There are numerous online resources which provide a PDF or SVG output format which can be saved for local manipulation. (Open Street Map, Heavens Above etc.) Many of these resources provide the file as a masked object. When importing the masked object to LB, all of the masked (meant to be invisible) parts of the image are made visible. It would be great if visibility status of masked objects could be respected (though I imagine it’s tricky 
There was a Topic related to mask preservation for Illustrator files which could be related to this depending on implementation.
Sounded like Oz was open to the idea but I’m sure dependent on priorities. You should see if there’s an open feature request and upvote it to bring more attention or create a new one.
I think this would be a useful feature certainly.
Thanks for info - I have tried to use the boolean ‘crop’ method but for some reason the operators dont show, no matter what I do. I have wondered if it’s because it came in as PDF - I will try again with SVG, but as I say, I say a vid describing the cropping method but can’t for the life of me make it work, so far. Thnks again
Source of design shouldn’t matter once it’s in LightBurn although different sources can tend to have more artifacts of specific types. I don’t think that’s what’s going on here.
Another user was trying something similar. Here’s a post from me explaining the process that may be applicable.
I apologise - I didn’t understand the nuance of things I had seen elsewhere. First, I didn’t know the power of the tool layer, I tried to utilise the boolean operators in the tool sidebar, to make a cut using a plain circle. I tried as a primitive and as a ‘convert to path.’ Nothing I tried worked, using the sidebar boolean operators. I did not know about this method of using a tool layer and the ‘Cut Shapes’ menu item. I just didn’t know that was a method. I am sorry to have wasted your time, but I’m very grateful for your patience and guidance. It’s a great function and I am sure to use it many times. Many thanks.
They’re powerful tools but require certain conditions to be true to use them effectively. With practice and exposure this will become more apparent. The main requirements that catch people are that you can only work with 2 sets of objects at a time and that all objects need to be closed for boolean operations to be available.
Cut shapes can be used on open or closed path objects.
Anyway, glad you’re able to proceed.
I got the result I wanted - a cropped star map, and I am very happy. Thank you again.
Please mark the useful suggestion as a Solution so others can readily find it.
The Solution check-box is hiding in the … at the bottom of each reply window - Click the grey … to expand it out.
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