Happy Holidays everyone! We've got some early presents for you.
One of them was a quick bug that caused GCode devices to stop communicating, because I grabbed a file that wasn't intended for this release. If you downloaded it and see a 'Critical Update' message, re-download and install the 1.3.00 version over the one you have. It's been corrected.
Here's an overview of what's new:
Hotkey Editor
Many have requested this, and as LightBurn has gotten more popular and added more features, it's become harder to find free hotkeys that will work on all the keyboard layouts around the world. With the addition of the new hotkey editor, you can customize most of the shortcuts in LightBurn to your liking. Any button on the toolbar can be given a hotkey, and it includes a search function to help you quickly find them. You can find it near the bottom of the File menu.
Slot / Tab Resizer
If you've ever gotten a tabbed box file or slotted '3D Puzzle' meant for a specific material thickness and wanted to make it a different size, or with different material, you'll understand what a pain it can be to adjust them. The new "Resize Slots" tool will search for slots or tabs for a specific thickness and let you choose a new size for them. There's still room for improvement, but we're excited about this one.
Automatic flipping of loaded projects
Anyone with more than one laser knows that loading a file designed with a different origin causes designs to flip or mirror. This version of LightBurn will automatically flip loaded project files to the correct orientation, regardless of where the machine origin is. (Note: you have to choose the device first, then load the file)
Improved Break / Join for Node Edit
Breaking and joining shapes in node editing could result in paths ordered in a way that confused some of the code in LightBurn. We've done a lot of work to improve this, making it easier to join paths together, and no more crashing when doing lots of node editing.
Preview overscan moves for DSPs
The preview now simulates the overscan moves added automatically by DSP controllers, giving much more accurate time estimates.
Go to Edit > Device Settings, click the 'Additional Settings' tab, then 'Read from Controller'. This will sync the settings in the preview with your machine.
Remove rounded corners
The corner radius tool can now be used to remove rounded corners from shapes, making it possible to adjust the corner radius on existing shapes.
Disable distortion of bent text
When using the Bend feature for text, you can choose whether the text distorts or not.
Align selected shapes
When node editing, hover over a line and press 'A' to align it to the closest axis (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal).
Other notable changes
- The 'Remove Overlapping Lines' feature now handles lines that only partially overlap, and has a user-adjustable distance setting.
- UV galvo lasers are now supported
- Framing the Material Test on galvos works like normal framing, and can be nudged with the arrow keys.
- Added support for 'Door Switch' and 'Done Marking' signals for galvo lasers
- GCode devices will now show a time remaining estimate when running a job
Download it now from our Download / Trial page, or use the 'Check for Updates' feature from the Help menu in LightBurn.
We hope everyone has a great holiday, and a fantastic 2023. Thank you for supporting LightBurn.
The full list of changes and bug fixes appears below:
- [Oz] Added hotkey editor
- [Oz] Added 'Resize Slots' function
- [Oz] Auto-flip files on open or import project if the device origin doesn't match
- [Oz] Added ability to remove rounded corners in the corner round tool
- [Oz] Preview will now add automatic overscan moves for DSPs, improving preview time estimate
- [Oz] Added 'Distort' setting for bent text, allowing you to choose whether to distort individual letters or not
- [Oz] Added 'Align selected shapes' function to Edit Nodes
- [Oz] Added user editable distance value for 'Remove Overlapping lines' optimization
- [Oz] Remove Overlapping Lines now handles partial overlaps
- [Oz] Framing the material test on galvo now interactive, supports nudging
- [Oz] Added I-Beam cursor when near text in text mode
- [Oz] Major speedup of 'Optimize Shapes' when smoothing is enabled
- [Oz] Added a check for network MTU size - adjusts packet size on Ruida file sends accordingly if too small
- [Oz] Added timing delays and jump speed to EZCad config import
- [Oz] Added 'Frequency' to material test for supported gantry CO2 systems (Ruida)
- [Oz] Material test now shows all unit labels
- [Oz] Finalized UV galvo support
- [Oz] GCode devices will now show estimated time remaining when running a job
- [Oz] Modified the 'Start Points' tool to also show start / end points of compound shapes, making it easier to find open shapes
- [JS] Added "Door Switch" support for galvos
- [JS] Added 'Done Marking' signal for galvos
- [Oz] Proper detection of xTool and Ortur devices with Find My Laser, better detection of GCode systems overall
- [Oz] Much faster job generation when 'Optimize Cuts' is disabled
- [Oz] Updated Emblaser2 focus calibration page
- [Oz] Bugfix: Improved Node Edit 'break' function to keep nodes in 'nice' order, less crash prone
- [Oz] Bugfix: Auto-Join now properly handles duplicate shapes, won't produce T-junctions
- [Oz] Bugfix: turning off a sub-layer in the middle of a set would change the output order of the others
- [Oz] Bugfix: 'Run from Here' didn't always work if images set to 'Fill all at once' or 'Fill groups together' were in the job
- [Oz] Bugfix: drawing a closed-loop shape could make a large loop if the first line was curved
- [Oz] Bugfix: when framing from the Camera Align wizard on a galvo, if you ran the job from the frame window, power settings were wrong
- [Oz] Bugfix: double-quote in a CSV file was handled incorrectly (variable text)
- [Oz] Bugfix: importing a LightBurn file that contained virtual arrays and immediately assigning to a new layer caused a crash
- [Oz] Bugfix: Exporting a shape with one Bezier made of a single point to SVG caused weird output
- [Oz] Bugfix: dotted lines could hang DXF import
- [Oz] Bugfix: galvo rotary settings would change Roller Diameter to the Object Diameter value