Galvo Framing

Note

You may need to hold the Fn key while pressing F1 to open the Live Framing window

Framing is a function of Galvo lasers that outlines projects in your laser's work area using a red dot light, allowing you to see where your design will output on a physical object.

Click the Frame button in the Laser Window or press F1 to open the Live Framing window.

By default, the Live Framing window will also open when you press the Start button in the Laser Window, but you can disable Require framing before start in your Device Settings.

The Live Framing window contains options that determine the style of framing, which graphics are framed, and how many times to repeat a given project.

You can Start, Stop, and Pause your projects from the Live Framing window, which remains open while your job is running.

While framing, you can nudge, rotate, and rescale graphics, adjusting them in your Workspace and live-updating them in your laser's work area.

Click any option in the image below to jump directly to the relevant section for that option, or scroll down for a list of options and descriptions.

Framing Styles

The different options determine how the red dot light represents your shapes, and which shapes are shown.

Bounds

Commands the red dot light to trace a path defined as the smallest possible rectangle that will fully contain all graphics you're sending to the laser.

This mode is extremely fast, but doesn't represent complex shapes well.

Hull

Commands the red dot light to trace the smallest possible path that fully contains all graphics in the design you're sending to the laser, as if a rubber band were stretched around them.

It is nearly as fast as Bounds, but gives a much closer fit for rounded or smooth shapes.

Contour

Commands the red dot light to trace a path that follows the exact contours of your shapes — it takes the longest to draw, but it's the most accurate.

Additional Options

Frame Individually

Determines whether to trace a single Bounds or Hull frame around everything in your project, or around each individual shape.

This option is grayed out when using Contour framing.

Image Bounds

Attempts to quickly trace the outlines of any images you have in your design, rather than only showing the rectangular boundary of the entire image.

LightBurn determines the outline based on transparancy and whitespace in the image — accuracy may vary.

Outside Shapes Only

Tells the software not to trace inner shapes, like the insides of letters — typically this doesn't affect placement, but allows a faster update of the frame (this only affects Contour mode).

Tool Layers Only

Tells LightBurn to only frame shapes that are on one of the Tool layers.

Job Control

Start

Commands your laser to immediately begin running your current project.

Stop

Immediately aborts a currently running job.

Pause

Halts a running job. Click the Resume button to continue a paused job.

Job Counter and Multiple Runs

Count

This value is incremented at the end of each successful run of your file. You can use this to keep track of how many parts you have marked, or how many passes of a single job you've run.

Reset Count

Resets the Count value to 0.

Run Continuously

Tells LightBurn to re-start the job automatically after it finishes, and update the Count after each run.

If you turn off this switch while a job is running, the laser will stop when the current run completes.

Tip

This is useful when you are doing very deep engraving, and are unsure how many passes a job will need.

Warning

Ensure your laser is properly supervised, even during long jobs with multiple passes.

Repeat

Enable this switch and set a value in the adjacent field to tell LightBurn to run the entire job the specified number of times, and then stop.

If you turn off this switch while a job is running, the laser will stop when the current run completes.

Tip

To run multiple passes of specific layers, sub-layers, or combined sequences of sub-layers, see the Number of Passes and Global Passes settings in the Cut Settings Editor.

Stop At

Enable this switch and set a value in the adjacent field to tell LightBurn not to start the laser if the Count is greater than the specified Stop At value.

This option is useful when the job is externally triggered (e.g. with a foot switch), rather than started through LightBurn.

Nudging, Rotating, and Rescaling

While framing, you can use the keyboard to nudge, rotate, and rescale your graphics.

Key(s)	Result
Left / Right / Up / Down	Move graphics by 1 mm
Shift + arrow keys	Move graphics by 5 mm
Ctrl + arrow keys	Move graphics by .2 mm
Page Up	Scale graphics up
Page Down	Scale graphics down
. (period)	Rotate graphics 15° clockwise
, (comma)	Rotate graphics 15° counter-clockwise
Shift+. (period)	Rotate graphics 5° clockwise
Shift+, (comma)	Rotate graphics 5° counter-clockwise
Ctrl+. (period)	Rotate graphics 45° clockwise
Ctrl+, (comma)	Rotate graphics 45° counter-clockwise

If your keyboard doesn't have Page Up or Page Down, try using Fn+Up or Fn+Down.

Troubleshooting

• If the framing location or scale is inaccurate, you may need to adjust your laser's focus, or fine-tune the values found in Device Settings → Galvo and Basic Settings → Red Dot.

  See our video guide for more information on adjusting red dot alignment.

• If Contour framing doesn't work, try toggling off Enable Blanking Delay, in Device Settings, under IO Port Settings.

• For information on framing behavior when using a rotary, see Rotary Mode (Galvo).

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For more help using LightBurn, please visit our forum to talk with LightBurn staff and users, or email support.

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