I’m running into consistent issues exporting SVG files from LightBurn into Affinity Designer.
The exported SVG appears to import fine at first (no error messages), but in Affinity:
The canvas appears blank unless I manually increase stroke widths and toggle view modes.
Objects are scattered, faint, or invisible unless I hunt them down in the Layers panel.
Grouped shapes from LightBurn are broken up or misaligned.
Transform origin defaults to off-canvas and must be manually reset.
This happens even with simple designs (simple circles and holes). I’ve confirmed stroke widths are above visibility thresholds (e.g., 2 pt), layers are not hidden, and view is set to Vector.
This issue is mentioned in a few older posts (from 2020–2023), but there doesn’t seem to be an official fix or guidance.
Question:
Has anyone found reliable export settings in LightBurn — or import settings in Affinity — that avoid this mess? Are there settings/techniques to make what should seem obviously doable, actually so?
This seems to be a major compatibility flaw, LB is great for production, Affinity for creation - the two should communicate seamlessly together, yet the workflow feels broken.
If a solution does not exist and developers plan to address this, when can we expect a solution to this vexing problem and are there better design programs to deal with this?
Can you attach an svg and LB file to have a look at? I’ve just done a quick test and I’m not seeing any issues. However, this issue does ring some bells, but I might be imagining it.
Marcus I appreciate your reply but I only have the one file and it is somewhat proprietary / under development. I’ve seen 5 similar posts in the past but never a solution addressing it and that is why I posted this. I’m awaiting a response from LB themselves and have emailed them regarding this.Thanks again!
My digital skills aren’t as strong as I’d like them to be, still i’m trying to create my own designs within the powerful Affinity Designer program , yet I’m finding that it and LB don’t communicate as seamlessly as I feel they should. This ungrouping and then scattering images about, far off the workspace, with inoperable layers, … etc. this all seems very cumbersome. I’m surprised that this topic hasn’t historically drawn the attention of more people. Am I missing something? Do others know something that I don’t, or have they just come to accept short comings that I’ve experienced for what they are?
Lightburn can also export Adobe Illustrator and DXF files, both of which can be imported by Affinity. Have you tried using those formats to import into Affinity?