem using Lightburn:
Picture #1 shows part of the vector file I created in Coreldraw. When exported as an SVG file and run on my k40 (using “Whisperer”) all of the black fills and lines come out engraved correctly, just like in the picture.
Now I have a new 80watt Omtech laser with Lightburn.
Picture #2 is how Lightburn displays the exported SVG file on my computer:
So, my first question is, How do I get Lightburn to show me the areas that are filled and not just as outlines?
If I click on [PREVIEW] I get the following warning:
Open Shapes Skipped–
378 shapes were set to fill, but weren’t closed.
These have been removed as they cause problems.
Continue?
[Continue] [Show me] [Cancel]
When I click [Show Me] all of the lines in the area I have colored pink in picture #4 are blinking, showing that they are causing a problem.
If this is how the laser will engrave this file it is completely wrong. Ideally the engraving should turn out looking like picture #1.
I honestly do not know where or how to start fixing this-- heck I don’t even know how to describe this problem!. It all worked so seamlessly in my earlier workflow… I would export the CDR as an SVG and the results were pretty much what I was seeing in Coreldraw. Now I’m flummoxed…
You can switch the View Style in Window menu to one of the Filled modes if you want to see a “live” view of the fill.
Single line segments are considered open because they do not describe a fully enclosed shape. That’s why they are discarded for the fill operation. You can continue to keep them if you like and move them to a different layer set to Line mode.
However, looking at your original CorelDraw screenshot it looks like you’re using stroke width to determine line thickness. This won’t carry over since lines are basically considered infinitely thin.
If you convert the strokes to a path before exporting to SVG that should resolve both of the open shape issue as well as the stroke width order at the same time. I believe this operation is called something slightly different in CorelDraw but the idea is the same. Convert the lines with a semantic link thickness into a close set of paths…
I’ll look up the different concepts of “stroke” and “path” (those terms aren’t used in Corel).
But, I would be happy to have the whole graphic engraved as a raster image-- which is the way my old K40 would do it. Red lines would produce a vector cut (or engrave depending on power setting), and anything in black would be done as a raster engraving. If I could get that raster engraving to look like my original Corel graphic, that would be ok too…
You can accomplish this in LightBurn if you export the CoreDraw drawing as a raster. However, I’d encourage you to push through and learn the basics of LightBurn vectors. They’re not entirely alien for a CoreDraw user although you need to change from the mindset of a painter and more into the mindset of a scaffolder. Every line irrespective of whether or not is visible from stacking needs to be addressed in some way. They will either cut or will play a part in negating overlapped areas for a fill.
This isn’t entirely different than the color approach you listed. However, it’s even more flexible with even more layers. Think of each layer as it’s own operation with different speed and power settings and the choice of Line, Fill, Offset fill, or Image. Every shape must be assigned to a layer.
And now to blow your mind, each layer can have multiple sub-layers where the same vector shapes can be acted on in multiple ways without having to duplicate the shapes.
