tldr;
Please consider what is most important before asking for features already solved in appropriate tools.
I understand why people would like Lightburn to eliminate the need for things like Inkscape, Corel Draw, Illustrator etc.
All tools have a purpose, many can be misued/abused for other tasks, not ideal.
Lightburn should be a Laser first tool, other conveniences like drawing capability should rank low.
Adding feature to make the operation of a laser machine easier. RDWorks is incredibly powerful and has a number of features that have yet to be ported over, these should be prioritized and possibly even improved upon.
Inkscape on Windows is quite a decent piece of software, and free.
Affinity Designer is cheap and excellent for Mac.
These tools allow for so much more capability designing the things you need. Right tool for the right job.
RDWorks isn’t the only software that LightBurn replaces, but your overall point is noted. Which features would you like to see ported first? A number of things are already in progress or planned, so I’m curious.
I agree Gordon - but I think it’s even more than what you suggest. The fact that lasers have become so much more affordable give’s anyone with the budget and space to use this medium. Like any tool, there needs to be a skillset associated with it. People buy lasers and think they can just download from the internet anything they need. Nothing is further from the truth though. If a user has no or very little graphic skills, they will fall very quickly.
The software skills are extremely important. I’ve never expected Oz to replace Illustrator or Corel - I mean, really? The advances are amazing and the feedback channel is great. The reality that people need to understand is that folks need to educate themselves on HOW to prepare graphics, vector art, photoshop (inkscape) chops and an overall understanding of the reasons we do what we do, but more importantly - why.
Nothing replaces experience. Asking for help on graphic work that should be at the basics of any artist is mind blowing to me. Why would someone buy something with high expectations on output with no skillset? It surprises me.
That being said, Oz - when you get the remove duplicate lines (not shapes) tool with a settable tolerance (like RDWorks) I can move all our projects to LB. Looking forward to it!
LightBurn has a ‘Remove Duplicates’ in the cut planner now, which for many things is better - For example, it doesn’t change the geometry, so inside / outside sorting still works properly in most cases. That said, it’s planned, it’s just quite a bit harder to do cleanly when it can be undone / redone.
Indeed, as a parallel 3D Printer tool chains are where I expect Laser control software to be.
Shape/Design Creation
Job/Machine Control
These are entirely separate things, in the case of Laser there is some overlap which is quite nice but should be last mile solutions only.
I have a confession, I actually bought Lightburn before I had a Laser oddly enough.
Its ability to trace images and create shape offsets is amazing, I used it for some CNC projects.
The workflow is so simple and fast it easily beat doing the same thing in Affinity Designer.
Affinity Designer doesn’t have a trace feature yet, and Inkscape is torture on macOS.
