Transform Controls
The Transform Controls are tools for directly editing selections in your Workspace by clicking and dragging control handles that alter their position, dimensions, orientation, or shape.
Control Handles
Control handles appear on and around the selection area of any object or objects you select.
Imagine the selection area as the smallest possible rectangle that can contain every object in your selection. The edges and center of a selection are the same as the edges and center of that imaginary rectangle.
Move
The Move handle is a square located in the center of your selection area. When you hover over the Move handle, the four-arrow icon will appear.
- Click, hold, and drag the Move handle to move the selection around your Workspace.
- Release to place the selection in its new position.
- Press Esc before releasing to deselect and return the selection its original position after releasing.
Tip
To precisely adjust a selection's position, use the Numeric Edits Toolbar.
Moving From Snapping Points
Hover over a line, corner, intersection, midpoint, or other node on any shape in your selection, then click, hold, and drag to move all objects in the selection from that point, and snap it to another point on another shape in your Workspace.
See Snapping for more information.
Modifier Keys
-
Hold Shift while dragging to lock a selection's movement to a 90° or 45° angle from its current position.
-
Hold Alt/Option to show temporary Alignment Guides that you can snap your selection to.
-
Hold Ctrl/Cmd to disable snapping while moving selections.
Move Increment Hotkeys
You can also use your keyboard's arrow keys to move objects in your Workspace by set increments.
These hotkeys only work when you have objects selected and the Edit Window (Workspace) — the area where you create and edit graphics — is in focus.
What does it mean for a window to be in focus?
There are several windows in LightBurn that accept user input — when a window is clicked on, it is in focus, and accepting input.
If a window other than the Edit Window is in focus, click anywhere in the Workspace to bring it into focus.
- The Left, Right, Up, and Down arrow keys nudge your selection by 5 mm, by default.
- Hold Ctrl while pressing an arrow key to nudge your selection 1 mm, by default.
- Hold Shift while pressing an arrow key to nudge your selection 20 mm, by default.
You can adjust the nudge distance of each arrow key and modifier in the Units and Grids tab of the Settings window, under Shape Move Increments.
Size
The Size handles are squares located around the perimeters of your selection area — at each corner, and the midpoints of each side. When you hover over a Size handle, the two-arrow icon will appear.
- Use the corner handles to rescale both dimensions of your selection while maintaining its aspect ratio.
- Use the midpoint handles to rescale a single dimension at once.
- When dragging any of the Size handles, the behavior is asymmetric — the other side of the object acts like an anchor and stays in place.
- Click, hold, and drag a Size handle to rescale your selection. Drag outward to make it larger, or inward to make it smaller.
- Release to set the selection to its new scale.
- Press Esc before releasing to deselect and return the selection its original scale after releasing.
Modifier Keys
- Hold Shift while dragging from a corner handle to rescale both dimensions at once, while not maintaining the original aspect ratio. Left-right movement will adjust the width, while up-down movement will adjust the height.
- Hold Ctrl while dragging from any Size handle to rescale the selection symmetrically from its center, rather than from the chosen handle.
Tip
To precisely adjust a selection's dimensions, use the Numeric Edits Toolbar.
Rotate
There are four Rotate handles — they're the curved two-arrow icons, one on each corner of your selection. When you hover over a Rotate handle, your cursor will change to the curved two-arrow icon as well.
- Click, hold, and drag a Rotate handle clockwise or counterclockwise to turn the selection around its center point.
- Release to leave the selection in its new orientation.
- Press Esc before releasing to deselect and return the selection its original orientation after releasing.
Use Two-Point Rotate / Scale to turn your selection from a custom pivot point instead of a Rotate handle.
As you Rotate your selection, the Status Bar will actively show the change in degree of rotation.
Modifier Keys
- Hold Shift while dragging to lock rotation to 15° increments.
- Hold Ctrl/Cmd to lock to 5° increments.
Rotate Hotkeys
These hotkeys only work when you have objects selected and the Edit Window (also called Workspace) — the area where you create and edit graphics — is in focus.
What does it mean for a window to be in focus?
There are several windows in LightBurn that accept user input — when a window is clicked on, it is in focus, and accepting input.
If a window other than the Edit Window is in focus, click anywhere in the Workspace to bring it into focus.
| Action | Windows | macOS |
|---|---|---|
| Rotate 90° clockwise | . | . |
| Rotate 90° counterclockwise | , | , |
| Rotate 45° clockwise | Shift+. | Shift+. |
| Rotate 45° counterlockwise | Shift+, | Shift+, |
| Rotate 15° clockwise | Ctrl+. | Cmd+. |
| Rotate 15° counterclockwise | Ctrl+, | Cmd+, |
| Rotate 5° clockwise | Ctrl+Shift+. | n/a |
| Rotate 5° counterclockwise | Ctrl+Shift+, | n/a |
Rotate in the Arrange Menu
You can also select Rotate 90° Clockwise or Rotate 90° Counter-Clockwise from the Arrange Menu.
Rotate in the Numeric Edits Toolbar
Enter an angle of rotation in the Rotate field of the Numeric Edits Toolbar to Rotate objects at any angle. This field accepts negative values.
Shear
The two Shear handles are small squares located just above or below and just to the left or right of a corner of your selection.
- The handle above or below skews your selection vertically, while the handle to the left or right skews it horizontally.
- Click, hold, and drag a Shear handle to skew the selection.
- Release to apply the new skew to the selection.
- Press Esc before releasing to deselect and return the selection to its original skew.
Tip
Use Warp/Deform Selection to skew selections in any direction.
Transform Control Toggles
Use the Transform Control Toggles in the bottom left of the LightBurn window to enable and disable specific types of editing across an entire project, and prevent accidental edits, such as inadvertently scaling a design that contains strict sizing, or moving tightly nested parts.
Note
This feature is disabled when using Beginner Mode.
The Transform Control Toggles are all enabled by default. Each toggle enables or disables a different type of editing:
- Move: shifting, repositioning, relocating, dragging, or rearranging objects.
- Size: scaling, resizing, enlarging, or shrinking objects.
- Rotate: spinning, turning, tilting, or adjusting the angle of objects.
- Shear: skewing or slanting objects.
When a toggle is enabled, the corresponding Transform Controls appear around selected objects. As toggles are disabled the controls disappear, restricting that type of editing.
Tip
Use Lock Shapes to lock editing of individual objects in a design.
Related Topics
For more help using LightBurn, please visit our forum to talk with LightBurn staff and users, or email support.