Hello, im trying to set a user origin when using a rotary. I have the rotary working fine but the problem i have is the fixed job origin positions.
If i try and line my engraving up with other features on the object already ( in this case the corner of the letter E) the laser starts from the position it is in but assumes that position is the green dot or job origin. There is no way to line the job origin up with the user origin ( as there is only the fixed locations being all 4 corners and centres) so therefore no matter if i select user origin or current position it makes no difference it starts to move the laser to the job origin position and start the cut from there.
As an example see the below picture. Red is where my laser is positioned and where i want it to start from.
Green is the job position that can only be changed to those box points around the job so what happens now is the laser starts at the red position which is what i want but assumes its at the green position so with this blue box example the laser instead of going right and down it goes left and up and then engraves off the object completely
That is exactly how I do it, set up a rectangle that is equal to the circumference and place objects inside. The rectangle can run off the edge of the workspace. Rotary back rotates to the bottom of the rectangle or lowest point on the selected object, and burns towards the top. (For me anyway.)
I get this and have used this before and in some cases it works not ideal but it works but lets assume you have a specific point on something as a reference like lets say a dot at the top of a circle so the circle is centre of work piexe and the dot is offset.
You want to engrave in the left and right of the circle maybe a larger circle around the lot but centred to the object.
So then do you just have to make a much larger rectangle around the whole lot use centre as origin and keep resizing and moving until the green dot lines up as close as possible with the origin point?
Im just surprised its not already a feature to turn on and make job origin the user origin to me makes so much sense.
This way you describe is what i have been doing but just seems so much more work and not as accurate as ut could be compared to a feature clickijg job origin as user origin. Just assumed this sort of feature would have been already available haha
I dont mean always have this the case but it would be extremely handy when referencing other features not locked in by the 9 points of the job origin that you can select.
Yes i set the user origin and yes user origin works machine starts from there that is all fine but as i said no matter if i have it on Current position setting or User origin setting it will start from the green dot. It doesn’t move to the green dot but essentially puts the green dot at the user origin position which is fine for say engraving a square from a corner or something from centre etc but when its anything other than a corner outer centre or centre point this is where this problem is.
I could have sworn ages ago when i run user origin it would make the green dot disappear and only the user origin point worked but now the green dot stays with user origin so not sure why this is the case maybe i was imagining it gone
If i am missing something please let me know i have only been using lightburn for a year and normally use absolute position due to using a camera etc but both user origin and current position act this way.
Lets say we have this object and want to put a circle around an existing H on a round tumbler.
You can set the origin as the corner of H as thats an easy spot to work out.
So id expect it to follow like the red line from origin and move but instead it does the green line. From user origin but moves as if it was at the job origin.
Theres no easy way to set the job origin to start from the user origin in this case as none of the 9 points line up with anythng you can reference. The only thing to do would be maybe measure the distance you need to travel to get to centre and measure to the edge of the round object and move the rotary to this position which is a bit of trial and error compared to referencing the actual object you want.
So for this example the easiest way is to make a much larger rectangle and position it around the lot so the centre lines up with the user origin like this which doesnt seem like the best but it works
To make this a lot easier make sure that you enable ‘Snap to Objects’, in Edit > Settings and when dragging the rectangle drag it from one of it’s snap points.
And if you hold down ALT when dragging you will also get stickier snapping and guidelines.
That said - I get your point - and it would be handy to be able to define an arbitrary job origin, please add your vote and thoughts to this feature request:
I could be useful perhaps to have the option to disable the job origin and have it instead become one and the same as the current and last known position and then to be able to drag and snap graphics to the last known position marker.
Thanks for the response so this is the current work around for this? I just wanted to make sure there isn’t something i was missing so the best way would be to draw a rectangle select job origin as centre and line the centre up with the origin point chosen? (for this case above)
If that happens use a spare ordinary layer for the shape you are using to stage the job origin and toggle off the output for that layer (and also turn off ‘Use Selection Origin’).
I’ve been following this, but had doctor appointments that have kept me pretty much off-line.
I don’t see how an arbitrary setting of the job origin would be of any benefit, especially if it has the same concept… you’d still be marking where the object is, just like now…
Not to mention, this would seem to involve every level of laser code generation or graphics manipulation… or a nightmare to implement, even if you limit it scope.
It’s not something you would come across every day, but there are certainly benefits for wanting additional control over the job origin.
For instance, someone hands you a panel with a bunch of random drill holes. Your job is to laser a name just above each hole (where a hook will go), and also a star shape around the name and the hole.
You set up the job with the plan to guide the laser to each hole and run the job in ‘Current Position’ mode. Unfortunately, the job origin, which is currently being determined by the rectangular framing boundary of this job, is located in the middle of the name instead of where you need it to be - lower down where the drill hole is.
You contemplate jogging/locating the laser over the hole, and then making a measured jog move before running each job… but there must be an easier way?
So you employ this workaround, which is to create a rectangle that is large enough to encompass all shapes in your workspace (so the job origin is easy to control), and drag that rectangle by it’s center handle to reposition the job origin exactly to where you need it to be.
An example of this is shown below by the selected rectangle in the green layer, which has it’s output disabled, but has been used to move the job origin down to where it needs to be.
I believe the reason nothing has been implemented so far is that there will be little incentive for the dev team to try and implement a proper solution for something not very many people seem to need (only ten upvotes in the last six years) in way that doesn’t overcomplicate LightBurn and create additional confusion for everybody else.
