This is big one, so we'll try to list the important ones first:
Snapping:
When dragging objects from an existing point, line center, or object center, if you drag the object over something else, the system will automatically snap them to each other (hold Ctrl or Command to bypass this). The cursor will change to indicate the thing being selected or snapped to.
Print & Cut
For anyone who uses their laser to cut out items after printing, the new Print & Cut feature allows very precise registration between the laser output and the printed work. This could also be used to align jobs from different machines (CNC & laser, for example) or even multiple parts of the same job if something is too big for your laser. Documentation is updated, and we'll have a tutorial on this feature before long.
This post shows an example: https://www.facebook.com/LightBurnLaser/posts/764997680579734
Fillet (rounded corner tool)
The new Round Corner tool lets you enter a radius and click the point where two lines meet to round it to that radius. It only works for lines at the moment, but will be expanded to work on arcs or splines in the future.
Speed
The speed of path planning, specifically the inner/outer sorting, has been improved by a factor of 15x or better, dramatically reducing the time it takes to preview or output complex jobs. It's worth noting that LightBurn was already many times faster than RDWorks for complex job planning and previewing. It's now roughly 100x faster than RDWorks. To see just how fast that is, watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNrZXOBicb0
Flood Fill for DSP controllers
The Flood Fill option is back, and much improved. It still makes weird paths if you use it for complex designs, but it is now compatible with DSP controllers, respects the scanning offset settings, and even works with ramp mode.
Sketch Trace
Primarily for capturing sketches or handwriting - ever tried to trace a child's drawing, or a poorly photographed recipe from grandma? Enabling sketch mode in our image tracer or dither setting makes this easier.
And much more...
This is just scratching the surface of what's changed - we can't call out everything. A complete list of all changes in this release follows below. As always, you can use the Check for Updates feature, or download from our Download Page.
Thank you for supporting LightBurn.
Editor Features:
- 15x or better speed increase in finding inner / outer shapes on complex files
- Added Print & Cut marker targeting
- Added various snap types while dragging
- Zoom-adaptive grid snap behavior (makes node editing much more intuitive)
- Improved planning output when using "Reduce Direction Changes" optimization setting
- Added ability to export / import camera calibration settings
- Added ability to toggle Group-on-import behavior
- Added ability to toggle Select-on-import behavior
- Rebuilt settings window for easier navigation
- Added threshold slider to image trace for easier tuning
- Double-middle-mouse frames selection, or project content (from AutoDesk Fusion)
- Automatic daily check for updates
- Flood Fill enabled again for DSP controllers
- Flood Fill now respects scanning offset correction and ramp mode
- Added round corner tool (fillet)
- Added Default font and size option (used by editor, and DXF imports)
- Added full-screen cursor option
- Added new 'Sketch' mode for dithering and image tracing - great for handwriting
- Explorer thumbnails for Windows version (doesn't work yet on all systems - still investigating)
- Added option to re-use running instance when launching files on Windows (on by default)
- Smarter text cursor placement / editing of overlapping text objects
- Focus test now supports inch or mm, and settings are preserved
- Added ability to save captured / undistorted camera image
- Improved arc fit in shape optimizer
- Added shortcut for Send (Alt+Shift+S), O-Frame (Alt-Shift-R), Convert to Path (Ctrl+Shift+C)
- Added shortcut for Focus Z (Alt+Shift+F)
- CSV parser now includes quoted strings with commas, and allows "" to represent single quotes
- Added flag for Z-move optimization
- Dark background option for edit window
General bug fixes / improvements:
- Fixed OSX double-click to open LightBurn projects
- Fixed text-on-path added to group (no longer has double offsets applied)
- Fixed images being cut off slightly on sides when rotated
- Fixed importing of CSV files with incorrect line endings on Windows
- Startup checks to make sure window position is on screen, doesn't restore if it isn't
- Saving preview image now properly draws the last line in the cut
- O-Frame now works with 'Cut Selected Graphics' enabled
- Fixed a bug that would prevent duplicates from being removed in certain situations
- Fixed a bug that caused 'Optimize selected shapes' to not close the shape in certain cases
- Fixed a bug where using fills and cuts without 'Order by Layer' could break inner/outer ordering
- Fixed an issue where expired licenses were incorrectly showing huge days left (numeric wraparound)
- Fixed Linux / Mac exports, GCode / UFile saves (properly adds extension)
- Fixed a bug where minimizing / restoring the main window made the origin control creep to the right
- Fixed a bug in variable text that caused the CurrentIndex to reset back to zero when running a job
- Don't auto-advance serial text if send/save failed or was cancelled
- Fixed a crash when trying to trace the captured background if no capture was present
- Fixed a bug in text creation where setting the font first then typing text would revert to old font
- Fixed a bug in text creation where clicking around the page multiple times could cause a later crash
- Fixed diagonal axis snap bug
- New Linux deployment script (AppImage is gone, deployed as .7z or .run file)
- Camera alignment window remembers scale setting
- Improved camera lens calibration images
Import / Export:
- Don't group when importing a single shape or bitmap from an AI / PDF / SVG file
- Add layer color to DXF export
- Ignore zero width & height rectangles in SVG import
- Fixed a parsing issue with DXF files that contained extra whitespace
- Fixed a parse issue with SVG line objects containing units in the line coordinates
- Fixed an issue with alternate DXF text rotation, and DXF text size
- Fixed AI exports to be compatible with Aspire, VCarve (color format was wrong)
- Added a warning for using Import of a LightBurn file into an empty project
DSP controllers:
- Added ability to auto-increment numbers in filename sent to laser for DSPs
- Improved compatibility with Fill+Line for Ruida controllers
- Optimized frame for Ruida & Trocen starts at the nearest point
- On Ruida, checks if frame will be in bounds, if possible
GCode controllers:
- Multiple passes on an open shape will reverse along the same path (GCode only for now)
- Frame with laser enabled now uses constant power (M3) on GRBL
- Fixed a bug in cut-through mode for M3 GRBL
- Reduced output decimals for GCode grayscale on GRBL machines to save bandwidth
- Increased overscan range for images to 50%
- Improved compatiblity with GRBL 0.8