Not sure how or what settings to adjust

Really trying to get into the laser game, we have an Ortur 10w burner. Trying to find the best settings to burn this imagine onto a piece of walnut however when we do it’s all dark and hard to see. Should we import the picture differently?

Thank you for any assistance you can give

Good quality images is kind of an art. I think Lightburn falls short for this type of thing. Using imagr and maybe something like GIMP to process and use passthrough. You will also need to do material tests for your speed and power.

Are those things in Lightburn or something I need to Google? I need to get more familiar with Lightburn because my hubby is “computer” challenged. I use a lot of Cricut and Silhouette software.

What settings?

I’m by no mean an expert but I’m not sure walnut is the best wood to engrave unless it’s already pretty light. I’ve had good results with cherry.

You have to play around with images. There are several test burn files you can download and try. Maybe here on LB or try Louisiana Hobby guy I think he has one. LAHobbyguy has a few videos on images that might help.

Or if you can’t find them PM me and I’ll send it to you.

Tell me about it.
If he is just starting out I think he should start with vector images like SVG. until he gets more familiar with doing laser.

Face the fact you are attempting one of the most difficult processes using a laser.

Some material have a compressed grayscale or how much of a range from light to dark. It’s much more comparable to a printing press where it’s either black or white.

They use some type of dither on the image to get a reasonable look of a photograph. With newsprint, it’s pretty precise … both the ink and paper relationship is well know.


I’ve used many of the image processing software and I believe that Lightburn can accomplish everything all the others can do without the black box approach. There seems little information with imag-r to indicate what they do different when you select an image for acrylic, Norton Tile Method or other choices for processing.

Keep in mind the preview should be always be used, but it will only show you where the it will lase, it can’t know the material or effect. It has saved me lots of time and material.


Know how to use the interval properly… Probably the most misunderstood value using a laser. This video by Laser Everything on Photo Engraving does an excellent job explaining how to find the right interval.

Although done with a fiber, the process works with any laser and any material…

Once you decide on an interval, the other items can be found using the Laser Tools → Material test in Lightburn

Good luck, look forward to seeing your finished artwork

:smile_cat: