It's new stuff day! We've added a handful of new features, and done a lot of cleanup, so we'll break out the big things first.
Bending Text
The ability to have text follow a shape was a popular request, so we added it. Having done it, it seems that what people wanted 99% of the time was to wrap text around a circle or arc, so we've added a new feature to simplify this. After creating a piece of text, if you go back to selection mode you'll see a blue "bend" handle that you can grab and drag to bend the text, or double-click it to reset the bend.
It's intuitive and easy to use - we hope you love it as much as we do.
Trim and Extend
Another popular request is the ability to trim shapes against each other. Node edit mode now includes Trim (T) and Extend (E) keys for cutting up shapes more easily.
Shape Locking
Shapes can now be locked in the workspace to prevent them from being accidentally moved. You can lock from the Shape Properties, Arrange menu, or right-click. Locked shapes cannot be moved or edited without unlocking first.
Stored Positions for Jogging:
The Move window now lets you create your own list of stored locations that can be quickly recalled from a drop down.
Open the drop-down and select a stored entry to jog immediately to that position on the laser workspace. Click the Manage button to edit the list.
Palette Labels
To make it easier to tell the various palette entries apart, we've added numeric labels to the colors. These can be turned off in the settings if you wish, but it makes it much easier to identify colors. It was added to help color-blind users, but everyone seems to find them helpful.
Other notable changes
- Much better handling of high resolution displays on Windows machines.
- Cut setting defaults can be set per layer and per device (laser), and will reset to those automatically when you create a new file.
- You can now switch to multiple cut settings in the cut settings editor.
- The windows along the right can be made shorter for smaller displays, and we've added a global font-size setting, and tool button size now affects the palette buttons too - if you have an older laptop or a new Surface, these controls will help you adjust the layout of LightBurn to your liking
- Feed table (U axis) support has been added for Ruida controllers
- Machine Settings now has a 'Calibrate Axis' function to help you calibrate the machine step size
- SignCut and SignCut Pro files can now be imported
- We've added a fix for machines with buggy thumbnail viewers that were crashing LightBurn
- Ramp Mode now has a flag to disable the ramp for the outermost line, perfect for stamp makers.
- Lots and lots of bug fixes, import improvements, and tweaks to the interface.
There's really too much to go into in detail here. The complete list of changes is below, and as always, thank you for supporting LightBurn!
New features:
- Bendable text
- Added 'T'rim command to node editing
- Added 'E'xtend command to node editing
- Convert to Bitmap for vector shapes
- Added 'Locked' property for shapes to prevent movement / grouping
- Add axis calibration dialog in Machine Settings
- Cut setting editor will now allow switching between settings (edit multiple settings)
- Copy / Paste from EngraveLab to LightBurn
- Radius tool will now auto-convert rect or polygon to path if necessary
- Display language names in each native language
- Better alignment for focus test text, reduced text output
- Reduce Direction Changes optimization improvements - now generally improves cutting time
- Add 'Save to File' option for Focus Test
- If variable text CSV isn't found, look in project folder, in case we're on a new machine
- Don't do internal reset if the user just views the license screen, but doesn't change anything
- Filled rendering mode will properly draw open shapes that are set to fill
- Filled rendering mode will render in cut list order
- Added Device Profile Import/Export
- Convert to Path option given even if selection contains some things that can't be converted
- Camera Selection Helper (help menu)
- Added list of stored positions for Move window
- Cut layer default settings per device
- Added numeric labels to cut color buttons for colorblind users (optional, can be disabled in settings)
- Cuts & Laser windows allowed to be slightly shorter for space constrained displays
- Added snap along line & bezier
- Added option to ramp outer edges or not when using ramp mode
- Auto-invert the preview if you have just an image that is negated
- Drag-snap of lines on different layers no longer merges the paths
- Auto-backup preferences and machine settings
- Expired license now shows the expiry date
- Added support for importing vectors in SignCut (.sc) file format (with embedded AI content)
- Added support for importing vectors in SignCut Pro (.scpro2) file format
- Recent file list now properly displays foreign language characters
- Added 'Read Controller Settings' to simulation params page for GRBL, Ruida, Trocen
- Add font size control to settings
- Z-speed on Ruida is now the controller default speed for that axis
- Added hotkey for rotary setup (Alt+Shift+R)
- Added hotkey for Wireframe toggle (Alt+Shift+W)
- Pointer Offset (if enabled) is now included in Print & Cut positioning
- BugFix: Using 'Remove Overlaps' in the cut optimizer could cause crashes if complete shapes were removed
- Bugfix: broken Japanese file import filter pattern (*.ai didn't work)
- Bugfix: thumbnail parsing
- Preview now properly uses 'Start From' position
- Bugfix: Allow for a few microns of error in the 'are cuts within the workspace' check
- Respect start point / direction even when path optimizations are off
- Bugfix: cut-through/delays are now suppressed on fill layers even if the setting is present in Line mode
Import / Export:
- New file Open / Import / Save dialogs for Win64 that can't be crashed by broken external thumbnail tools
- Improved SVG export compatibility with SVGNest
- Improved parsing of CADLink exported PDF files
- Improved support for HPGL / PLT files (PU;PD;PA;PUPAxxx,yyy;PDPAxxx,yyy) now suppported
- Bugfix: DXF import was not clearing Cut Priority setting on shapes
- Bugfix: Don't crash on a completely empty / malformed SVG file
- Bugfix: DXF MTEXT objects using top or middle vertical alignment were placed incorrectly
DSP:
- TopWisdom machine settings write, more settings added
- Dual tube support for Trocen controllers
- Detect current origin mode for Trocen/AWC - corrects framing issues, aids camera use
- Bugfix: Numeric controls in Cut Info window didn't work for Laser 2
- Bugfix: Fill+Line mode now uses correct output for Line mode if Fill is set to Laser 2
- Bugfix: fixed jog direction in Continuous Jog for Trocen controllers
- Bugfix: Hitting frame while framing would lose position (Ruida)
- Added Feeder table support (Alt+Shift+F)
GCode:
- If 'Fire' button is on when jogging, leave the beam on at the low-power setting
- Bugfix: Don't perform start / end dwells in GCode for fills
- Grayscale now treats white as empty space if Min Power is 0
- Added SnapMaker support
- Minor change to GRBL opening command to prevent 'Error 9' showing when locked
- Bugfix: correctly parse position status for latest Smoothieware
General bugfixes:
- Bugfix: Fixed a precision/alignment issue when importing images in vector files
- Bugfix: Variable text import filter (CSV / TXT) was incorrectly formatted
- Bugfix: Crash when selecting a camera if no laser profile is created
- Bugfix: Art Library wouldn't allow renaming with extended international characters
- Bugfix: Text cursor would temporarily disappear if you deleted all text applied to a path
- Bugfix: framing with Print & Cut enabled is now corrected
- Force text and associated path to group together
- Auto-advance variable text only advances if at least one enabled layer contains variable text
- Bugfix: Cut-through & delays cleared for fill layers
- Bugfix: Select all no longer selects hidden shapes (unless they're part of a group where something else is visible)