Hi All,
First of all of it’s a fact that I would struggle to run my business without Lightburn…so keep up the good work!
However, since “time is money”, I’m always looking for ways to streamline my production workflows, and unfortunately the behaviour of “select all shapes in the current cut layer” of ungrouping objects containing the selected layer doesn’t fit my “MO”.
Of course I can see that this un-grouping behaviour would be useful in certain use-cases, but when all I want to do is change the layer of the selected layer, I then have to re-group all the affected objects. I regularly have to construct LB files containing 100+ grouped objects, so this is tedious in the extreme and introduces the risk of human error.
My drawings are constructed from dxf files from multiple sources where I have little control of the layer colours used and therefore how they map to the LB palette on import.
I have a feeling that i could be in a niche of my own here but if it was possible to have the option to change the layer of all entities in a layer without breaking apart grouped objects…that would be perfect.
Is there any chance such feature could be developed please?
Using version 1.7.08. I’m not seeing the behavior you’re describing, nor do I remember a time that it did, although it may have on previous versions. I just did a test. Created several shapes and grouped them, selected the layer and changed to a different layer. Grouping remained intact. Then I created more items and grouped them seperately from the first group, selected entire layer and changed color. The 2 groups remained as I grouped them.
I have never used the “select all shapes in the current cut layer” until just now for the test. I usually shift click on the layer in the cuts/layers panel, which selects everything on the layer. It’s quicker than going to a menu item.
I can see where this behavior would be frustrating, having to regroup everything.
You could try using a CAD program that imports the DXF file, and allows you to color the data the way you want it to be, then export another DXF file to import into LB. I use a program called Draftsight, but you could try a free program like SolidEdge2d
Thanks Tim.
Based on your input, I did some more testing and found that the object grouping is preserved when all the objects in a group are in the same layer.
But in my example, the triangle and ellipse are on layer 03 and the rectangle is in layer 00. The triangle and rectangle are grouped, viz:
If I then select the ellipse and click “select all shapes in the current layer” (or shift-click layer 03 in the Cuts/Layers window) then this is the moment when the triangle and the rectangle are broken apart (as hinted at by the change in selection):
Thinking about it some more, I suppose that the concept of selecting objects within a group doesn’t really exist in LB currently.
You can see from the comparison of the LB files before and after the layer selection has been done that the “polygon” shape was removed from the group object:
I have also experimented with directly editing the LB file in Notepad++, doing find/replace on the appropriate “CutIndex” entries to change the layers and preserving the group structure. It kinda works but risks screwing the drawing up. I would rather be able to do such a “find/replace” within LB!
Here’s a workaround to try. Instead of selecting all shapes on a layer, select you group, then click a layer color, either one of the colors in the group or a new one. That will change the entire group to the new choice while preserving the grouping. At least it did in my limited testing.
There isn’t a way to select things within a group because once things are selected you can do basically anything to them - Move, rotate, scale, group, etc.
The only way this could be done would be to have a command to “assign all layer shapes to different layer” and I’d have to think about how to make that work. You’d need a way to select the “destination layer”, which would most likely require a pop-up box to do so.
Editing the file content to change the CutIndex property is safe, as long as the destination layer already exists. If you assigned to a layer that didn’t have a corresponding cut setting in the file that would probably cause some issues.
but if it was possible to have the option to change the layer of all entities in a layer without breaking apart grouped objects…that would be perfect.
